The teaching of assistive technology on graduation courses in Occupational Therapy in the State of São Paulo

• Grant number: 18/19375-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Effective date (Start): April 01, 2019
• Effective date (End): March 31, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy
• Principal Investigator: Luciana Ramos Baleotti
• Grantee: Marina Alves Teodoro
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia e Ciências (FFC). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Marília. Marília , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Assistive Technology has an interdisciplinary nature and involves professionals from different areas of expertise, among them, the occupational therapist. According to the National Curricular Guidelines of the Degree Course of Occupational Therapy, the professional needs to know the services, methodologies, strategies, practices and resources of Assistive Technology and accessibility, by means of indication, elaboration and training of distinct devices. Thus, one can suppose that such knowledge has been addressed on the Occupational Therapy Courses. The aim of this research is to identify and analyze the education of the occupational therapist in relation to the teaching of Assistive Technology (AT) based on undergraduate education that has been practiced on universities of the State of São Paulo. Graduation Courses on the Area of Occupational Therapy from both private and public universities focusing what concerns AT teaching will be studied. The theoretical training and practice of occupational therapists, in the state that has the largest amount of courses and the largest amount of professors and researchers with a title on the Brazilian Occupational Therapy constitutes a key element on the searching of sources to a discussion regarding the undergraduate education to perform on the AT area. Producing part of such sources is the result one can expect with the conduction of this research.