Though it has passed over 50 years since occupational therapy was introduced into Korea, the Korean occupational therapy is still in the beginning stage. This researcher investigated the reality of educating students and the problems in the field of occupational therapy. The quality of manpower is determined by how we can secure specialties in the process of educating students, and it is highly related with the standards of service. Therefore, the efforts to acknowledge the present situation of supply and demand for educating occupational therapy students should be made cautiously. To assure the quality of occupational therapists and make the better circumstances for them and predict the promising future in the field of occupational therapy, the basic regulations and minimum standards for educational institutions and practice institutions must be established immediately.

The purposes of establishing accreditation standards for the occupational therapy program are to assure the quality of the program and to assist in the development of the program. Accreditation serves the public as accredited programs modify their requirements to reflect changes in knowledge and practice generally accepted in the field. To students, accreditation provides an assurance that the educational activities of an accredited program have been found to be satisfactory, and therefore meet the needs of students. Also it assists in the transfer of credits between institutions, or in the admission of students to advanced degrees through the general acceptance of credits among accredited institutions when the performance of the students has been satisfactory and the credits to be transferred are appropriate to the receiving institution. The occupational therapy programs benefit from accreditation through the stimulus provided for self-evaluation and self-directed program improvement and strengthening of program self-evaluation by the review and counsel provided through the accrediting agency. At the same time, this process enhances the reputation of an accredited program because of public regard for accreditation. Lastly, the profession of occupational therapy can be strengthened by contributing to the unity of the professions in an activity directed at improving professional preparation and professional practice.

The first national occupational therapy licensing examination was administered by the National Institute of Health in 1965. In 1998, National Health Personnel Licensing Examination Board assumed responsibilities for the development, administration, and implementation of the licensing process based on current and valid standards for occupational therapy practice. The purpose of awarding license is to identify for the public those persons who have demonstrated both the knowledge and the skills necessary to provide occupational therapy service. As an effort to develop, maintain, and defend the content validity of practice-based occupational therapy licensing examination, National Health Personnel Licensing Examination Board sponsored and authorized the occupational therapy practice analysis study in 2000. Based on the occupational therapy practice analysis study, Minimum Standards for the Education of Occupational Therapists By World Federation of Occupational Therapists, and The National Occupational Therapy Practice Analysis in the USA, this article points out several problems concerning the existing national occupational therapy licensing examination and suggests the alternatives that reflect current professional practice.

Nowadays, there are many issues in introducing accreditation of occupational therapy education in Korea. Accreditation is a system for recognizing educational institutions and professional programs affiliated to those institutions on a level of performance, integrity, and quality which entitles them to the confidence of the educational community and the public they serve. I believe accreditation system in the United States is well-established through nongovernmental, voluntary institutional or professional association. On the basis of analyzing accreditation system of the United States, this study introduces the arrangement for establishing of accreditation policy in Korea.

Objective: To examine the effects of occupational therapy intervention on hand function after botulinum toxin injection in a patient with dystonia. Method: The subject was a 41 year old female and the study was carried out from February 25th to May 24th in 2002. The Jebsen Hand Function Test and Nine Hole Peg Test were used for assessment, and also hand and finger powers were assessed by grip strength, lateral pinch strength and three jaw chuck pinch strength. The scores were obtained during occupational therapy sessions at 4 weeks and 12 weeks after the injection. Modified Ashworth Scale was employed to grade spasticity before the injection, at 4 weeks, and 12 weeks after the injection. Results: Among the subtests of Jebsen Hand Function Test, the speed increased in the writing (15.4%), turning cards (64.4%), simulated feeding (92.0%), moving empty large cans (30.0%) and moving weighted large cans (41.6%), however, the speed of other subtests which were checkers(-26.8) and picking up small objects (0.0%) did not increase. The performance on Nine Hole Peg Test did not change (0.0%). Hand power of grip strength increased by 275%. Finger power increased in lateral pinch strength (40.0%) and three jaw chuck pinch strength(150.0%). Based on Modified Ashworth Scale, spasticity decreased from grade 4 before the injection to grade 1 at 4 weeks and 12 weeks after the injection in wrist and fingers. Conclusion: Occupational therapy intervention after botulinum toxin injection can improve the hand function in a patient with dystonia.

