Aquatic Occupational Therapy Treatment Interventions

This course was developed as a part of my Doctoral Capstone Project for the Drake University Occupational Therapy Doctoral Program. The course covers information regarding my individualized learning project that included specific  learning objectives, functional aquatic therapy intervention examples, information about continuing education in aquatics, and marketing and advocacy efforts utilized to promote aquatic therapy interventions among current and developing occupational therapists. In order to prepare for this experience, I completed an in-depth needs assessment, literature review, and took continuing education courses about current research and practices in aquatic therapy. I am a certified aquatic therapy and rehabilitation therapist and utilized my certification, background knowledge of the setting, and didactic coursework in occupational therapy to develop the educational materials. Throughout my doctoral capstone experience, I developed an occupation-based treatment framework for community members across the lifespan with a variety physical and psychological diagnoses in an aquatic therapy setting while advocating for implementation of aquatic therapy practice among occupational therapists. I engaged in functional water activities with community members to gain hands-on experience, developing my role and skills as a certified aquatic therapist and 3-year occupational therapy student. The implementation of aquatic tasks among participants greatly improved their daily function, health, and wellness, and resulted in overall positive outcomes. The development of my project and experience encouraged me to advocate for an increase in aquatic therapy treatments among therapy professionals. My goal from this course is that individuals will  identify the learning objectives of the project, demonstrate an understanding of OT services across the lifespan, better understand the functional application of OT in aquatics, and identify the importance of advocating for increased OT involvement in aquatics.