Ethics, Moral Reasoning and Professional Virtue in Occupational Therapy Education

Concerns about the right ways of behaving towards others have been around for centuries and are clearly influenced by social and historical contexts. The feminist concept of health-care ethics as a commitment to fostering health empowerment *** still in its infancy but is especially appropriate to the practice of occupational therapy. It calls for a much wider interpretation of ethics than is common in bioethics literature but one that clearly affects all professional relationships because of their inherently moral nature. Replicating a study in the United Kingdom (UK), a survey of the occupational therapy educational programmes in Canada was undertaken to determine what is being taught about ethics. As in the UK, the picture is quite confused. This paper outlines the results of the Canadian study and discusses the concerns that arise for the practice of occupational therapy as a moral endeavour.