The Modular Education Program for Activity Professionals (MEPAP)
In 1992, NCCAP adopted MEPAP as the accepted curriculum. The plan was
first presented in 1991 by both The National Association of Activity
Professionals (NAAP) and the National Certification Council for Activity
Professionals (NCCAP). Since 1991 the MEPAP has been a required
component of becoming nationally certified. To continue to meet the
needs of the ever changing healthcare industry and to prepare activity
professionals as change agents when working in their resident centered
care facilities, the NCCAP Board, NCCAP Education committee and
Strategic Planning committee re-engineered the MEPAP, into the MEPAP
2nd Edition which consists of 20 core content areas (learning modules),
which have detailed competencies for each area. The MEPAP 2nd edition
prepares a student to meet the Standards for Professional Preparation in
Activity Services. The MEPAP is required to apply for the ADC and ACC
levels, as well as AAC Track 3, AAPC and some ADPC applications utilizing
the MEPAP in their three required areas.
The pre-approved instructors have been trained in the 2nd Edition materials,
as well as have received all the tools/text to facilitate the consistent
training required by all new certified individuals. Each instructor sets their
own teaching schedules, (to dates and times), they establish their own fees
associated with teaching the course, and their methods of delivering the
course could consist of teaching the core content areas from 1 – 20; or
some may prefer to teach it in halves Part 1 (core content areas 1 – 11) and
Part 2 (core content areas 12 – 19) and the practical. Others may choose to
teach it in thirds. ALL pre-approved instructors will have their approval
number with a current expiration date and can be found on the NCCAP.org
site listed under the state in which they reside.
*PLEASE contact each instructor for their individual specifications for
course completion.
STANDARDS FOR PROFESSIONAL PREPARATION IN ACTIVITY SERVICES
Adopted by NCCAP Board 2003.
STANDARD 1. FOUNDATION UNDERSTANDINGS
Rationale: Service through leadership is the concept upon which the educational
program rests. First, preparing leaders who will become catalysts for
lasting, positive change in practice settings, and who are ethically strong
and clinically competent is the best way to bring care and services to
clients at the highest possible level. Second, educating practitioners to
be strong leader-advocates assures the continuous advance of the
activity profession.
STANDARD 2. ACTIVITY SERVICEDS PRACTICE INFRASTRUCTURE
Rationale: The standard addresses the context within which activity service occurs.
An examination of the internal and external working environment shows
the various influences on professional practice on the continuum of care.
STANDARD 3. ACTVITY SERVICES CLINICAL PRACTICE
Rationale: The standard advances a complete philosophical and technical position to
design, deliver and evaluate activity services for older adults.
STANDARD 4. ACTIVITY SERVICES MANAGEMENT
Rationale: The standard specifies the applied science of the management profession
as detailed for activity services.
STANDARD 5. ACTIVITY SERVICE FIELD EXPERIENCE
Rationale: The standard supports linking the theories presented in the classroom to
their practical application, in the context of contemporaneous realities.
*Synopsis only – Complete Professional Standards in the teacher text.
The MEPAP curriculum contains the following;
Core Content #1: Activity Service Practice Settings
Competency 1:
_ Professional activity service defined
_ The philosophical approach of the activity practitioner
_ The continuum of care for older persons and special populations defined
Competency 2:
_ The distinguishing framework for each practice setting on the continuum of
care; the unique purpose and the client population characteristics each
serve
Competency 3:
_ Legal entities of business organizations; the legal purpose’s effect on
company culture and operations; business organization mission statements
Competency 4:
_ Traditional organizational structure: formal authority; chain of command;
authority that controls; authority that empowers
_ Alternate emerging organization structures
Competency 5:
_ The purposes of organizing work into departments; the roles and
interrelationships of department services; the organization chart
Competency 6:
_ Define the nature of activity services department’s general accountability
and major responsibilities:
o Company policies
o Regulatory requirements
o Department services
o Job descriptions
o Safety factors
o Infection control
o Ethical practice
Core Content #2: Colloquy (Colloquy refers to a conferring of specialists. It is
communication in a consultative and inclusive way. As such, colloquy is an
inherent part of the activity professional’s practice. The objective is for students
to contribute to a beneficial communication climate in the facility.
Competency 7:
_ The nature and management of professional relationships defined and
explored
Competency 8:
_ The life of dialogue: promoting a continuous dialog and a culture of
sharing information with authorities, peers and supervised workers in the
service of clients
Competency 9:
_ Communicating specifically and assertively – upward, downward and
laterally.
