Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

This course covers 92 of the 163 competencies required by Federal Standards and Scope of Practice Guidelines governing activity programs and professionals. The competency areas include knowledge of services, documentation, advocacy, activity program designs for individuals and groups, residents rights, and quality of life and care issues.

Students successfully completing the course will be able to:

1. Work as an activity professional in long term care facilities, adult daycare, and community settings to deliver appropriate and effective activity programs that enhance the quality of life and care of elder and disabled persons, complete required documentation, and adhere to the standards of practice for the field.

2. Meet the standards of practice for development and implementation of comprehensive activity programs for all levels of cognitive and physical functioning.

3. Meet eligibility standards for certification for the National Certification Council of Activity Professionals (NCCAP) and the National Association of Activity Professionals (NAAP), when combined with required academic, continuing education, and work experience.

1. Students will be able to apply the 92 competencies based on the standards and scope of practice that surveyors use to judge their activity programs and outcomes for clients.

2. Students will have confidence in their professional activity skills to provide services needed to enhance quality of life and prevent or alleviate isolation, depression, and declines in physical, cognitive, and emotional well being. 

3. They will successfully pass the certification exams of either the NCCAP or the NAAP.

While this class is presented in the online format, it also requires that the student have a mentoring sponsor in a qualified facility that is a Skilled Long Term Facility, an Assisted Living Facility, or an Alzheimer's (Memory Care) Unit.  The sponsor must be the Administrator, Director of Nursing or a National Certified Activity Professional.  The student will complete required work or internship hours at that facility and complete seven Practicum Assignments covering these major areas of the competencies - knowledge of services, documentation, advocacy, activity program designs for individuals and groups, residents rights, and quality of life and care issues.

1. Assessment of assignments, examinations, and work-based learning of 92 of the 163 competencies.

2. Assessment of the seven Practicum Assignments based on the standards of practice.

3. Assessment by the sponsoring facility mentor of the student's competencies, applied understanding of the standards of practice, and adherence to professional ethics. 

The course content is designed to promote acquisition of the following knowledge and skills:

*Defining professional activity services based on the guidelines and regulations as delineated by state regulatory and surveyor implementation standards.

*Implementing an activity program within various healthcare structures and populations for the elderly and disabled.

*Communicating and documenting within the healthcare system and within interdisciplinary healthcare team structures.

*Demonstrating ethical delivery of activity services and contemporary professional issues.

*Documenting and providing legal and regulatory accountability of activity services and practices, with respect to quality of life and quality of care.

*Applying theories of older adult development (psychological and physiological) and family and community influences on the older person.

*Applying general knowledge of common diseases and conditions in the care of elders and persons with disabilities.

*Applying geriatric assessment for behavior, psychosocial interests, cognitive abilities, and physical levels, cultural and functional quality of life issues.

*Applying principles for designing, writing and implementing care plan goals and approaches, and completing documentation using the Medical Data Services and Care Area Assessment, Activity Quarterly Reports, and Care Conference Notations.

*Applying principles for individual and group activities for quality of life meeting spiritual, physical, intellectual, emotional and social needs with documentation of outcomes for individuals.

*Implementing volunteer programming, community outreach and advocacy issue for the elder and disabled populations.

*Applying principles of the professional relationship between practitioner and clients, respecting the client's right to self-determination and assuming the caregiver's responsibility for protection.