Table 1:
Survey response rate across different institutions.
| Category | Contacted | Responded | Response rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Medical Institutions | 216 | 159 | 73.6% |
| Self-employed OTs and Private Practices | 1310 | 762 | 58.2% |
| Others (e.g., NGOs, Schools) | N/A | 80 | N/A |
| N/A | 968* | N/A |
[i] Notes: The category Others covers a large range of different institutions that were contacted in an effort to find OTs in non-traditional work roles. As most of these institutions presumably do not employ OTs, calculating a total response rate is not meaningful. Also, because some respondents hold multiple roles, the true total is somewhat lower than adding up the categories here would suggest.
Table 2:
Baseline characteristics of OTs (general demographics).
| Baseline characteristic | Self-employed OTs without employees | OTs in leadership positions | OT employees | Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n | % | n | % | n | % | n | % | |
| Gender | ||||||||
| Female | 558 | 94.6 | 246 | 84.5 | 1,933 | 89.7 | 2,724 | 90.1 |
| Male | 30 | 5.1 | 45 | 15.5 | 220 | 10.2 | 293 | 9.7 |
| Other | 2 | 0.3 | - | - | 3 | 0.1 | 5 | 0.2 |
| Total | 590 | 100.0 | 291 | 100.0 | 2,156 | 100.0 | 3,022 | 100.0 |
| Age | See Table 1b | |||||||
| under 30 | 592 | 27.3 | 592 | 27.3 | ||||
| 30–39 | 777 | 35.8 | 777 | 35.8 | ||||
| 40–49 | 434 | 20.0 | 434 | 20.0 | ||||
| 50–59 | 300 | 13.8 | 300 | 13.8 | ||||
| over 60 | 69 | 3.2 | 69 | 3.2 | ||||
| Total | 2,172 | 100.0 | 2,172 | 100.0 | ||||
| Language region | ||||||||
| German | 334 | 56.6 | 187 | 64.3 | 1,334 | 62.7 | 1,842 | 61.5 |
| French | 236 | 40.0 | 92 | 31.6 | 706 | 33.2 | 1,032 | 34.5 |
| Italian | 20 | 3.4 | 12 | 4.1 | 88 | 4.1 | 120 | 4 |
| Total | 590 | 100.0 | 291 | 100.0 | 2,128 | 100.0 | 2,994 | 100.0 |
| Education | ||||||||
| Diploma HF/ES/SSS | 187 | 33.6 | 62 | 22.3 | 410 | 22.6 | 658 | 30.3 |
| Diploma FH/HES/SUP | 232 | 41.7 | 102 | 36.7 | 576 | 31.8 | 902 | 39.8 |
| BSc in Occupational Therapy | 90 | 16.2 | 76 | 27.3 | 730 | 40.2 | 891 | 19.7 |
| MSc in Occupational Therapy | 11 | 2.0 | 12 | 4.3 | 48 | 2.6 | 71 | 2.8 |
| MSc, Other | 9 | 1.6 | 8 | 2.9 | 16 | 0.9 | 33 | 2.1 |
| PhD | - | - | 1 | .4 | 3 | 0.2 | 4 | 0.1 |
| Other | 28 | 5.0 | 17 | 6.1 | 31 | 1.7 | 75 | 5.4 |
| Total | 556 | 100.0 | 278 | 100.0 | 1,814 | 100.0 | 2,633 | 100.0 |
| Country of education | ||||||||
| Switzerland | 441 | 73.8 | 184 | 66.2 | 1,209 | 63.1 | 1,792 | 65.5 |
| Germany | 77 | 13.8 | 45 | 16.2 | 326 | 17.0 | 446 | 16.3 |
| France | 23 | 4.1 | 17 | 6.1 | 179 | 9.3 | 219 | 8.0 |
| Italy | 2 | 0.4 | 1 | 0.4 | 35 | 1.8 | 38 | 1.4 |
| Austria | 15 | 2.7 | 12 | 4.3 | 30 | 1.6 | 57 | 2.1 |
| Belgium | 12 | 2.2 | 8 | 2.9 | 57 | 3.0 | 76 | 2.8 |
| Netherlands | 6 | 1.1 | 4 | 1.4 | 20 | 1.0 | 30 | 1.1 |
| Other | 11 | 2.0 | 7 | 2.5 | 59 | 3.1 | 77 | 2.8 |
| Total | 557 | 100.0 | 278 | 100.0 | 1,915 | 100.0 | 2,735 | 100.0 |