Objectives: The purpose of this survey research was to Investigate how well the national occupational therapy certification examination was reflecting the current occupational therapy practice. Method: The researchers developed a survey with input from 159 occupational therapists out of 230. The content of the survey consisted of four areas which were demographic information, the relationship between the current national occupational therapy certification examination, the tasks that occupational therapists perform in the clinical settings, and the knowledge bases that occupational therapists need to know to perform the tasks. Results: The findings can be summarized as follows; 1) All the current examination subjects except for ADLs (activities of daily living) had low relationship with clinical occupational therapy practice; 2) 84% of the respondents agreed on that the current examination needed to be revised based on the tasks that occupational therapists actually do in the clinical settings; 3) the new subjects proposed for the national occupational therapy certification examination showed high relationship with the clinical occupational therapy practice; 4) the new subjects were composed of occupational therapy evaluation, treatment plan, intervention, re-evaluation, management, and professionalism. Conclusions: The findings are expected to be useful for revising the content of the current national occupational therapy certification examination and developing occupational therapy curriculum of the new educational programs.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to research the current state of occupational assessment tools and their use by Korean occupational therapist. Method: Data was obtained from October 13, 2001 to December 30, 2001 by means of a survey questionnaire. The participants were 96 occupational therapists (general hospitals, university-related hospitals, rehabilitation center, etc.). Analysis of the data was done by using descriptive statistics. Results: The length of time for initial evaluation was 42 minutes per one patient and reevaluation periods were every 3 months or as functional changes were detected. Among the assessment tools, the most frequently used tools w ere: Purdue Pegboard Test (47.9%) for assessing motor area, Motor-free Visual Perception Test (56.3%) and Mini-Mental Status Examination (54.2%) for cognitive perceptual assessments, Functional Independence Measure (56.3%) for daily activity assessment, Denver Developmental Screening Test (51%) for development assessment, Sensory Profile (14.6%) for sensory integration assessment, and Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (16.7%) for occupational performance assessment. Conclusion: The results of this study supported that the choice of evaluation tools may be depended on the administration length of time and simple procedures. Based on the results, provisions of more extended educational opportunities would promote the use of a greater variety of standardized assessment tools by Korean occupational therapists.

The model of human occupation is an outgrowth of the occupational behavior tradition which emphasizes the original philosophical premises of the occupational therapy profession. The model employs general systems theory to explain the human system and its interaction with the environment. The model conceptualizes the human as an open system that consists of three subsystems: volition, habituation, and mind-brain-body performance. The subsystems are hierachically ordered from the highest to lowest and each subsystem has its own structure and function. The highest subsystem is referred to as volition which is responsible for freely and consciously choosing occupational behavior. The middle subsystem is habituation which organizes occupational behavior into patterns or routines. The lowest subsystem is mind-brain-body performance which makes possible the skilled achievement of occupations. The human is also understood as a dynamical system performing in an environment composed of objects, tasks, social groups, and culture. Although the language of the model may be unfamiliar at first the basic theoretical principles of the model share the common concept with those of the oriental philosophy. The model is recognized as a holistic and comprehensive model which is one of the first to develop a strong focus on occupation in the occupational therapy profession.

The purpose of this study was to establish marketing strategy and efficiency management of the department of occupational therapy in the University and College. The subject population included 890 students from six college and five university in National area. Data were collected through a survey questionnaire in a period from April 5 to May 5, 2001. The results are as follows: 1. It appeared that regarding criteria for selection of college by among students’ in the University and College, two type of college (University and College) were motivation of job obtain. 2. It appeared that regarding satisfaction of college life, University students are more satisfied than college students. Also it appeared that regarding satisfaction of department’s operation and environment of educations, University students are more satisfied than college students. 3. The opinion of development in the college setting efforts to develop of field-based learning curriculum. Also, in the university setting to obtain of able professor.

