The teaching of social occupational therapy in the federal institutions of higher education in Brazil

Abstract

The social field has increasingly requested professionals qualified to work around issues that are eminently social, among them the occupational therapist, which implies specific demands for vocational training. This study aimed to identify the discussion of social occupational therapy in the curricular contents of undergraduate courses in occupational therapy of the Federal Institutions of Higher Education in Brazil. The coordinators of these courses were interviewed and their political-pedagogical projects were analyzed, in the period between 2012 and 2013. The results show that the contents of the area are inserted in a minority way in the curricula or almost never seen. This seems to be linked not only to the lack of specific human resources and conceptual divergences, but also by norms imposed by funding programs in higher education, especially those directed to courses considered of health. Although advances in this area, no common parameter has yet been produced, accepted and practiced nationally, for its configuration in the graduation. The general education advocated by the National Curriculum Guidelines for Occupational Therapy has been developing only in the field of health, impacting areas of action that are not limited to it.