The curriculum for a Post-Professional Doctorate in Occupational Therapy (PP-OTD) combines required and elective courses to ensure that students have a similar foundation for success while specializing in an area of their choosing. The required courses prepare students to develop programs, become leaders, explore entrepreneurship, provide evidence-informed care, take on faculty roles, and develop, implement and disseminate their doctoral project. Students choose electives that match their interests and goals from a menu of options at Jefferson, within the PP-OTD program and the Advanced Practice Certificates. These include topics such as autism, coaching, cultural humility, leadership, neuroscience, and teaching adults. The program can be completed on a part-time (3 credits per semester), full-time (6 credits per semester) or a combination of both, which affects the length of completion of the program. All classes can be completed entirely online.
Length: Minimum of 36 months full-time
Requirements: Students who have earned a bachelor's in occupational therapy and who have not earned a post professional master's degree enroll in the Earned BS in OT to PP-OTD curriculum, which requires a minimum of 38 credits. Nine of these credits are electives.
Length: Minimum of 24 months full-time
Requirements: Students who have earned a Master's degree in occupational therapy OR a bachelor's degree in occupational therapy and a master's degree in another field enroll in the Earned Master to PP-OTD curriculum, which requires a minimum of 30 credits. Nine of these 30 credits are electives. Students can apply their completed Advanced Practice Certificate credits (up to 12 credits) to the PP-OTD program as electives.
Select three elective courses for a total of 9 credits from the menu of offerings. For many Advanced Practice certificate, the 4th course overlaps with a required course in the PP-OTD curriculum. These students will earn an Advanced Practice Certificate in addition to their PP-OTD.