F.E.E.D.E.R.: Forging Equity by Encouraging Diversity and Encompassing Representation

Background This capstone project addresses the need for advocacy for the occupational therapy (OT) profession in terms of spreading awareness and increasing representation amongst Occupational Therapist Practitioners (OTPs) to improve positive impacts on healthcare equity and outcomes for clients/patients. Objective This project aims to identify evidence-based strategies for improving recruitment, retention, and development of feeder networks to enhance representation of the Georgia State University (GSU) Occupational Therapy Doctoral (OTD) graduate program. Equity Theory is at the foundation of this project due to addressing facilitators and barriers to access of and retention within OTD graduate programs for underrepresented groups (URGs). ACOTE Area Several ACOTE areas are addressed in this capstone project, including Education, Leadership, and Advocacy. Advocacy is the primary driver as this project proposes widespread awareness of and access to the OT profession and graduate education, including to URGs and marginalized communities. Methods An extensive review of various sources (i.e., peer-reviewed journal articles, online articles, national database, anecdotal interviews, etc.) was conducted and further analyzed by qualitative methods (i.e., thematic and content analysis) to identify the best, evidenced-based practices for diverse recruitment, retention, and feeder network development, particularly to be implemented by the GSU OTD program. Results Evidence-based representative recruitment and feeder network development strategies mostly consists of emphasizing personal contact, broadening outreach, strategic promotion of the program, enhancing holistic admissions practices, leveraging internal (GSU) and external partnerships, and maintaining consistent follow-up with prospective students. Evidence-based representative retention strategies mainly highlight enhancing academic, financial, and social support for students, including broadening and personalizing mentorship opportunities. Conclusions and Relevance Emphasizing personal contact and providing various resources of academic, financial, and inclusive community supports would improve recruitment, retention, and feeder network development within the GSU OTD graduate program. Future research should provide long-term studies to assess the effectiveness of these strategies among OTD graduate programs in successfully graduating more representative student bodies who enter the workforce and thrive as OTPs, providing culturally attuned, quality care to their clients/patients. In addition, comparative studies could assess differences in outcomes for OTD graduate programs with and without diverse feeder networks.