Customize Your OTD Experience
At Des Moines University Medicine and Health Sciences, you can personalize your Doctor of Occupational Therapy education by choosing from four concentration tracks aligned with your professional interests and career goals.
Each concentration offers opportunities to explore a specialty area through coursework, experiential learning, fieldwork and your doctoral capstone project, while still providing the comprehensive education needed to become an entry-level occupational therapist.
One Degree. Four Areas of Focus.
Students in the Doctor of Occupational Therapy program can choose from four concentration areas: general practice, pediatrics, rehabilitation or wellness. Whether you’re passionate about working with children, helping individuals recover from injury, promoting health and well-being or keeping your options open, DMU offers areas of focus that support your interests and professional goals.
General Practice
Designed for students whose interests are broad, evolving or span multiple practice settings.
Why Choose This Concentration?
- Maximum flexibility throughout the program
- Opportunity to explore a variety of occupational therapy practice areas
- No required concentration-specific elective
- Ability to tailor fieldwork and capstone experiences to individual interests
Pediatrics
Focus on occupational therapy services for infants, children, adolescents and families across educational, clinical and community settings.
The pediatrics concentration is ideal for students interested in careers in schools, pediatric clinics, hospitals, early intervention programs and community-based settings.
Areas of Emphasis
- Child Development
- Family-Centered Care
- School-Based Practice
- Pediatric Participation and Engagement
Rehabilitation
Explore occupational therapy interventions that support recovery, adaptation, technology and participation for individuals experiencing illness, injury or disability.
The rehabilitation concentration may be appealing to students interested in inpatient rehabilitation, outpatient therapy, acute care and neurological rehabilitation settings.
Areas of Emphasis
- Rehabilitation Practice
- Adaptive Interventions
- Assistive Technology
- Recovery-Oriented Care
Wellness
Learn how occupational therapists promote health and well-being, support meaningful participation and enhance quality of life across populations and communities.
The wellness concentration supports students interested in prevention, community health, population health initiatives and wellness-focused practice.
Areas of Emphasis
- Health Promotion
- Prevention and Wellness
- Occupational Well-Being
- Population Health
- Health Coaching
How Do Concentrations Work?
Students in the wellness, rehabilitation and pediatrics concentrations engage in a series of intentionally aligned learning experiences that allow them to explore an area of professional interest in greater depth while maintaining the broad preparation expected of an entry-level occupational therapist.
These experiences include:
- Concentration-aligned coursework and assignments
- Research and scholarly projects
- Fieldwork experiences
- Doctoral capstone development and implementation
As part of the concentration experience, students complete one required elective aligned with their selected area of focus. Students in the general practice concentration may choose any available elective or may opt not to complete a concentration-specific elective. This approach allows students to build focused knowledge, apply their interests across multiple parts of the curriculum and develop emerging expertise in a specialty area without narrowing the breadth or flexibility of their Doctor of Occupational Therapy education.