Scheepers, NalizeVan Vuuren, SantieVan Jaarsveld, A.2018-07-042018-07-042018http://hdl.handle.net/11660/8670English: Sensory integration, as a field of specialisation, originated in the profession of occupational therapy. Successfully and purposefully engaging in the activities of everyday life depends partially on sensory integration. Postgraduate training in sensory integration is highly sought after, both nationally and internationally. However, training aimed at achieving advanced competencies in sensory integration and advancing it as a specialist field in occupational therapy is currently not part of a higher education qualification in South Africa. The few available international training programmes, rooted in the work of Jean Ayres, the originator of sensory integration, are focused on foundational competencies of theory, assessment and intervention. At present, there are no advanced or contextualized training programmes relevant for developing countries such as South Africa. The purpose of this study was to design a curriculum, relevant to the South African context but also internationally acknowledged, for a professional occupational therapy master’s degree in sensory integration (M OT (SI)), designed to train occupational therapists with advanced competencies, able to meet the needs of all those individuals and their families who struggle with sensory integration difficulties and dysfunctions, whilst also adding to the extant body of knowledge in the field. In the design of the curriculum, the candidate took an axiological stance, setting out to discover and/or confirm practical, real-world knowledge, offering advanced opportunities to attain the competencies needed to solve real-world problems in the field of sensory integration. Pragmatic knowledge needed to be created, and an epistemology of pragmatism was therefore followed using educational design research as a methodology. Using the flexible and iterative features of this methodology, drawing mainly on qualitative methods but also on one strand of quantitative research, the candidate arrived at a final curriculum, ready for submission to the relevant institutional and statutory processes of approval and accreditation. The research process included an analysis and exploration phase, comprising one micro-cycle, leading to a first skeleton prototype of the curriculum. Five objectives were set, including a data-generating activity involving international experts in the field of Ayres Sensory Integration (ASI®). The second and most comprehensive phase of the research process was the design and construction phase. This comprised three micro-cycles, each with its own aim and phase objectives. The data on the views and opinions of various stakeholders ensured contextual relevancy. Combining these with the data generated on the challenges and enablers of master students in occupational therapy, the candidate designed and constructed a further two evolving prototypes of the curriculum, culminating in prototype 3. Submitting this prototype once again to the views and opinions both of international experts in ASI® and of curriculum experts, allowed for conclusive refinement of the design, arriving at the final curriculum set as the aim of the study. Taking into account the ‘unending’ processes of institutional and statutory curriculum approval and accreditation, the candidate set a delimitation to the study, which was concluded with the final intended curriculum. Throughout the design process, knowledge was created for future use. This was fed back into the ontological stance of the candidate as she searched for realistic knowledge that was context-appropriate. In writing up of the design process, she created and documented theoretical understandings in the form of the emerging design requirements and design propositions. It is the candidate’s hope that the curriculum, once delivered, will open up an additional, specialist career pathway for occupational therapists, advancing service delivery and expanding the knowledge base in the field. A further hope is that this study will raise awareness and cultivate the use of educational design research in the development of curriculums, especially in the profession of occupational therapy.Afrikaans: Sensoriese integrasie, as 'n spesialiteitsrigting, het ontstaan in die beroepsveld van arbeidsterapie. Suksesvolle en doelgerigte betrokkenheid by aktiwiteite van die alledaagse lewe is gedeeltelik afhanklik van sensoriese integrasie. Nagraadse opleiding