ERGOB2000 Rehabilitation, Habilitation and Intervention, Part 1 Course description

The occupational therapist’s interventions in rehabilitation, habilitation and treatment are based on the limitations people experience in relation to occupation and participation. These limitations may be due to individual factors such as illness, injuries or functional impairment, or factors at a system level such as exclusion, marginalisation or other social conditions. The term ‘disability’ is normally used in Norway about the gap between a person’s preconditions and what their environment requires. Occupational therapists contribute to reducing this gap, among others by training and guiding people, adapting and grading activities and adapting the environment. In this course, examples are provided of occupational therapy with children, adolescents, adults and the elderly.

The student must have passed the first year of the programme or equivalent.

After completing the course, the student is expected to have achieved the following learning outcomes defined in terms of knowledge, skills and general competence:;

Knowledge;

The student is capable of;

• describing occupational therapists' approach, theory, models, work tasks and processes in rehabilitation, habilitation and intervention
• describing the most common mental disorders and explaining their consequences for occupation and participation
• describing the most common diagnoses in neurology, orthopaedics, rheumatology and internal medicine and explain the consequences for occupation and participation
• describing developmental disorders, concurrent illnesses and age-related illnesses, and explaining the consequences for occupation and participation

Skills;

The student is capable of

• showing initiative and skills in therapeutic communication
• mapping and assessing physical and cognitive functions and motor, processes, communication and interaction skills to set goals and explain the choice of intervention
• applying activity analysis, activity-based tools and therapeutic use of activity in mapping, assessment and intervention
• applying a client-focus and systematic work process model in mapping and intervention
• adapting and applying creative and expressive activities for individuals and groups
• planning and facilitating the participation of people with functional impairments in meaningful and valuable occupations

General competence

The student is capable of

• presenting, discussing and reflecting on choices of intervention, both in writing and in the teaching of fellow students
• identifying and reflecting on ethical dilemmas encountered when working with people with challenges in relation to occupation and participation

Work and teaching methods comprise seminars with case-based teaching, skills training, activity analysis and lectures. The students work individually and in groups and with student-driven teaching.

In order to be permitted to sit the exam, the following must have been approved:;

• a minimum of 80 per cent attendance in scheduled teaching;

The programme was established under the Act relating to Universities and University Colleges and the Regulations relating to Studies and Examinations at OsloMet – Oslo Metropolitan University.

Candidates who pass the programme will be awarded the degree Master of Health Sciences (Norwegian: Master i helsevitenskap) in accordance with Section 3 of the Regulations concerning Requirements for the Master's Degrees. A specialisation in one of the following 15 specialisations forms part of the master’s degree programme:

Specialisations for applicants with backgrounds in health or social care:

• Health Sciences
• Empowerment and Health Promotion
• Mental Health and Addiction
• Rehabilitation and Habilitation

Specialisations for applicants who are authorised health personnel in the specified professional fields:

• Nutrition for Health Personnel
• Occupational Therapy
• Physiotherapy for Children and Adolescents
• Physiotherapy for the Older Adult
• Physiotherapy for Musculoskeletal Health
• Psychomotor Physiotherapy
• Advanced Nursing Practice
• Public Health Nursing
• Cancer Nursing
• Nursing – Clinical Research and Professional Development

Specialisations for applicants from the professional field of nutrition:

• Public Health Nutrition

The specialisation will also be stated on the diploma alongside the name of the degree: Master of Health Sciences.

The master’s degree programme has a scope of 120 ECTS credits. Some of the specialisations are taken full-time over two years, while others are taken part-time over three or four years.

The programme comprises compulsory common courses, compulsory specialisation courses and elective courses, in addition to the master’s thesis. A more detailed overview of the programme’s structure for each specialisation is given under the section Content and structure.

