Syllabus and Regulations for the Diploma in Occupational Therapy

“Syllabus and Regulations for the Diploma” by Association of Occupational Therapists, blue cover, with Valerie Davis’ name, during her qualification to be an occupational therapist, 1954-1957

Valerie Davis, like all the other candidates for a diploma in Occupational Therapy, had to take courses in anatomy, physiology, psychology and first aid. As part of their final examination, they also had to take papers in their specialisation, submit craft samples, attend practice sessions, and have an oral exam.

Valerie Davis qualified as an occupational therapist, aged 25 in 1957. Like many women of her generation, she stopped working once she married but was also living far from her nearest hospital. Her son remembers that his mother’s occupational therapy knowledge influenced the way she interacted with the world how she cared for her family, both in health and illness. Valerie Davis did return to practice in the 1970s, working at the OT department at the Royal East Sussex Hospital. However, changes in the NHS impacted how occupational therapy was carried out. Focusing more on aids and adaptations rather than the craft practice Valerie had learnt, she felt that the overall well-being and development of competence with the people she helped was often overlooked.