增進專業認同一直是各專業用以提升服務品質的策略之一,本研究之目的是探討職能治療師對職能治療專業的認同情形、影響認同感之因素以及提升專業認同感之建議。本研究以郵寄問卷的方式進行,研究者由2004年台灣職能治療學會通訊錄中,進行隨機抽樣,共抽出200位樣本以寄發問卷。回收67份,回收率33.5%。填答者平均年齡為33.6歲(SD=6.5);共有49 位女性,佔73.1%。回收問卷中,填答者的工作機構中,醫學中心佔多數,共43.3%。服務年資以5~10年佔多數,共37.3%。工作領域別中,38.8%從事「心理疾病職能治療」,佔最多數。居住者以北部為最多,佔35.8%。教育程度方面,59.7%具有大學之學歷。影響職能治療師的專業認同之因素依序為:「實習時的老師」、「大學實習」、、「家屬病患對職能治療師的肯定」、「醫療團隊中的重要性」、「醫療團隊中的自主性」。其中,「大學實習」與「實習時的老師」兩因素與先前研究影響大學生專業認同感之因素相同。職能治療師提及用以提升認同感之建議,包括:改善工作環境、加強職能治療之行銷及增加在職進修等。本文是首篇調查台灣的職能治療師之專業認同感情形。研究結果顯示,越喜歡職能治療及工作環境、年資越高、年齡越大、越喜歡與人接觸且月收入越高的臨床治療師,其專業認同感越高。此外,年資越高、月收入越高、年齡越大者越瞭解職能治療;年齡越大、越喜歡與人接觸者越喜歡職能治療專業。顯現了個人特質對專業認同感之重要影響。迴歸分析之結果顯示,「喜不喜歡職能治療」是預測認同感程度的最顯著因子。因此,可藉由提升對職能治療的喜歡度,來強化工作者之專業認同程度。
A sense of the professional identity is an important factor that influences the quality of professional service. The purpose of the study is to investigate the current status of the professional identity of occupational therapists, the various factors that are related to this and finally to provide some suggestions in this area. The study was carried out by mail survey. In 2004, we randomly sampled 200 subjects from phone book of the Taiwan Occupational Therapy Association. Sixty-seven subjects returned the questionnaire, a return rate of 33.5%. The mean age of the subjects was 33.6 years old (SD=6.5). Of these, 49 were females (73.1%) and 43.3% worked at medical center. Most of the subjects had worked for between 5 and 10 years in occupational therapy. In term of specialty, many of the subjects worked in the psychiatric area (38.8%). The result showed that there is a statistical significant difference in professional identity between occupational therapists with different degree of liking for the profession as well as in terms of workplace, work age, monthly income and specialty. Moreover, therapists who work longer, had a higher monthly income and were older were found to be more optimistic toward the future of occupational therapy. The following factors were shown to be related to professional identity: instructors of the level Ⅱ fieldwork, occupational therapy level Ⅱ fieldwork, reassurance from the clients' families, the importance of occupational therapist to the medical team and autonomy within the medical team. This is the first study to examine the current status of professional identity among occupational therapists in Taiwan. The results suggest that the degree of the liking of the profession influences the degree of professional identity. College educators and professional organization need to promote the image of the profession via the media and enhance the degree to which the profession of the occupational therapist is liked.