Applications are now open for fall 2024
Our entry-level Doctorate in Occupational Therapy prepares compassionate health science professionals in a state-of-the-art building that has simulation classes and labs resembling clinical environments. Hands-on classes are integrated with other health and human service graduate classes to facilitate development and enculturation among professional behaviors. Leave prepared to engage in interprofessional cooperation in health science education, research and service, particularly to the underserved populations of our region.
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a state-of-the-art health science building that houses a motion analysis research lab, activities of daily living lab, exercise physiology labs, simulation labs and more
exceptional clinical site placement partnerships
collaboration with multiple disciplines
hands-on clinical experience beginning your first semester
The new entry-level Doctorate in Occupational Therapy at Whitworth University provides innovative, creative, holistic and interprofessional mind-and-heart education to develop and empower ethically competent and transformational leaders in occupational therapy and healthcare. Guided by and committed to faith integration, reciprocal therapeutic relationships and an understanding of the potency of daily life activities, the program prepares practice scholars who use best scientific evidence to be catalysts for change, advocates for occupational justice and servants of humanity.
For general questions about the OTD program, please call 509.777.4442 or email otd@whitworth.edu.
The entry-level occupational therapy doctoral degree program has applied for accreditation and has been granted Candidacy Status by the Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE) of the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA), located at:
6116 Executive Boulevard, Suite 200
North Bethesda, MD 20852-4929
ACOTE's telephone number c/o AOTA is (301) 652-AOTA and its web address is www.acoteonline.org. Loriann Helgeson OTD, OTR/L, CLA is the department chair.
The program must have a pre-accreditation review, complete an on-site evaluation, and be granted Accreditation Status before its graduates will be eligible to sit for the national certification examination for the occupational therapist administered by the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy (NBCOT). After successful completion of the NBCOT exam, the individual will be an Occupational Therapist, Registered (OTR). In addition, all states require licensure in order to practice; however, state licenses are usually based on the results of the NBCOT Certification Examination. Note that a felony conviction may affect a graduate's ability to sit for the NBCOT certification examination or attain state licensure. This program has been reviewed as a substantive change by our institutional accreditor, the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, and is included in our institutional accreditation status.
Students must complete 24 weeks of Level II fieldwork as well as an individual 14-week capstone experience within 28 months following the completion of the didactic portion of the program. The doctoral capstone experience must be started after completion of all coursework and Level II fieldwork as well as completion of preparatory activities defined in 2018 ACOTE Doctor of Occupational Therapy (OTD) Standard D.1.3.
Click here for the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy (NBCOT®) program data results.