Job Analysis for Mental Health Occupational Therapists

Objective: The purpose of this study was to analyze the duties and tasks of mental health occupational therapists, derives core duties, and create a job analysis sheet. Methods: The job analysis method used for this study was the DACUM (i.e., “Developing a Curriculum”) method.In the first stage, literature on job analyses of occupational therapists and mental health specialists in other positions was examined, and an open survey was conducted. In the second stage, duties and tasks of mental health occupational therapists were derived through the first validation, an expert workshop, and a second validation. In the third stage, the importance, difficulty, and frequency of performance were investigated. The coefficient of determination was calculated, and core jobs were designated. In the fourth stage, a job analysis sheet was prepared. Results: The duties and 95 tasks were derived. Among the duties, “education and counseling”was the most important, “emergency management” was the most difficult, and “resource management” scored highest for performance frequency. The task with the highest relative value was “emergency situation management.” Conclusion: We believe that the study findings provide basic data necessary for mental health occupational therapists to perform their job and should be helpful in the curriculum.