| NBCOT®’s character review program serves the public interest by screening illegal, unethical, and incompetent behaviors of individuals who are yet to be certified by NBCOT®. To ensure that occupational therapy practitioners meet standards of professional conduct prior to entering the profession, all applicants for certification are required to provide information and documentation related to affirmative responses to character questions on the examination application.
Candidates applying for the NBCOT® Certification Examination for OCCUPATIONAL THERAPIST REGISTERED OTR® (OTR) or CERTIFIED OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY ASSISTANT COTA® (COTA) must answer each of the following questions on the examination application:
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Have you ever been charged or convicted of a felony? (NOTE: Candidates must answer affirmatively if records, charges, or convictions have been pardoned, expunged, released or sealed.)
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Have you ever had any professional license, registration, or certification revoked, suspended or subject to probationary conditions by a regulatory authority or certification board?
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Have you ever been found by any court, administrative, or disciplinary proceeding to have committed negligence, malpractice, recklessness, or willful or intentional misconduct which resulted in harm to another?
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Have you ever been suspended and/or expelled from a college or university?
If the answer to any of these questions is “yes,” the candidate must submit the following information to NBCOT®’s Regulatory Affairs Department:
- An explanation of events regarding the incident(s) (question) to which the candidate answered “yes”;
- Copies of official documentation related to the incident(s); and
- Any additional information or documentation the candidate may wish to include, such as remedial measures taken since the incident.
NBCOT® will review the information submitted on an individual basis and determine whether the incident(s) has a direct relationship to a potential violation(s) of the Candidate/Certificant Code of Conduct. If a direct relationship is found, the NBCOT®’s Qualifications and Compliance Review Committee may impose sanctions, including barring a candidate from becoming certified by NBCOT® either indefinitely or for a designated period of time. For additional information see Procedures For The Enforcement Of The NBCOT Candidate/Certificant Code Of Conduct.
All information must be submitted and reviewed by NBCOT® before eligibility to take the certification examination is determined.
Any questions a candidate may have regarding whether or not there would be problems being licensed in the field would have to be answered by the regulatory entity in the jurisdiction where the candidate intends to practice. While all jurisdictions that regulate occupational therapy accept NBCOT® certification as one of the prerequisites for licensure, each makes its own decision and has its own rules and criteria for reviewing matters regarding good moral character. For additional information on licensure requirements, see Getting Licensed.
On the whole, an incident(s) that is more than 10 years old, where an individual can clearly demonstrate that he or she has taken remedial or rehabilitative measures to change their behavior, is generally reviewed favorably. Whereas, a more recent incident(s), (e.g., where an individual might still be under probationary conditions or restrictions), is reviewed with more caution and scrutiny, and may be subject to sanction by NBCOT®’s Qualifications and Compliance Review Committee.
Early Review
An individual who is considering entering an educational program or has already entered an educational program can have his or her background reviewed prior to actually applying for the exam by requesting an early determination review. The fee for this review is $100.00. Click here to download the payment form. In this “early determination” process, the NBCOT® may give early or prior approval to take the certification exam, as it pertains to good moral character, provided that the information reviewed is not found to be a violation of any of the principles of the Code of Conduct.
At the time an individual, who has received a favorable early determination review, applies to take the certification examination, he or she will still be required to respond to the character questions posed on the certification examination application. Provided that no additional incidents relating to good moral character have been incurred since the favorable review, the individual will simply need to submit a statement with his or her examination application that refers to the favorable early determination and affirms that no additional incidents have been committed since the review. He or she would not be required to resubmit the information reviewed in the early determination process.
For Early Determination a candidate must submit the following information to NBCOT®’s Credentialing Services Department:
- An explanation of events regarding the incident(s) for review;
- Copies of official documentation related to the incident(s); and
- Any additional information or documentation the candidate may wish to include, such as remedial measures taken since the incident.
For Additional Information
If you have additional questions or would like additional information, you may contact Credentialing Services at NBCOT, located at 12 S. Summit Avenue, Suite 100, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20877 (301) 990-7979. Contact character.review@nbcot.org.
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