According to the UN Agenda 2030, a prerequisite for achieving sustainable development is that everyone is able to live healthy lives. The Master’s Degree Programme in Health Sciences is primarily aimed at the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3, Good Health and Well-being, while SDGs 4, 5 and 10 on ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all, and achieving gender equality and reducing inequality, are also relevant. The 17 SDGs must be seen as a whole, however, where each goal is seen in conjunction with the others. The purpose of the programme is therefore to educate candidates who are qualified to help to ensure good health and promote quality of life for everyone, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, education, sexuality and functional ability, while also attempting to address considerations relating to sustainability, including life-long learning.

The students taking the programme can choose a specialisation in health promotion, illness prevention, treatment, palliative care and (re)habilitation work. The programme teaches the students to handle professional problems at the individual, group and system level in close cooperation with other professions, patients, users, next of kin and other services. The candidates should also be able to contribute to safe, effective, holistic and integrated services with good use of resources, and to innovation, improvement work and systematic user involvement.

Relevance to working life

Possible fields of work and careers after completing the programme include:

• research and development in the health sciences
• teaching, development and advisory functions in the guidance, administration and dissemination of knowledge in the health professions
• clinical work that is based on specialised expertise
• health and social care management positions

Relevance to further education

Students taking the Master's Degree Programme in Health Sciences who choose to write a master’s thesis worth 50 ECTS credits can apply for admission to the research programme for health sciences while taking the master’s programme. This is taken in parallel to and as an extension of the master’s programme. The research programme develops researcher expertise over and above that provided during the master’s programme and results in a research work that can later form part of a PhD-level work.

Candidates with a Master's Degree in Health Sciences are qualified to apply for admission to PhD programmes, including the PhD Programme in Health Sciences at OsloMet.

Specialisations

The Master's Degree Programme in Health Sciences has a number of specialisations that candidates can choose. Applicants must choose and apply directly for the specialisation they wish to take when applying for the master’s programme. The specialisations are subject to different admission requirements. However, the students will take a significant part of the programme together with students from the other specialisations, partly through compulsory common courses and partly through elective courses across the specialisations. More information about this is found in the section Content and structure.

MAELD: Physiotherapy for Older Adults

This specialisation will give students special qualifications in physiotherapy for the older adult. The older adults as a target group, defined as over 65 years, is growing. A key health policy goal is that older adults are able to live at home as long as possible, and the specialisation therefore focuses on physiotherapy as part of the municipal services for users living at home. The physiotherapy service’s area of responsibility broadly encompasses health promotion, prevention, diagnostics, treatment and rehabilitation. This requires up-to-date and evidence-based knowledge in the fields of gerontology and geriatrics, and more particularly in age-related movement and function. The specialisation focuses on professional practice and emphasises the importance of continuous professional development and dissemination of up-to-date knowledge.

Admission takes place directly to the chosen specialisation. The requirement for admission to the Master’s Degree Programme in Health Sciences is a bachelor's degree or an equivalent degree within a specified field, with an average grade of at least C. However, an average grade of C does not guarantee admission. If the number of qualified applicants exceeds the number of places on the programme, the applicants will be ranked according to the applicable ranking rules.

Admission to individual courses

For admission to individual courses, the admission requirements are described in the course description. The grade C requirement does not apply to admission to individual courses. More information about admission to individual courses can be found on the programme’s website.

Reference is made to the Regulations relating to Admission to Studies at OsloMet. The specialisations and single courses will only be run if a sufficient number of qualified candidates apply.

Admission requirements for the Specialisation in Physiotherapy for Older Adults

A bachelor's degree or an equivalent degree in physiotherapy. Applicants must also hold Norwegian authorisation as a physiotherapist. Applicants with an internship license can also be admitted.

A maximum of one additional point is awarded for relevant education beyond the minimum requirement. By relevant education is meant higher education in health and social care subjects, teaching-related subjects and psychology, where the main focus is on older adults, geriatrics and gerontology.

Grade scale A-F.

