Occupational Therapy News OTnews February 2020 | Page 40

FEATURE STUDENT EDUCATION ‘I shared my experiences of the career promotion activity and Deborah shared the recent discussions at OTAF regarding the lack of males entering into the profession,’ she adds. ‘One of the potential strategies to help address the issue is to try to ensure that more males are depicted in the marketing of occupational therapy. ‘Universities are currently using more male occupational therapy student case studies in their degree promotional material and using male students at open days and interview days. ‘Deborah highlighted that there are often events aimed at encouraging female students into science related degrees and suggested that similar events could potentially be used to encourage male students into healthcare. ‘Deborah also confirmed that OTAF had explored the use of celebrities to raise awareness of the References Health and Care Professions Council (2018) Registrants Breakdown. Available at: www.hcpc-uk.org/resources/ freedom-of-information-requests/2018/registrants- breakdown---april-2018/ [accessed 8 October 2018] Royal College Occupational Therapists (2017) Annual monitoring of accredited pre-registration programmes compiled annual monitoring report for the academic year 2017/2018. Available at: www.rcot.co.uk/amrs [accessed 8 October 2018] Maxim, AJM And Rice MS (2018) Men in occupational therapy: Issues, factors, and perceptions, The American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 72, 7201205050 Sarah Terry, second year occupational therapy student, Derby University, email: [email protected]. ac.uk E-Learning Healthcare (2019) Allied Health Professions career resources. Available at: www.e-lfh.org.uk/programmes/allied-health- professionals/ The Wow Show (2019) Live Careers Special with full Q&A. Available at: www. youtube.com/watch?v=VL7fqGPzWGk&utm_ source=Twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_ campaign=SocialSignIn&utm_ content=Health+Careers CES profession.’ Occupational therapists sometimes work closely with athletes, including high profile Para-Olympians, and Sarah suggests that this could be a good way of raising awareness about occupational therapy to the general public. ‘OTAF, with the support of RCOT, is encouraging a #OTbacktoschoolcampaign to encourage qualified and student occupational therapists to go back to their own school to promote the profession,’ Sarah explains. ‘This type of awareness-raising activity could have the additional impact of not only helping promote the profession to students, but also to their careers teachers, who might themselves know little about occupational therapy. ‘I strongly agree with Deborah and OTAF that it is every occupational therapist’s responsibility to promote the profession, from students to those who have been qualified for years, if for nothing else but self-preservation. ‘With more people aware of the fantastic things occupational therapists do and greater public understanding of the profession, the likelihood of more funding, more opportunities and more emerging roles in different sectors increases.’ She concludes: ‘The reasons why men are under- represented in our profession are complex and multiple, however investment in raising greater awareness of the profession in general, while holding events specifically for men, engaging with male dominated youth groups, and having male targeted social media campaigns, may encourage more men to consider a career in occupational therapy.’ MEN MAKE UP LESS THAN 10% OF QUALIFIED OCCUPATIONAL THERAPISTS IN THE UK 40 OTnews February 2020