It is expected that the demands of medical services in terms of health medical and social welfare will be increased rapidly due to the development of old-aged society and medical technologies. Accordingly the roles and tasks of the occupational therapist become more important, and the demands for the occupational therapist will be also increased. Therefore more systematic and effective manpower management on the occupational therapists is required. When the occupational therapists are classified by their job sites - clinic, health, and other, this study shows that the proportion of occupational therapist in clinic is the biggest. It is also expected that the proportion will be kept in the future. On this point of view, the demand and supply for the occupational therapists in clinics are discussed in this study. The number of occupational therapists demanded are usually depended upon the factors such as health care needs from public, system of medical fee payment and medical insurance, medical policy, share and coordination system of the role of medical service suppliers, and usage of medical facilities by public. This study shows that even the occupational therapists including the students in college in 2000 itself are over-estimated and over-supplied already under the current system of legislation, even though the estimation on manpower needed in this field shows lack of. In this point of view, this study proposes the measures against the problems expected as follow. 1. Legislative specification In spite of the varieties of the occupational therapy, only 4 categories of therapy -simple therapy, complex therapy, special therapy, activities of daily living adjustment training method - are specified in the insurance category of the law. Moreover, the law stipulates that special therapy and ADL adjustment training method shall be prescribed by the rehabilitation medicine. Thus the occupational therapy could not be requested from neurosurgery and orthopedic surgery at all. Nevertheless, it is strongly requested that patients from pediatrics, psychiatric, geriatrics, neurology, orthopedics as well as rehabilitation medicine shall be regarded as the subjects of the special therapy in the law. 2. Certification of psychiatric health care supplier According to the clause 7 of the psychiatric health law, only 3 groups of psychiatric health specialists including clinical psychologist, nurse, and social welfare specialist can supply a psychiatric health care. Anyhow the job descriptions on the clause 2 of the PH law implementation regulation such as ADL adjustment training, occupational and recreational therapy, etc should be classified as the job of occupational therapist. The psychiatric health care courses including the practices are established for the curriculum of the department of occupational therapy in college. And considering that the development of independent ADL ability for the patients is one of the most critical areas of the occupation therapy discipline, the occupational therapist shall supply the psychiatric health care services, 3. Short of facilities and the alternatives The number of occupational therapy clinics in Korea, 98, is not sufficient. Moreover many of the clinics are at big hospitals in big cities, and only 32 clinics are in regional areas. It is required to inform the government agencies and public opinion leaders that occupational therapy clinics shall not be limited to the big hospitals, rather than health offices managed by government should accept the clinics at first. The ultimate purpose of health services, promoting personal health status and help him to return to the society, is likely accorded with that of occupational therapy. Therefore it is requested that the occupational therapy clinics shall be opened in psychiatric resorts, health offices, special institute for disabled, rehabilitation institutes, and the facilities for old aged persons as well as in hospitals.

Since occupational therapy was introduced into Korea, over fifty years have passed. But the Korean Occupational Therapy. is still below the level. Therefore I surveyed the present condition and problems of occupational therapy in Korea, and planned its alternatives. The conclusions are as follows: 1. The absolute number of occupational therapist is not enough. So, the department of Occupational Therapy should be urgently established in university or college. 2. The medical insurance premium of Occupational Therapy is very low. So, it should be highly raised, and the item of that should be made various and detailed. 3. People do not understand and concern about Occupational Therapy So. we should give wider publicity about Occupational Therapy to people. 4. Occupational Therapist should improve themselves for the higher quality of treatment.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of horticulture occupation therapy program via healing garden which is increasing the emotional stability and hand Dexterity enhancement on pre-vocational rehabilitation of chronic mental disorder. The current study included 29 patients who were diagnosed as chronic mental disorder under the rehabilitation service at E capital hospital in Seoul from February to December 2010. All of patients participated with agreement in this study, then were divided randomly by experimental (n=17) and control groups (n=12). Therapeutic program was consisted with total 38 sessions, and performed once a week for 10 months. Experimental group was treated with horticultural occupational therapy program using a healing garden (one time), as well as general occupational therapy (four times) in a week. Control group was conducted only general occupational therapy five times a week. To evaluate the effects of program, physical and psychological stress test and hand dexterity test was used before and after program. The program was based on the person-centered therapy, then paired t-test was used to compare the results before and after the program. In the results of present study, there were no significant differences of psychological and physical stress between before and after the therapy in experimental and control group, respectively. However, hand dexterity of experimental group was markedly changed between before (112..4±50.9 sec) and after (82.1±40.6 sec) therapy. Moreover, the speed of performance in GPT was increased with rising therapeutic sessions, indicating the hand dexterity was improved after program. These results demonstrated that horticultural occupation therapy program using the healing garden is beneficial for pre-vocational rehabilitation of chronic mental disorder.