The master’s programme is designed to be comprehensive, and the academic content and educational tools are interlinked, showing a clear context between learning outcome descriptions, learning activities and forms of assessment.

The Master’s Degree Programme in Health Sciences has three or four compulsory common courses, depending on the chosen specialisation. In addition to these, there are at least two compulsory specialisation courses for each specific specialisation, and a master’s thesis worth either 30 or 50 ECTS credits, depending on the specialisation. The students can also choose one or more elective courses depending on their chosen specialisation. This does not apply to the specialisations cancer nursing, public health nursing and mental health and addiction as they only have compulsory courses in their programme structures.

The courses in the programme description build to some extent on each other to ensure progress, with increasing requirements for knowledge and understanding within each specialisation. The courses are mainly taken over the course of the semester, with start-up at the start of the semester and examinations towards the end. The exceptions are certain compulsory specialisation courses that include external supervised practical training.

The academic year is 40 weeks long, and the expected workload for a full-time student is 40 hours per week. This includes scheduled activities, students’ own study activity and examinations. The course descriptions provide more details about learning outcomes, work methods, coursework requirements and examinations.

Content of compulsory common courses

The programme includes a compulsory common course MAVIT4100 Quality Improvement and Implementation of Evidence-based Practice, 10 ECTS credits. The purpose of this course is to enable students to actively contribute to promoting safe and high-quality health and care services. By health and care services is meant both public and approved private services, as well as health promoting work in the public and private sectors. The course introduces students to the organisation and management of health and care services, and prepares for interprofessional quality improvement work. It also gives students experience of interprofessional quality improvement cooperation. Through the course, the students will learn about different quality improvement models and the interaction between user knowledge, experience-based knowledge and research-based knowledge in clinical decision-making processes.

There are also three common courses in the theory of science and research methods: MAVIT4050 Theory of Science and Research Methods, 10 ECTS credits, MAVIT4060 Qualitative and Quantitative Research Methods, 10 ECTS credits and MAVIT4070/MAELD4070 Research Design and Project Description, 10 ECTS credits. These courses aim to help the student to read, understand and critically assess research literature, to critically assess various sources of knowledge that form part of clinical decision-making processes, to acquire in-depth knowledge of qualitative and quantitative research methods, and lead up to the development of a project description for their master’s thesis.

In the first course, MAVIT4050, the students are introduced to theory of science and research methods and research ethics.

The second course, MAVIT4060, provides students with a deeper understanding of qualitative and quantitative research methods.

The third course, MAVIT4070/MAELD4070, the students will work more thoroughly with their chosen method and develop a project description for their master’s thesis. This is to ensure that the students get to grips with work on their master’s thesis at an early stage.

Master’s thesis – 30 and 50 ECTS credits

The master’s thesis in the programme is worth 50 ECTS credits (MAVIT5900/MAELD5900) or 30 ECTS credits (MAVIT5910), respectively. Whether the students are able to choose the scope of their master’s thesis depends on the specialisation they have been admitted to. Normally students will develop a project description as part of the course MAVIT4070/MAELD4070 Research Design and Project Description, 10 ECTS credits. The project description is developed with the support of the lecturer, who quality assures the project with respect to scope and degree of difficulty.

The same requirements apply to scientific and research-related work regardless of the length of the thesis. Students can choose to write the master’s thesis individually or in pairs. Students can also apply to write the master’s thesis with students from other specialisations, provided that the scope of the master’s thesis is the same. On application, interdisciplinary innovation projects can be written in groups of up to four students. Students are encouraged to contact potential supervisors about possible project ideas.

Elective courses

In the course of the master’s programme, the students can choose one or more elective courses depending on their chosen specialisation. This does not apply to the specialisations cancer nursing, public health nursing and mental health and addiction as they only have compulsory courses in their programme structures. Which elective courses that are available will vary. These elective courses cover a broad area of the health sciences. Students must apply for a place on elective courses no later than the semester before, subject to specific deadlines. More information about the elective courses can be found here. https://student.oslomet.no/valgemner-master-helsevitenskap

There will be an upper limit for places on each elective course. Elective courses could be cancelled by the Faculty if enrolment is below the minimum of 20 students.