Competency 10:
_ Meetings: active participation; preparing for and leading meetings
Competency 11:
_ Negotiating the settlement of differences intra- and inter-departmentally
Competency 12:
Communicating to influence, to persuade, to direct and to motivate others
verbally and in writing;
_ Communicating through in-service training
Competency 13:
_ Expressing ideas clearly and concisely with standard American English
writing skills
Competencies 8, 9, 10, 12: Communication
Core Content #3: Professional Framework
Competency 14:
_ The origin and the history of the activity profession
_ The significance of grass roots contributions to its growth and progress
Competency 15:
_ The activity education movement: history and significance
Competency 16:
_ The concept of profession
_ Applying the concept of professionalism to activity practitioners
Competency 17:
_ NAAP defined as the professional association for activity professionals
_ NAAP standards of practice and code of ethics for activity practitioners
Competency 18:
_ Certifying bodies defined: professional credentialing
_ The NCCAP certification process for activity professionals
_ Compare and contrast professional associations and certifying bodies
Competency 19:
The practitioner’s duty to promote the profession’s growth; allegiance toward
professional colleagues
Competency 20:
_ The application of ethics to perspectives and behavior in activity services
delivery
Competency 21:
_ The impact of contemporary professional and current industry issues on
the delivery of activity services
_ The concept of continuous professional self development
Competency 22:
_ The duty and ways to provide active leadership in activity service
Competency 23:
_ Introduction to the need for research that confirms activity services effect on
psycho-social well being; the need for good reliable data that confers
legitimacy on the profession
Competency 24:
_ Survey basic research methods and design; issues in designing research
studies
Competency 25:
_ Survey the main focuses of allied human service professions; social work,
therapeutic recreation, mental health counseling, geriatric nursing practice,
occupational therapy
_ Compare their similarities and differences to activity service
Core Content #4: Government and Social Systems
Competency 26:
_ Identify, pare and contrast political and economic systems – federal CVS;
state departments of health; local or community oversight agencies or
other agencies that have oversight responsibility for settings on health
system continuum of care
Competency 27:
_ Identify, compare and contrast public and private social services agencies
Competency 28:
_ Define the legal and regulatory accountability of activity services practice
Competency 29:
_ Identify sources for, and define the legislative mandates to provide quality
of life and quality of care
Competency 30:
_ Identify sources for information about, and define state licensure, federal
certification and regulatory compliance programs that enforce legislative
mandates for each activity service setting on the health system continuum
of care
_ Identify and define the survey processes for each service setting on the
continuum of care
Competency 31:
_ Identify and define private accreditation programs: their costs, advisory
capacity, educational purpose and limited function
Core Content #5: Advocacy in the Public Arena
Competency 32:
_ The governmental arenas and situations where advocacy is desirable
_ The vocational duty of the activity professionals to impact public policy and
legislation
_ Discussion of current policy debates
_ Empowering residents in self advocacy
Competency 33:
_ Federal public policy and legislation. The processes that influence and
initiate modifications in public policy. How to educate federal
policymakers.
Competency 34:
_ State public policy and legislation. The processes that influence and
initiate modifications in public policy. How to educate state policymakers.
Competency 35:
_ Local public policy and ordinances; the processes that influence and
initiate modifications. How to educate local policymakers
Competency 36:
_ Guide students to identify local community situations where advocacy is
recommendable
Core Content #6: The Behavioral Sciences
Competency 37:
_ Introduction to individual behavior and personality development theory
Competency 38:
_ Adult learning processes and behavior changes concepts
Competency 39:
_ Stage theories of adult development. The life course and life span
Competency 40:
_ Family and community influences on the individual
Competency 41:
_ Health: socio-cultural patterns of behavior and cultural variables that
influence physical and mental health.
Competency 42:
_ Behavioral risk factors for disease
Core content #7: Adult Client Populations
Competency 43:
_ Theories of aging – physical, psychological and social demographics of
aging
Competency 44:
_ The spiritual, physical, intellectual, emotional and social domains of
human experience across the life span
Competency 45:
_ Models of care: the western medical-nursing model, the custodial model,
the bio-psycho-social model of care, and the associated value system of
each
Competency 46:
_ Learning proficiency and motivation to achieve in later adult years.
