Occupational Therapy Aides
Under close supervision of an occupational therapist or occupational therapy assistant, perform only delegated, selected, or routine tasks in specific situations. These duties include preparing patient and treatment room.
Most important skills
- Service Orientation
- Speaking
- Social Perceptiveness
- Active Listening
- Coordination
- Critical Thinking
- Monitoring
- Reading Comprehension
Key knowledge
- Therapy and Counseling
- English Language
- Customer and Personal Service
- Psychology
- Computers and Electronics
- Education and Training
- Medicine and Dentistry
- Public Safety and Security
What the work involves
- Encourage patients and attend to their physical needs to facilitate the attainment of therapeutic goals.
- Report to supervisors or therapists, verbally or in writing, on patients' progress, attitudes, attendance, and accomplishments.
- Observe patients' attendance, progress, attitudes, and accomplishments and record and maintain information in client records.
- Manage intradepartmental infection control and equipment security.
- Prepare and maintain work area, materials, and equipment and maintain inventory of treatment and educational supplies.
- Instruct patients and families in work, social, and living skills, the care and use of adaptive equipment, and other skills to facilitate home and work adjustment to disability.
- Supervise patients in choosing and completing work assignments or arts and crafts projects.
- Assist occupational therapists in planning, implementing, and administering therapy programs to restore, reinforce, and enhance performance, using selected activities and special equipment.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Social, Realistic, Conventional.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) (36.8% of respondents)
- Related experience
- None (36.8%)
- On-the-job training
- Anything beyond short demonstration, up to and including 1 month (46.3%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 3: Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Occupational Therapy Aides is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | Very high | Higher on contact with others than 95% of occupations compared | 95% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Low | Lower on dealing with the public than 65% of occupations compared | 62% of surveyed respondents chose “Important” |
| Teamwork | High | Higher on teamwork than 75% of occupations compared | 69% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Low | Lower on freedom to make decisions than 78% of occupations compared | 36% of surveyed respondents chose “Some freedom” |
| Time pressure | High | Higher on time pressure than 70% of occupations compared | 58% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Conflict situations | Moderate | Higher on conflict situations than 52% of occupations compared | 38% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Very high | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 93% of occupations compared | 35% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Consequence of error | High | Higher on consequence of error than 60% of occupations compared | 34% of surveyed respondents chose “Fairly serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: high
- Conflict situations: moderate
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: very high
- Consequence of error: high
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 0%
- Contact with others about half the time: 0%
- Contact with others most of the time: 5.3%
- Constant contact with others: 94.7%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2020
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 11.7%
- Fairly important: 4.9%
- Important: 61.65%
- Very important: 9.81%
- Extremely important: 11.93%
n = 18, Incumbent 08/2020
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 7.07%
- Important: 0%
- Very important: 24.19%
- Extremely important: 68.75%
n = 18, Incumbent 08/2020
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: 10.15%
- Limited freedom: 28.06%
- Some freedom: 36.27%
- A lot of freedom: 25.52%
n = 18, Incumbent 08/2020
Time pressure
- Never: 8.61%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 6.33%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 7.9%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 19.56%
- Every day: 57.6%
n = 18, Incumbent 08/2020
Conflict situations
- Never: 16.99%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 16.24%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 29.09%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 37.67%
- Every day: 0%
n = 18, Incumbent 08/2020
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 7.07%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 24.09%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 35.42%
- Every day: 33.42%
n = 18, Incumbent 08/2020
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 7.87%
- Fairly serious: 33.54%
- Serious: 21.1%
- Very serious: 5.84%
- Extremely serious: 31.64%
n = 18, Incumbent 08/2020
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O*NET-SOC 31-2012.00 · SOC 31-2012 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8