Occupational Therapy Practice Placement in Ethiopia

Who?

Occupational therapy students in their last semester travel to Ethiopia to complete their final practice placement. Requirements include demonstration of exceptional maturity and dedication to the profession of occupational therapy. Currently the program partners with two European universities and is open for expansion. Please contact us if you are interested in participation.

What?

The practice placement is a unique experience which focuses on transformational learning, community based rehabilitation, service learning, role emerging practice, and culturally responsive care. Students are given action oriented and reflective assignments throughout their 10-12 week stay and required to complete a service-learning project with a partner organization. Some students also complete a thesis and/or field study research as per the requirements of their universities and time is allotted for these projects throughout the curriculum.

When?

Typically the program runs for 10-12 weeks from mid to late February or beginning of March through May, depending on the schedule of the participating universities.

Where?

Currently we operate in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, and partner with pediatric organizations but have possibilities for expansion to other regions and populations according to interest.

Why?

This program is intended for students who have an interest in self-reflection, deepening their professional skills in relevant areas, and experiencing a deep transformation during the learning process. The development of skills in role emerging practice settings, cultural responsiveness, and community-based rehabilitation are important trends for the future of occupational therapy practitioners around the world and the occupational therapy capacity on the African continent is still very low. Participation in this program aids the future practitioner as well as the local community and the profession of occupational therapy as a whole through demonstration of the utility of occupational therapy to local populations.

Dr. Toporek received her advanced clinical doctorate in occupational therapy specializing in pediatrics in 2012 from Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions and developed this program as her capstone. She received her undergraduate degree in occupational therapy from Medical College of Georgia (now Augusta University) in 1999 and has practiced in the United States, Israel, and Ethiopia. Her areas of interest are pediatrics, role emerging practice, developing nations, culturally responsive care, and transformational learning. She currently owns and operates a pediatric outpatient and home care clinic in the United States and is developing Ethiopia’s first occupational therapy educational program in cooperation with an Ethiopian university, in addition to staffing this program annually.

Service Learning

After careful observation and discussion with the staff and administration of the center, this year’s group of occupational therapy practice placement students presented ergonomics education and training. All parties felt this would be a valuable and sustainable service-learning project for the staff and administration of the center.

Students researched principles of ergonomics and developed an excellent PowerPoint presentation and practical training course to protect their backs during daily activities such as washing dishes, cleaning, working in the garden, positioning for sleep, desk work, and core strengthening exercises.

During the course they took photographs to create a poster for the facility to remind staff and administration of techniques for back safety during daily activities.

Participants compared their traditional lifting and weeding techniques with techniques taught in the course.

Discussions were lively and staff members generalized the knowledge to other activities of daily living such as bathing and laundry.

Feedback from staff and administration was excellent and we saw many more opportunities for occupational therapists to contribute to ergonomic education throughout the nation.

Assumptions

A conversation I had with a gentleman (waiter at a restaurant) accented an important assumption regarding children experiencing disability and their families in this cultural context. The conversation went like this:

Waiter: What do you do for a living?

Me: I am a therapist.

Waiter: Oh! That is wonderful. So you help people.

Me: I try to. I work with children with conditions such as Autism and Down Syndrome.

Waiter: Oh, yes, orphans.

Me: What?

Waiter: Orphans.

Me: Oh, in Ethiopia, yes, many of the children live in orphanages but in other countries they live with their families.

Waiter: Really? So they can take care of them?

Me: Yes.

Waiter: Families here must learn to take care of these children.

Occupational Therapy in Ethiopia

Currently, there are no local occupational therapy educational programs to develop the profession through the native population and there is no licensure process for occupational therapists in Ethiopia. Foreign occupational therapists serve in Ethiopia on a rotating short term volunteer basis through several organizations and programs, including ours.

We are currently working on several projects to develop capacity within Ethiopia including:

• Fieldwork/practice placement for occupational therapy students. This program was developed in collaboration with the University of Ghent in Belgium and currently includes participants from other European universities. It can be adapted to meet the needs of other occupational therapy professional educational programs and is based on evidence for tenets in transformative learning, service learning, and role emerging occupational therapy practice.
• Supervision of student research for field studies
• Development of short term (2-4 weeks) continuing educational programs for credentialed occupational therapists who are interested in a transformative, collaborative, cross cultural service learning experience
• Development of the first university level professional education program in Ethiopia

If you are interested in participating in any of our programs, please contact us!