| Academic further education | ||||||||
| CAS | 138 | 24.6 | 101 | 34.7 | 225 | 12.4 | 464 | 17.4 |
| DAS | 15 | 2.7 | 14 | 4.8 | 6 | 0.3 | 35 | 1.3 |
| MAS | 8 | 1.4 | 26 | 8.9 | 36 | 2.0 | 70 | 2.6 |
| MBA | 1 | 0.2 | 1 | 0.3 | 1 | 0.1 | 3 | 0.1 |
| None | 399 | 71.3 | 149 | 51.2 | 1,546 | 85.2 | 2,094 | 78.5 |
| Total | 561 | 100.0 | 291 | 100.0 | 1,814 | 100.0 | 2,666 | 100.0 |
| Currently pursuing (further) education | ||||||||
| MSc | 2 | 0.4 | 9 | 3.2 | 36 | 2.0 | 47 | 1.8 |
| PhD | 3 | 0.5 | 2 | 0.7 | 0 | 0.0 | 5 | 0.2 |
| CAS | 15 | 2.7 | 22 | 7.9 | 70 | 3.9 | 107 | 4.0 |
| DAS | 2 | 0.4 | 1 | 0.4 | 0 | 0.0 | 3 | 0.1 |
| MAS | 8 | 1.4 | 5 | 1.8 | 6 | 0.3 | 19 | 0.7 |
| MBA | - | - | 2 | 0.7 | 0 | 0.0 | 2 | 0.1 |
| Other | 18 | 3.2 | 11 | 4.0 | 38 | 2.1 | 67 | 2.5 |
| Total | 560 | 100.0 | 278 | 100.0 | 1,814 | 100.0 | 2,666 | 100.0 |
| Currently pursuing an academic career | 10 | 1.8 | 13 | 4.7 | 25 | 1.4 | 48 | 1.8 |
| Total | 560 | 100.0 | 278 | 100.0 | 1,814 | 100.0 | 2,666 | 100.0 |
| Planning an academic career | 5 | 0.9 | 9 | 3.2 | k.A. | k.A. | 14 | 1.7 |
| Total | 560 | 100.0 | 278 | 100.0 | 822 | 100.0 | ||
| Management level | ||||||||
| Lower management | - | - | 163 | 59.0 | - | - | 163 | 59.0 |
| Middle management | - | - | 48 | 17.4 | - | - | 48 | 17.4 |
| Upper management | - | - | 57 | 20.7 | - | - | 57 | 20.7 |
| Total | - | - | 276 | 100.0 | - | - | 276 | 100.0 |
[i] Note: CAS = Certificate of Advanced Studies; DAS = Diploma of Advanced Studies; ES = école superieure; FH = Fachhochschule; HF = Höhere Fachschule; HES = haute école specialisée; MAS = Master of Advanced Studies; MBA = Master of Business Administration; MSc = Master of Science; PhD = Doctor of Philosophy; SSS = scuola specializzata superiore; SUP = Scuola universitaria professionale.
Table 2b:
Baseline characteristics of self-employed OTs and OTs in a leadership position (employment-related data).
| Baseline characteristic | Self-employed OTs without employees | OTs in leadership positions | Total | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| mean | SD | range | n | mean | SD | range | n | mean | SD | range | n | |
| Age in years | 49.1 | 9.5 | 25 – 79 | 590 | 46.0 | 9.3 | 28 – 68 | 291 | 48.1 | 9.6 | 25 – 79 | 866 |
| Work experience in years | 21.5 | 9.4 | 1.5 – 53 | 590 | 19.3 | 8.9 | 2.9 – 43.3 | 291 | 20.8 | 9.3 | 1.5 – 53 | 866 |
| Percentage of FTE | 71.5 | 23.4 | 10 – 150 | 496 | 80.3 | 18.8 | 20 – 120 | 259 | 74.3 | 22.4 | 10 – 150 | 740 |
[i] Note: FTE = full-time equivalent (a workload of 42.5 hours per week)
Figure 1:
Ratios of OTs (n=2,799) per 10,000 inhabitants by Swiss region based solely on the collected data. Due to non-response, this is an underestimation of the real ratios.
Figure 2:
Swiss occupational therapy job positions by work setting (n=3,345).
Figure 3:
Percentage of OTs working with clients with different challenges.
Figure 4:
Financing bodies for OT service remuneration in Switzerland.