The following courses are elective for all students taking the Master’s Programme in Health Sciences:

MAFAR4100 Innovation within Healthcare, 10 ECTS credits.

MAVIT4600 Supervision / Counselling, 10 ECTS credits

MAVIT4700 Food, Health and Sustainability, 10 ECTS credits

MAVIT4800 Personalised Nutrition, 10 ECTS credits

MAVIT4900 Quality of Life, 10 ECTS credits

MAVIT5100 Health communication 10 ECTS credits

MAVIT5300 Knowledge Translation, 10 ECTS credits

MAVIT5500 Adolescent Health, 10 ECTS credits.

MAVIT5600 Physical Activity and Exercise in a Life Course Perspective and with a Special Focus on Aging, 10 ECTS credits

MAVIT5700 Pain – Multidimensional Assessment and Health Professional Interventions, 10 ECTS credits

MAVIT5800 Introduction to Clinical Studies for Healthcare Personnel, 10 ECTS credits

MAPSY4400 Mental Health of Migrants and Minorities, 10 ECTS credits

MSLV4200 Collaboration and collaborative management, 10 ECTS credits

MAVIT4400 Clinical Neurophysiology, 10 ECTS credits

VSHSO6000 Sexual Abuse - Prevention, Detection and Follow up, 10 ECTS credits

VSHFS6000 The Impacts of Disability and Illness on Sexual Health, 10 ECTS credits

HETEK4300 Bacteriology and Antimicrobial Resistance, 10 ECTS credits

The following courses are elective for students at the Master’s Programme in Health Sciences with relevant prerequisites:

Students can also choose some compulsory specialisation courses from other specialisations as elective courses. This is on condition that the student meets the prerequisite requirements given in the relevant course description and that there is a place on the course. This applies to:

The student must have been admitted to the Master’s Programme in Health Sciences.

MAEMP4100 Public Health, Empowerment and Health Promotion, 10 ECTS credits

MAEMP4200 Health Pedagogy, 10 ECTS credits

MAHAB4100 Coping and Participation in the Rehabilitation Process, 10 ECTS credits

The student must have been admitted to the Master’s Programme in Health Sciences and hold authorisation as healthcare personnel.

MAERN4100 Energy and Nutrients, 10 ECTS credits

MERG4200 Complex Interventions in Work and Everyday Life, 10 ECTS credits

The student must have been admitted to the Master’s Programme in Health Sciences and have 20 ECTS credits in nutrition

MAPHN4100 National and Global Nutrition Challenges, 10 ECTS credits

The student must have been admitted to the Master’s Programme in Health Sciences and hold authorisation as a general nurse.

MAKLI4200 Practical Ethics, 10 ECTS credits

MAKRE4100 Nursing and Treatment for Patients with Cancer, 10 ECTS credits

The student must have been admitted to the Master’s Programme in Health Sciences and hold authorisation as an occupational therapist.

MERG4100 The Knowledge Base for Occupation and Participation, 10 ECTS credits

The student must have been admitted to the Master’s Programme in Health Sciences and hold authorisation as a physiotherapist.

MABU4100 Physiotherapy for Children and Adolescents - Part 1, 10 ECTS credits

MAELD4100 Physiotherapy for Home-dwelling Older Adults, 10 ECTS credits

Study progress

The following progress requirements apply to the programme:

MAVIT4070/MAELD4070 must be passed before the student can start working on the master's thesis.

All compulsory courses in the programme must be passed before the student can submit their master's thesis for assessment.

Some courses may have separate progress requirements; see the individual course descriptions.

See the course descriptions for MAELD4100 and MAELD4200 for a more detailed description of the content of the specialisation courses.