Communication Education in Prelicensure and Postlicensure Occupational Therapy: Scoping Review

Background Effective communication, therapeutic relationships, and interprofessional collaboration are essential to high-quality occupational therapy (OT) practice. However, communication education across prelicensure and postlicensure OT training has not been comprehensively mapped. Objective This review aims to identify research gaps and map communication education in prelicensure and postlicensure OT education according to content, delivery methods, assessment approaches, and outcomes. Methods Following Joanna Briggs Institute guidance, this review was reported using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) and Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Literature Search Extension (PRISMA-S) frameworks. PubMed, CINAHL, ERIC, Web of Science, Ichushi-Web, and Open Access Theses and Dissertations were searched without publication year restrictions; the final search was conducted on May 25, 2026. Eligible sources were English- or Japanese-language publications that examined communication education involving OT students or practicing occupational therapists. The review protocol was developed a priori but was not registered. Two reviewers independently screened records identified through database and gray literature searches, whereas records identified through backward citation searching were screened by one reviewer and checked by the second reviewer. Data were charted for study characteristics, educational content, delivery methods, assessment approaches, and outcomes. Educational outcomes were categorized using the Kirkpatrick model. Formal critical appraisal was not conducted, and the findings were synthesized descriptively. Results Database and gray literature searches identified 10,243 records, and backward citation searching identified 9 additional records. After duplicate removal and screening, 55 reports corresponding to 54 studies were included. Of the 55 reports, 47 (85.5%) focused on prelicensure education and 8 (14.5%) on postlicensure education; prelicensure reports mainly involved OT students learning either within OT programs alone or with students from other health professions. Single-group pre-post studies were the most common design (n=22, 40%). Educational content was diverse and included interprofessional communication and teamwork, communication with specific client populations or conditions, model-based communication training, experiential communication skills training, and OT-specific therapeutic communication or therapeutic use of self. Outcome assessment relied mainly on learner-reported measures, including perceived competence, self-efficacy, self-reported communication skills, and attitudes. Objective or observer-rated assessments were less common. Across the 55 included reports, 15 (27.3%) reported reaction-level outcomes, 53 (96.4%) learning-level outcomes, and 5 (9.1%) behavior-level outcomes; no report assessed results-level outcomes, and reports could contribute to more than one level. Conclusions This review maps communication education across both prelicensure and postlicensure OT education in the English- and Japanese-language literature. The findings highlight the need for more explicit occupation-centered education, including occupational history taking, values-based goal setting, therapeutic relationship development, and therapeutic use of self. They may inform curriculum design, continuing professional development, and outcome measure selection. Interpretation should remain limited to the included literature, which was dominated by single-group pre-post designs and learner-reported outcomes.