Getting your questions ready
Getting your questions ready
Beat the crowd
10 questions No timer
50 free Occupational Therapy trivia questions with answers — science & nature quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
40 free occupational therapy trivia questions with answers. This occupational therapy trivia quiz is built for OT students, practitioners, OT Month celebrations and anyone curious about the profession. It covers the roots in moral treatment and the Arts and Crafts movement, the 1917 founding meeting at Consolation House and its six founders, Eleanor Clarke Slagle and William Rush Dunton, the reconstruction aides of World War I, Elizabeth Casson's first UK school, AOTA and the World Federation, the Occupational Therapy Practice Framework, ADLs versus IADLs, Sidney Katz and Lawton, Jean Ayres and sensory integration, the Model of Human Occupation, practice settings, degrees and the OTR credential. Early questions suit first-year students; later ones reward people who know which founder collected quilts and which psychiatrist gave the profession its philosophy in 1922. Every answer was checked against encyclopaedia entries before publishing.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Occupational therapy was launched as a profession at a Clifton Springs, NY meeting in which year?
1917
The National Society for the Promotion of Occupational Therapy met that March, weeks before the US entered World War I.
Q 02What was the name of the building in Clifton Springs where the founding meeting was held?
Consolation House
It was George Barton's convalescent home and workshop.
Q 03How many founders attended the 1917 meeting?
Six
George Barton, William Rush Dunton, Eleanor Clarke Slagle, Thomas Kidner, Susan Cox Johnson and Isabel Newton Barton.
Q 04Who is considered the 'mother' of occupational therapy?
Eleanor Clarke Slagle
AOTA's highest academic award, the Slagle Lectureship, is named for her.
Q 05At which famous Chicago settlement did Slagle set up a workroom for people with disabilities?
Hull House
She was inspired to enter the field after visiting Kankakee State Hospital.
Q 06Where in Baltimore did Slagle direct an occupational therapy department from 1912?
The Henry Phipps Psychiatric Clinic
She also set up the first OT training program for the disabled.
Q 07Founder William Rush Dunton was also a noted scholar and collector of what?
American quilts
A psychiatrist, he edited the Archives of Occupational Therapy and led AOTA in its early years.
Q 08What did the founding society rename itself in 1921?
American Occupational Therapy Association
The shorter name came with an amended constitution that October.
Q 09What were the more than 1,200 women recruited to rehabilitate wounded World War I soldiers called?
Reconstruction aides
NSPOT helped the military recruit and train them.
Q 10Which 18th-century reform of asylum care is a philosophical root of occupational therapy?
Moral treatment
Doctors like Philippe Pinel replaced harsh treatment with routines and meaningful activity.
Q 11Which 1860-1910 design movement shaped early occupational therapy via 'learning by doing'?
Arts and Crafts
Crafts gave patients a creative outlet during long hospital stays.
Q 12Which Swiss-born psychiatrist gave a widely cited 1922 paper on the philosophy of occupational therapy?
Adolf Meyer
He championed the idea that a balanced rhythm of work, play, rest and sleep supports health.
Q 13Who founded the first school of occupational therapy in the UK, in Bristol in 1930?
Elizabeth Casson
She was the first woman to earn a medical degree from the University of Bristol.
Q 21Which occupational therapist developed sensory integration theory?
A. Jean Ayres
She earned all three of her degrees at the University of Southern California and taught there for nearly 30 years.
Q 22What is Ayres' definition of sensory integration?
The organization of an individual's senses for use
Sensory Integration Treatment is a growing outpatient intervention, especially for children.
Q 23Which theoretical approach is associated with Gary Kielhofner?
Model of Human Occupation
Q 14What was the name of Casson's Bristol clinic that housed that first UK school?
Dorset House
She opened it in 1929 for women with mental disorders and even acted in patients' plays.
Q 15In which year was the World Federation of Occupational Therapists founded?
1952
AOTA was one of ten founding members.
Q 16Which month has AOTA designated Occupational Therapy Month?
April
World Occupational Therapy Day falls separately in October.
Q 17How does the WFOT define occupational therapy?
A client-centred health profession promoting health through occupation
'Occupation' here means the everyday activities that give life meaning.
Q 18In OT shorthand, what does the acronym ADL stand for?
Activities of daily living
Feeding, bathing, dressing, grooming and toileting are classic examples.
Q 19Who originally proposed the concept of ADLs in the 1950s?
Sidney Katz
His team worked at the Benjamin Rose Hospital in Cleveland; the Katz Index still bears his name.
Q 20Who developed the concept of IADLs in 1969?
Lawton and Brody
IADLs cover things like managing money, shopping and medications that support independent living.
MOHO looks at volition, habituation and performance capacity.
Q 24In which year did CAOT originate the Canadian Model of Occupational Performance?
1997
It has since evolved into the CMOP-E, adding engagement.
Q 25What is the name of AOTA's core document describing the profession's domain and process?
The Occupational Therapy Practice Framework
Its fourth edition, OTPF-4, defines occupations as everyday activities that bring meaning and purpose to life.
Q 26According to AOTA, what is the most common primary work setting for occupational therapists?
Hospitals
Schools, outpatient clinics, home health and skilled nursing follow.
Q 27What entry-level degree do occupational therapists in the US need?
A master's or clinical doctorate
Occupational therapy assistants need at least an associate degree.
Q 28What does the credential OTR signify?
Occupational Therapist, Registered
It follows a national exam run by NBCOT plus state licensure.
Q 29Which board administers the US national certification exam for occupational therapists?
NBCOT
ACOTE, by contrast, accredits education programs.
Q 30What did Slagle propose in 1922 that was adopted as an educational standard in 1923?
A 12-month course
Standards grew to 18 months in 1930 to match other professions.