Competency 47:
_ Spirituality, worship, and ego integrity in aging; diversity of belief systems
_ Preparing for death, dying, right to die issues, bereavement
_ Hospice, palliative care, end of life
Competency 48:
_ Social aspects of the aging process. Also include events that bear
negatively on the older adult’s well being, including multiple losses –
retirement, health, sensory changes, abuse, exploitation and neglect
issues; family and other interpersonal stressors
Competency 49:
_ Personal growth in older adults, the need for social role redefinition and
the value of time structuring for clients
Competency 50:
_ Biology of aging: normal physical changes; physical illness and chronic
conditions; brain function; diseases of the brain, dementia and cognitive
disorders
Competency 51:
_ The effects of illness and impairment on motivation and emotional well
being
Competency 52:
_ Principles of mental health; cultural sensitivity in treatment
Competency 53:
_ The psychology of aging. Psychiatric and psychological disorders;
personality theory and disorders; multi-axial assessment; global
functioning scale
Competency 54:
_ Mental status exam; the use of the metal status staircase
Competency 55:
Medications customarily used in treatment of common illness and disorders
found in older adults; efficacy and side effects
Core Content #8: Professional Approach to Care
Competency 56:
_ Reasons and personal motivation of the individual student for selecting a
career in the activity profession
_ The importance of the practitioner’s self care
Competency 57:
_ The nature of the professional relationship between practitioner and client:
trust, confidentiality, privacy, privileged communication, using and abusing
power, sensitivity to diversity
Competency 58:
_ The delicate balance between client’s right to self determination and the
professional care giver’s responsibility to protect
_ The duty to advocate for clients in the care setting
Competency 59:
_ The process that socially integrate clients in the care setting in order to
enhance quality of life and reduce social isolation
_ Models of care comparison
Competency 60:
_ Effective communication methods with impaired clients
Competency 61:
_ Applying restorative principles to activities services
Competency 62:
_ The concept of functional competence in clients
Competency 56:
_ Maintaining professional objectivity
Competencies 68, 69:
_ Quality of Life
Competencies 10, 12:
_ Communication
Core Content #9: Care Planning Practices
Competency 63:
_ The purposes, principles and procedures for planning individual care that
affect the quality of life
Competency 64:
_ Applying the principles of geriatric assessment: observing behavior;
describing observations, interpreting observations, activities of daily living,
instrumental activities of daily living
Competency 65:
_ Constructing standardized information gathering instruments that include
life pattern history, socio-cultural orientation, functional competence,
activity treatment potential
Competency 66:
_ The functional competence system of empowerment, maintenance and
supportive taxonomies
_ Assessing clients based on the Ruth Perschbacher activity experience
classifications empowerment, maintenance and supportive
Competency 67:
_ The purposes and techniques for interviewing clients
Competency 68:
_ Assessing the client’s psycho-social needs, strengths, interests, functional
competence, cultural orientation and personal goals to promote quality of
life
Competency 69:
_ Constructing care goals and developing plans for their achievement
Competency 70:
_ Observing progress toward goals and recording outcomes with accuracy,
including the accepted practice for writing progress notes
Competency 71:
_ Correct use of abbreviations, medical and activity services terminology in
the health record
Competency 72:
_ The legal and practical aspects of health records
Competency 73:
_ The regulatory requirements for care planning and health record keeping
for each practice setting of the continuum of care, including RAI,MDS,
RAPs as the most complex and stringent example
Competency 74:
_ The functioning of the interdisciplinary treatment team
Competency 75:
_ Participating as a contributing member of the interdisciplinary care team
_ The differences between multi-disciplinary and interdisciplinary care
planning
Core Content #10: Care Giving Practices (Service Delivery)
Competency 75:
_ Group process theory: purposes, composition, dynamics
Competency 76:
_ The practice of group work: Leadership approaches to facilitate client
involvement in group activity interventions that work toward individual
goals
Competency 77:
_ Conducting groups of clients using a wide variety of active interventions in
the spiritual, physical, intellectual, cultural, social domains at their
appropriate functional competence level
Competency 78:
_ Presenting individual clients with personalized activity programs at their
appropriate functional level in the spiritual, physical, intellectual, cultural,
social domains and/or offering comfort and solace
Competency 79:
_ Timely and regular evaluations of clients’ behavioral responses to
interventions; the system of recording responses in the health record
Core Content #11: Activity Service: System of Design, Development and
Evaluation of Department Services
Competency 80:
_ The mission & working definition of activity services
Competency 81:
_ Service design elements: rationale, commitment, activity professional
protocols, decision making instruments
Competency 82:
_ Constructing standardized development and program evaluation
instruments for making activity service program decisions
Competency 83:
_ The scope of activity services: spiritual, physical, intellectual, emotional
(cultural) social components of activity service programs
Competency 84:
_ The use of massed client assessment data to specify the composition of
the general activity services program
Competency 85:
_ Constructing service delivery modes that meet the needs, strengths,
interests, functional competence, cultural orientation and persona goals of
a diversified client base
Competency 86:
_ Designing the two principle means of service delivery: group work and
individualized programs
Competency 87:
_ Finding and securing community resources to sustain clients in the greater
society
Competency 88:
_ The principles and processes that evaluate activity service design and
delivery
Competency 89:
_ Using gathered evaluation data to revise and improve activity services
program
Competency 90:
_ The life enhancing role of volunteers and community resources
_ Training and motivating volunteers n the various roles of clerical support,
of paraprofessional group leaders and of individual services presenters,
according to their capability.