in sensoriese integrasie is hoogs gesog, beide nasionaal en internasionaal. Opleiding wat daarop gemik is om gevorderde bevoegdhede in sensoriese integrasie te bekom en dit as spesialisveld in arbeidsterapie te bevorder, is egter nie huidiglik deel van 'n hoër-onderwyskwalifikasie in Suid-Afrika nie. Beperkte *beskikbare internasionale opleidingsprogramme wat geanker is in die werk van Jean Ayres, die outeur van sensoriese integrasie, is gefokus op fundamentele bevoegdhede van teorie, assessering en intervensie. Op die oomblik is daar geen gevorderde of gekontekstualiseerde opleidingsprogramme wat relevant is vir ontwikkelende lande soos Suid-Afrika nie. Die doel van hierdie studie was om 'n kurrikulum te ontwerp wat relevant is vir die Suid- Afrikaanse konteks, maar ook internasionaal erken word as 'n professionele arbeidsterapie-meestersgraad in sensoriese integrasie (M OT (SI)), ontwerp om arbeidsterapeute op te lei met gevorderde bevoegdhede wat sal kan voldoen aan die behoeftes van al die individue en hul gesinne wat uitdagings beleef met sensoriese integrasieprobleme en disfunksies, en terselfdertyd ook bydra tot die bestaande kennis van die veld. In die ontwerp van die kurrikulum het die kandidaat 'n aksiologiese houding ingeneem om die praktiese kennis van die wêreld te ontdek en/of te bevestig, wat gevorderde geleenthede bied om vaardighede te bekom wat nodig is om werklike-wêreld-probleme op die gebied van sensoriese integrasie op te los. Pragmatiese kennis moes geskep word, en 'n epistemologie van pragmatisme is nagevolg deur gebruik te maak van opvoedkundige ontwerpnavorsing as 'n metodologie. Die buigsame en iteratiewe kenmerke van hierdie metodologie is gebruik, en deur hoofsaaklik op kwalitatiewe metodes, maar ook een kwantitatiewe metode van navorsing te steun, was die kandidaat instaat om 'n finale kurrikulum te ontwerp wat gereed is vir voorlegging aan die betrokke institusionele en statutêre prosesse van goedkeuring en akkreditasie. Die navorsingsproses het 'n analise en eksplorasiefase ingesluit, bestaande uit ‘n enkele mikro-siklus, wat gelei tot 'n eerste geraamte prototipe van die kurrikulum. Daar was vyf doelwitte gestel, insluitende 'n data-genererende aktiwiteit wat internasionale kundiges op die gebied van Ayres Sensoriese Integrasie® (ASI®) ingesluit het. Die tweede en mees omvattende fase van die navorsingsproses was die ontwerpen konstruksiefase. Dit het bestaan uit drie mikro-siklusse, elk met sy eie doel en fase doelwitte. Die data oor die standpunte en menings van verskeie belanghebbendes het kontekstuele relevansie verseker. Deur hierdie data te kombineer met die data wat gegenereer was oor die uitdagings en moontlikhede van meesterstudente in arbeidsterapie, het die kandidaat 'n verdere twee ontwikkelende prototipes van die kurrikulum ontwerp en saamgestel, wat uitgeloop op prototipe 3. Hierdie prototipe was aan die standpunte en menings van internasionale kundiges in ASI® en kurrikulumdeskundiges blootgestel, wat toegelaat het vir beslissende afrondings om te kon eindig met die finale kurrikulum wat as doel van die studie gestel was. Met inagneming van die 'oneindige' prosesse van institusionele en statutêre kurrikulum goedkeuring en akkreditasie, het die kandidaat 'n afbakening gestel vir die studie, naamlik om met die finale beoogde kurrikulum die navorsingsproses af te sluit. Kennis vir toekomstige gebruik is voortdurend tydens die ontwerpproses geskep. Dit het teruggevoer na die ontologiese stand van die kandidaat, aangesien sy gesoek het na realistiese kennis wat kontekstoepaslik was. Tydens die opskryf van die ontwerpproses het sy teoretiese begrippe geskep en gedokumenteer in die vorm van die ontluikende ontwerpvereistes en ontwerpvoorstelle. Dit is die kandidaat se hoop dat die kurrikulum, sodra dit gelewer word, 'n addisionele, spesialisloopbaan roete vir arbeidsterapeute daar sal stel, wat dienslewering sal bevorder en die kennisbasis van die veld sal uitbrei. 'n Verdere hoop is dat hierdie studie bewustheid sal kweek, en die gebruik van opvoedkundige ontwerpnavorsing in die ontwikkeling van kurrikulums, veral in die beroep van arbeidsterapie, sal bevorder.enOccupational therapySensory integrationCurriculumContextual relevancyEducational design researchThesis (Ph.D. (Occupational Therapy))--University of the Free State, 2018Educational design research: designing a professional master's curriculum for sensory integration training within the South African contextThesisUniversity of the Free State