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General Information

Aim of the Program

The aim of the Occupational Therapy Department is to train occupational therapists who adhere to national and international professional standards and possess ethical values. These qualifications include organizing individual and collective activity plans based on occupational therapy principles, researching the impact of activities on health and well-being, planning and monitoring therapeutic activities, informing individuals and the community about activities, ensuring the sustainable and healthy use of activity resources, and conducting activity supervision.

 
 

Target of the Program

The Occupational Therapy (OT) department is a healthcare discipline aimed at helping individuals gain independence in their daily activities and improving their quality of life. The objectives of the Occupational Therapy department are as follows:

Individual Independence: To help individuals gain independence in their daily living activities. These activities include personal care, household chores, work, school, and leisure activities.

Enhancing Quality of Life: To improve the overall quality of life by enhancing physical, mental, and emotional health.

Reducing Barriers: To reduce physical, cognitive, and emotional barriers, enabling individuals to participate in social life and work.

Rehabilitation: To support the rehabilitation processes of individuals who have lost function due to illness, injury, or congenital conditions.

Education and Counseling: To provide educational and counseling services to individuals, their families, and the community. This includes the use of appropriate adaptive equipment, ergonomic solutions, and modifications that can be made at home.

Increasing Social Participation: To help individuals gain the necessary skills to increase social participation and prevent social isolation.

Ergonomic Solutions: To offer solutions for making work environments more ergonomic and preventing work-related injuries.

Self-Efficacy: To enhance individuals' self-confidence and develop their self-efficacy.

Multidisciplinary Collaboration: To work collaboratively with other healthcare professionals to provide comprehensive care and treatment.

Research and Development: To contribute to the body of scientific knowledge by conducting research in the field of occupational therapy and developing new treatment methods.

In line with these objectives, occupational therapists provide the necessary interventions and support to help individuals reach their maximum functional capacity and sustain their daily lives in the best possible way.

 

 

Career Opportunities

Clinical Occupational Therapist: They can provide rehabilitation services to individuals by working in hospitals, clinics or health centers. These services generally aim to support patients' return to activities of daily living and increase their independence.

Community Health Occupational Therapist: They can take part in projects in community centers, health institutions or government institutions to increase general health awareness and improve the quality of life of the society. These projects can often include topics such as elderly care, integration of disabled individuals and prevention of work accidents.

Pediatric Occupational Therapist: They can work in hospitals or clinics and provide services on motor skill development, manual skills, play therapy and daily living activities in children. In neonatal intensive care units, they can provide early intervention to support the development of premature babies.

 

 

Future of the Department

The increasing number of disadvantaged individuals in the world increases the need for different rehabilitation services. Ergotherapy is included in the group that focuses on the independence of individuals with a holistic perspective. It is a profession that supports social adaptation by evaluating individuals in their social environments and enables them to function by revealing their current capacity. Ergotherapy, at home, at work, at school, etc. It addresses the psychological and cognitive aspects as well as the physical aspects of patient groups trying to carry out daily activities in environments.
 
In this process, it not only uses traditional therapy methods in rehabilitation services, but also plays a role in the design of assistive device technology products, enabling individuals to participate in daily life. Occupational therapy is ranked 17th among the top health professions and 23rd among all professions. While there are occupational therapists working in many fields around the world, the number of specialists trained in our country is insufficient. In this sense, it is envisaged that Occupational Therapy will become an important business area in the health professions by working in nursing homes, schools, hospitals, rehabilitation centers and municipalities in Turkey.

Who Should Choose

Interested in the field of health, caring, helpful, patient, creative, open to innovation, able to think analytically and critically, able to empathize, have strong communication skills, be responsible, deal with different branches of art or have awareness about the branches of art, software, robots, virtual reality systems. It is anticipated that it will be a suitable choice for people who are interested in sensor-based rehabilitation technologies.
 
Children with autism, cerebral palsy, specific learning disabilities and different genetic diseases; elderly people with Alzheimer's, dementia and Parkinson's; It is a profession suitable for people who want to touch the lives of individuals with mental illness.

Working Places

Occupational therapists can work in hospitals, clinics, special education and rehabilitation centers, schools, home care programs, community health centers, nursing homes, factories and workplaces. Today, the areas where our graduates most prefer to work are public hospitals and private education and rehabilitation centers. Occupational therapists can advance in their academic careers by doing master's and doctoral studies. Depending on their field of study, they can work and take part in various institutions and organizations.

Programmes allowing Horizontal Transfer

Horizontal transfers to the Faculty of Health Sciences at Istanbul Gelişim University are conducted in accordance with the provisions of the "Regulation on Horizontal Transfers at the Associate Degree Level Between Higher Education Institutions."

Students can apply to the Student Affairs Office for a horizontal transfer to another program within the University within the periods specified in the academic calendar. Applications are processed based on the recommendation of the department the student wishes to transfer to and the decision of the relevant administrative board.

 

 

Programmes allowing Vertical Transfer

Internal and external, health sciences departments.