OT Student Advocacy
It is important that students advocate for the inclusion of bariatric care in their education in their academic programs.
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OT practitioners rate themselves as willing to treat clients seeking bariatric surgery, yet believe they are not trained well enough (Lang et al., 2013).
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Only eight percent of OT practitioners stated their entry-level OT education included weight management education (Lang et al., 2013).
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This training and education can begin during the academic period; however, students must advocate for this in order to increase awareness of the desire and need.
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The majority of OT students surveyed by Vroman and Cote (2011) held stereotypical and strong prejudicial beliefs towards individuals seeking bariatric surgery.
Greater education is necessary to prepare students for future work with this population and to reduce bias and prejudice.
Advocative Resource
Provided to the right is a downloadable Word Document of a sample letter template created by the authors that can be used for OT students to complete and submit to their academic program to advocate for the inclusion of bariatric care education.
DISCLAIMER: This is solely an advocating sample letter that includes evidence explaining the benefits of occupational therapy services for people with bariatric needs. The authors are not responsible for the feedback that comes from the submission of using this sample letter. Please use with caution.