Perception of graduates about stages of occupational therapy in geriatrics and gerontology

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Human resource training is important issue in the Policies for the elderly in Brazil as trained professionals take care of the diverse needs of elderly. OBJECTIVES: 1) Know the perception of the Occupational Therapy graduates, formed between 2007 and 2010 about discipline “Supervised Stages IX - Occupational Therapy in Geriatrics and Gerontology” which was performed by them, 2) Get suggestions from graduates about different aspects of the discipline. METHOD: Qualitative research, exploratory and
descriptive, using the Delphi technique in two steps. At fi rst, the graduates opined individually, through a questionnaire, about different aspects of the discipline. The graduates’ opinions were captured by scale in fi ve points, comments and suggestions. From the responses, it was proposed “First group version of the discipline program”. In the second step, this version was subjected to retrial of graduates. The alternatives approved by 55% or more graduates comprised the “Group version of the discipline program.” RESULTS: Nine graduates participed in the study. The graduates confi rmed the contribution of the discipline in its different aspects, including suggestions, such as adding some practical scenarios of the stages, expansion of references to support the discipline and increased workload for supervision. This version will be reference to support for changes in the discipline.