OCTD-602 & 706: Community Justice and Wellness
OCTD-602 and OCTD-706
Dr. Joan Tunningley
With Cincinnati Children's, Cincinnati Headstart, LAAD, Starfire, Cradle Cincinnati
For Xavier’s occupational therapy doctorate students, study goes hand in hand with the traditional Jesuit values of solidarity, kinship, and service. Dr. Joan Tunningley, who is instructing two community-engaged courses for the occupational therapy doctorate curriculum this semester, believes the values of occupational therapy support justice for all members of a community. “Occupational therapists promote inclusion, equity, health, wellness, quality of life, and ability for all individuals to access meaningful engagement throughout their life,” she says. By assigning reading and delivering lectures which allow students to develop a greater understanding of how their field of study impacts the quality of life for their community, Dr. Tunningley translates such values into both her OCTD-602 and OCTD-706 courses.
OCTD-602 is a pediatric lab course in which students have the chance to design opportunities to help support their individual sites as they provide services to children with particular needs. Although the semester is only halfway through, Dr. Tunningley has noticed her students in this class developing their proficiency in engaging with children across racial and academic differences and inclusion for all children.
OCTD-706 is a course in population and community health where pairs of students work with community nonprofits in a variety of opportunities and experiences. Over the course of the semester, each student completes a focused project with and for the organization. By focusing their efforts on organizations which provide services to communities with specific needs, the students in OCTD-706 have grown in their understanding of the populations they have served and gained a deeper understanding of the disparities affecting those populations’ wellness. For example, Dr. Tunningley mentions the differences in infant mortality rates for black versus white infants, an injustice experienced locally in Hamilton County.
These opportunities have allowed doctorate students to further their understanding of how occupational therapy interventions benefit individuals, communities, and organizations by promoting both mental and physical wellness. Dr. Tunningley has found that her “courses with service-learning components promoted students’ motivation, memory, and engagement with the learning process when they can actually implement interventions within the community sites.”
Dr. Tunningley’s students also walk away from these community-engaged courses feeling a deeper sense of community with their colleagues and those who they partner with in their service. Students in the occupational therapy doctoral program are placed in cohorts with whom they work in nearly all their courses throughout the three-year program, and opportunities like service-learning classes allow them an opportunity to get to know each other on a level not limited to academic assignments. Likewise, community is built among those involved at the students’ community sites – Dr. Tunningley holds the sites’ feedback as one of the most influential parts of the service-learning experience, which have stated the extremely high impact of the Occupational Therapy student service for the residents with intellectual disabilities.
Dr. Tunningley herself has found growth within teaching two service-learning courses. She says, “I think cultural humility, inclusion, and respect for diversity are lifelong processes. These learning opportunities contribute to my empathy and compassion for others.”