Occupational therapists work with health and development for people of all ages who, owing to illness, injury or other reasons experience limitations in their everyday activities. As an occupational therapist, you will work on rehabilitation efforts that make it possible for a person to perform daily activities at home, at work, at school, and during leisure time.

Your work is to investigate the situation along with the client, utilise healthy aspects and find the right measures for a functional life. Knowledge of the interaction between the person and their environment is essential, and forms the foundation for creative solutions to problems in the form of adaptation of the surrounding environment, design, skills training, and lifestyle changes. Occupational therapy is also conducted at the societal level, for example concerning accessibility in public environments. The profession of occupational therapist is licensed, where the license that your education leads to is a guarantee that you have the skills to perform the job and accept the responsibility it entails.

Learning and understanding

The main subject, occupational therapy, gives you the knowledge of how people perform their daily activities, what effect this has on health and development, and how different environments can facilitate and hinder activity. You will also study medical science to gain an understanding of how illnesses and injuries influence people. In addition you will study psychology, pedagogy and sociology. The research within the field is international, and the literature is partially in English. The curriculum is built on problem-based learning, which involves active learning, independence and one’s own responsibility in close collaboration with teachers and researchers. The programme also has many practical elements, including such things as practical placements. Cooperating with other professional groups is an important part of your future working life. You can practice this in every element of the programme with students from other programmes such as our student-operated interprofessional training ward, which is a part of an existing health care unit. In your final year, you can choose to plan part of your studies abroad.

Practice and theory integrated

Right from the first week of the programme, you’ll be able to go out on study visits and meet occupational therapists. Throughout your education theory and practice are integrated; 20 weeks total of practical placements is included during the programme. It occurs at workplaces that are part of the county council, the municipality, and private or State-owned businesses. Beyond this, practical training is included at Clinicum, our clinical training centre.

After your education

Work as an occupational therapist is varied. People have different conditions – based on injury, illness or disability – for being active, and developing based on their own needs. This puts you, as an occupational therapist, in an exciting workday; your professional role can be developed in this daily work. It also opens up doors for future professional roles for occupational therapists. In the private sector, occupational therapists are owning their own businesses to greater extent. They can work in occupational health care, at a medical resource company designing products, or in larger, privately-owned companies that perform jobs as part of the municipalities or the county councils.