GENETIC INSIGHT IN OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY: A PROFESSIONAL LEVEL SURVEY

Background:The purpose of this study is to identify what is currently being taught in occupational therapy course relevant to genetics and current opinions of occupational therapy educators about teaching genetics. Develop insight on need for occupational therapist to acquire knowledge about genetics and skills in use of genetics knowledge. Objective of study:Objective of this study is to identify the perceived importance of genetic based topics in the bachelors ?of occupational therapy course. And find out the preferred method for teaching genetics. Method: This study was conducted in Sir Sunderlal Hospital; Banaras Hindu University.210 professionals all over the India who had bachelors? or masters from a recognized college in India were included in the study.A questionnaire was send to all the professional with e mail and replied to this email was considered as consent to participate in the study. This questionnaire had questions related to importance of studying genetics and method of teaching genetics in occupational therapy syllabus .ThisQuestionnaire was taken from a study by Kanny, E. M., Smith, R., & Dudgeon, B. J. (2005) in Genetics in occupational therapy education: A survey of professional Entry-level programs published in American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 59, 165?172. 3 times reminder was given in case of no reply within a week. If no reply was given participation was declined. An incomplete questionnaire was also accepted as a part of study. Results: Few respondents rated genetics education as ?very important? whereas manyothers answered that it was ?not important.? Regarding importance of studying genetics in occupational therapy syllabus 47% participants answered moderately important, 28% important, and 21% not important. Only 4% participant?s rated genetic education as very important. When asked to identify methods used to teach genetic content, respondents identified case study 23 %, seminar 27%, classroom 15%, and workshop 35% including all the three tables. Most respondents did not view teaching genetics as a high priority in occupational therapy curricula Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that there is lack of knowledge and interest in topics dealing with genetics. Occupational therapists are under confident in the field of genetics and need to taught more on genetic in particularly emphasizing on its integration and application of genetics in occupational therapy practices.