Doctor of Occupational Therapy – Phoenix Metro Campus

At-A-Glance

  • Full-time program. SCU strongly recommends that students not work while attending the OTD Phoenix Metro program.
  • Credit hours: 107 credits.
  • 6 terms, and as little as two years to complete the program.
  • A bachelor’s degree or higher from a regionally accredited college or university with a minimum GPA of 3.0 is required.
  • Students must complete all degree requirements within 12 terms (4 years) of matriculation.
  • Students must be able to achieve and maintain certain technical standards of knowledge and skill to become skilled and effective practitioners.  The technical standards stated in the following document apply to satisfactory performance in all academic and clinical course work, as well as fulfillment of “non-academic” essential functions of the curriculum involving physical, cognitive, and behavioral factors that are essential to a professional healthcare practitioner and are requisite for program completion.  Doctor of Occupational Therapy Technical Standards document

The Mission of the OTD – Phoenix Metro Program

Our mission is to educate students with a strong foundation in professionalism, professional reasoning, ethics, and practice skills to become competent practitioners and leaders in the field of occupational therapy. Through integrative whole person health education, grounded in evidence and occupation-based practice, we prioritize health equity and the provision of client-centered care to enhance occupational performance.

Program Learning Outcomes

  • Professional Reasoning: Professional reasoning is the process that practitioners use to develop and provide occupational therapy services with individuals, groups, or populations. Providing ethical OT services requires the therapist to use professional knowledge and skills to plan, direct, perform and reflect on client care. It is a complex and dynamic process that is connected directly to therapy action. Practitioners must reason in a given session (Schell & Schell, 2018). Our graduates will know how to apply professional reasoning skills in the promotion and provision of occupational therapy services in existing and emerging practice settings.
  • Evidence-Informed: Evidence-informed practice refers to the process of using the best available information combined with professional reasoning and expertise to provide services. As occupational therapists, we utilize information and our expertise in conjunction with an individual, group, or organization’s preferences, values, and needs to inform decision-making. At SCU, we value a culture of inquiry, assessment, research, scholarship, and judicious use of current best evidence to inform our decisions and work. Students learn to critically appraise scholarly literature and use this knowledge to develop and provide quality care.
  • Integrative Health: Integrative health involves coordinating the use of conventional and contemporary multimodal health approaches. The aim is for coordinated care across various contexts and professionals to collaborate with the client for holistic provision of services. A whole person approach supports individuals, communities, and populations to improve and restore health (National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, 2021). Occupational therapists recognize the interconnectedness of physical, emotional, social, and environmental factors to promote health and well-being, including stress management and environmental modifications, At SCU and in the Phoenix OTD Program, we teach, learn, collaborate, and lead by creating an interprofessional environment where shared and unique skills can come together for the benefit of students and clients.
  • Client-Centered: Client-centered care and practice in occupational therapy is defined as “an approach to providing occupational therapy, which embraces a philosophy of respect for and partnership with people receiving services. It recognizes the autonomy of individuals, the need for client choice in making decisions about occupational needs, the strengths clients bring to an occupational therapy encounter and the benefits of client-therapist partnership and the need to ensure that services are accessible and fit the context in which a client lives.” (Law et al., 1995 p. 253) Client-centered care is an imperative component to the provision of occupational therapy services. Students in the SCU Phoenix OTD Program will utilize and implement this concept into their coursework and future practice.
  • Professional Development & Leadership: Professionalism and leadership are integral for the current and future state of occupational therapy. Professionalism is defined as “the conduct, aims, or qualities that characterize or mark a profession or professional person” (Merriam-Webster, 2017, para. 1). Professionalism for occupational therapy is rooted in the profession’s core values, standards of practice, and ethical principles. Our program philosophy is that our students will demonstrate professional behaviors in class and in fieldwork placements to support client-centered practice, optimal outcomes, and employment success. Professionalism and leadership are closely connected, leaders are influential individuals and strong role models. Our graduates will know how to apply leadership skills and theories to support professional behaviors, advocacy for occupational therapy and the clients the profession serves while paving the way for the future of the profession.
  • Occupation-Based Practice: Within occupational therapy, occupation signifies personal and meaningful engagement in daily life. Occupations are central to a client’s (person’s, group’s, or population’s) health, identity, and sense of competence and have specific meaning and value to that client (AOTA, 2020). Our program philosophy asserts that occupational therapy empowers individuals to engage in meaningful occupations that promote health, well-being, and participation in daily life. Our graduates are expected to articulate and apply the connection between meaningful occupation, whole health, and well-being throughout the lifespan.

For full program information, view our catalog.