Learning Experience at
NTU Hospital
Jaana Haapala
Second year OT student from JAMK, Finland
How did I expect
Taiwan to be?
How was it?
What´s Your Colour?
• Pick one color that best describes your
mood right now and tell the others why you
chose it.
• Thank you for
participating in this
warm-up activity 
Why we just did that?
• Adaptability and flexibility are some
of the personal and professional
characteristics one can gain from
international practice.
• As an OT you will continually end up in
unexpected and surprising situations,
thus an ability to think outside the box
is needed.
Unexpected situations
Coping strategies
Openmindness; trying everything!!
Being a mascot!!
Coping strategies
Coping strategies
Eating even more!!
Learning
• My tasks included observing different OT
interventions, reading books and assessment
methods, familiarising myself with different
kinds of tool in use, and planning a few
activities.
• I also got to practise Sollerman Handfunction
test and wrote assessments for JAMK.
Need some prove?
• Here is Peter right before passing the test!!
• Case Sue, a Taiwanese girls who has autism
Nervous? Trust me!
What´s JAMK?
• JAMK is a university of applied sciences (a
polytechnic) in Jyväskylä, Finland, in the
region of Central Finland.
• JAMK offers three degree programmes in
English:
– Logistics Engineering
– International Business
– Nursing
JAMK
• For exchange students, JAMK offers courses,
summer programmes and practical training
for example; on an area of Occupational
Therapy.
• Visit http://www.jamk.fi/en/Home/ for
more information and apply for one of the
(literally) coolest programs ever (especially if
you plan to spend a winter there)!
Few differences between JAMK
and NTU
• You study theory much more in detail (!);
we may concentrate more on planning
creative and daily life centered activities,
client-centerness and the environment the
occupations take place.
• We visit clients at home or in a community
setting.
Creative activities?
• Some students seemed to worry wether the
activities they planned were suitable for OT or
not -> Why worry!?
• I would encourage you to be brave and trust
yourselves more; there is barely no limit for
OT and, in fact, we have the superpower to
do almost anything!
Need some proof again?
• Let´s try some elements of dance movement
therapy!
• There is no right or wrong movement; just
create a dance to embrace the ability of
your hands!
• If you struggle making your own dance follow
the boy on the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXZS6-QALP8 (THE ART OF FINGER
DANCING | PNUT)
Benefits?
• Increased positive mood, body image,
wellbeing, quality of life, and
decreased clinical symptoms such as
depression and anxiety; and much more!
• See for example Koch S, Kunz T, Lykou S, Cruz
R. Effects of dance movement therapy and dance on
health-related psychological outcomes: a metaanalysis. Arts in Psychotherapy 2014; 41(1): 46-64 for
more information.
Topics that caught my attention
• Due to the huge patient number, you have
many patients in the same room at the same
time vs. individual therapy which is much
more common back home.
• Length of the OT is different in Finland and
therapies take much longer there.
• OTs in Finland have far less patients
per day.
What did I think about those
observations?
• Your system may show the patients, the parents
and the caregivers that the individual patient is
not the only one with a disability or a
developmental delay and thus act as peer
support.
• On the other hand the situation may cause
challenges to patients (such as highly sensitive
people) difficulties to concentrate on their
tasks when there are so many stimuluses
around.
• Feel free to comment on my thoughts !
The biggest worries
• What´s with your working hours, holidays
and coffee breaks!?
• Where are the coffee machines?
• We have shorter days and
compulsory coffee breaks :D
Have you considered your OBQ?!
• Since you study hard and hardly even sleep
much, I want to pull your attention to your
Occupational Balance and offer you a chance to
fill an Occupational Balance Questionnaire
(OBQ)
• OBQ focuses on satisfaction with the amount
and variation of occupations within your
daily routine.
OBQ
• OBQ has been developed by Swedish OTs Petra
Wagman & Carita Håkansson.
• It consists of 13 items measured on a six-step
scale.
• Scale ranges from “completely disagree”
(scored 0) to “completely agree” (scored 5).
OBQ
• A higher rating indicates higher occupational
balance.
• From the test results it is possible to analyse
both individual areas and a summed total
score (from 0 to 65 points)
Add your scores!
• How is your occupational balance?
• Is there any items or areas in your life you
should redesign?
• Share your thoughts!
Want to study more?
Check these out!
• Wagman, P. & Håkansson, C. 2014.
Introducing the Occupational Balance
Questionnaire (OBQ). Scandinavian Journal
of Occupational Therapy, 21, 227 – 231.
• Matuska,K. & Christiansen, C (ed.). 2009. Life
Balance -Multidisciplinary theories and
research. USA: AOTA press.
Thank you so much for making
me feel so welcome and for
helping me with everything I
ever needed!
…including free time activities!
…and teaching those skills
which I can only learn here!
Thank you for listening!
Kiitos mielenkiinnostanne!
謝謝大家!
And welcome to Finland!