본 연구는 만성 뇌졸중 환자 30명을 대상으로 무작위로 실험군 17명과 대조군 13명으로 나누워서 주 5회 30분씩 12주 동안 실시 하였다. 실험군은 주 4회는 일반적인 작업치료(상지기능증진치료 및 일상생활훈련)를 실시하고, 주 1회 치료정원을 이용한 원예치료 를 실시하였다. 반면에 대조군은 주 5회 일반적인 작업치료만 실시 하여, 치료정원을 이용한 원예작업치료가 삶의 질에 미치는 영향을 알아보고자 하였다. 실험결과 실험군과 대조군 모두 통계적으로 유 의하게 삶의 질 향상이 나타났지만, 실험군이 대조군보다 통계적으 로 높게 나타났다. 본 연구에서의 치료정원을 활용한 원예작업치료 프로그램은 환자가 활동을 이해하고 적절한 수준의 활동을 제시받 기 위해 작업분석 후 동기부여, 적응, 수행기술, 사회적응기술이란 4단계로 등급화(garding)하여 각 단계에 적합한 프로그램으로 구 성하였다. 치료정원에서의 원예활동프로그램을 통해 병원생활에 서 자기만족감이 향상되고, 우울감이 감소되어 삶의 질 향상으로 이어졌다고 사료된다. 이러한 결과를 통해서 만성 뇌졸중 환자에게 치료정원을 이용한 원예작업치료가 삶의 질에 미치는 영향을 주는 것으로 생각하지만, 원예작업치료 프로그램이 구체적으로 뇌졸중 환자의 삶의 질에 어떤 영향 미치고, 구체적 개선부분을 찾기엔 제 한이 있으므로 앞으로 지속적인 연구가 필요하다고 사료된다. 만성 뇌졸중 환자의 치료기간이 늘어나고 지역사회 중심의 재활치료공 간이 확대됨에 따라 장기치료계획의 수립이 필요하며 만성뇌졸중 환자가 지역사회에 생활 할 수 있는 활동 프로그램이 필요한 시기 라고 생각한다. 앞으로도 원예를 활용한 다양한 프로그램이 만성뇌 졸중 재활과정 및 삶의 질에 영향을 미칠 수 있는 연구가 필요하다 고 사료된다.

원예치료 연구 방향 설정에 필요한 자료 확보 측면에서 2002년 부터 2011년까지 원예치료, 작업치료, 미술치료, 음악치료 관련 학 회지에 게재된 논문 910편을 대상으로 연구유형, 대상자 및 프로그 램을 비교분석 하였다. 학술지 게재 논문은 2002년에 54편(5.9%), 2006년에는 84편(9.2%), 2011년에는 134편(14.7%)을 나타내어 대체치료 관련 연구가 증가하는 경향을 보였다. 연구 유형은 실험 연구가 많아 원예치료는 76.1%, 미술치료는 74.7%, 작업치료는 68.3%, 음악치료는 57.0%였다. 실험 논문에서 대상자의 증상은 원예치료 및 미술치료의 경우 정신지체장애인이 각각 32.6%, 11.4%로 가장 많았으며 작업치료는 뇌졸중이 24.8%, 음악치료는 우울증이 15.1%로 가장 많았다. 실험 논문에서 대상자의 성별은 여성이 52.1-55.1%로 많았으며, 연령은 19세 이하가 가장 많아 미 술치료는 49.5%, 음악치료는 47.2%, 원예치료는 44.2%, 작업치 료는 28.0%였다. 실험 논문에서 프로그램 당 대상자 수가 10명 이 하인 논문 편수 비율은 원예치료의 경우 59.3%, 미술치료는 72.9%, 음악치료는 58.5%였으며 작업치료는 36명 이상이 40.9% 였다. 실험 논문에서 프로그램 회기 수가 20회 이하인 비율은 원예 치료의 경우 64.0%, 작업치료는 44.0%, 미술치료는 76.2%, 음악 치료는 68.0%였다. 실험 논문에 사용된 측정 및 평가 도구의 사용 비율은 원예치료의 경우 자아존중감 측정지가 21.4%, 작업치료와 미술치료에서는 관찰일지가 각각 44.5%, 15.9%, 음악치료에서는 비디오 녹화가 21.3%로 가장 높았다. 이와 같이 대체 치료법에 따 라 특성 차이가 있으므로 적용 시는 이를 고려해야 할 것이다.