Date of Award

Summer 8-2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Human Movement Studies & Special Education

Program/Concentration

Human Movement Studies

Committee Director

Justin A. Haegele

Committee Member

Anne M. Perrotti

Committee Member

Brittany Samulski

Abstract

Undergraduate education is a bedrock of professional preparation for entry-level recreational therapists, shaping their scope of practice, philosophical orientations, and approaches to service delivery. While significant attention has been given to the development of a formal recreational therapy curriculum – explicitly taught knowledge, skills, and competencies – little is known about the hidden and null curricula that may implicitly or unintentionally shape students’ professional identities, values, and beliefs. While these less explicit curricular dimensions may have profound effects on how preservice recreational therapists conceptualize both recreational therapy and disability, their impact remains largely unknown. Therefore, the aim of this research was to examine recreational therapy faculty conceptualizations of recreational therapy and disability and how faculty describe the ways in which these conceptualizations inform the formal, hidden, and null curricula in undergraduate recreational therapy education. This dissertation was designed using a two-manuscript format. Study One explored faculty conceptualizations of recreational therapy and their explicit and implicit influences on the undergraduate recreational therapy curricula. Utilizing an interpretivist paradigm, qualitative insights were gathered from 12 undergraduate recreational therapy faculty through one-to-one, audio recorded, semi-structured interviews with each participant, and the reflexive thematic analysis of the transcripts produced four main themes: (a) “I think it’s a false dichotomy, but I lean…,” (b) practice-based experiences shape conceptualizations of recreational therapy, (c) explicit instruction with limited attention to implicit learning, and (d) “we need a bigger table, not bigger fences.” Findings revealed that, although participants conceptualized and taught recreational therapy as encompassing both therapy and leisure orientations, their narratives reflected preferences for particular philosophical perspectives and limited awareness of the implicit messages that may be transmitted through their teaching practices. Study Two utilized an interpretive qualitative design to examine faculty conceptualizations of disability and how participants described the influences of these conceptualizations on undergraduate recreational therapy curricula. Twelve undergraduate recreational therapy faculty participated in a single one-to-one, audio recorded, semi-structured interview, and the researcher subsequently conducted a reflexive thematic analysis leading to the construction of three themes: (a) the conceptualization of disability in therapeutic recreation is not universal, (b) disability is taught through a person-centered and experiential lens, and (c) faculty desire more disability studies content but perceive constraints. These findings underscored the need for increased disability-focused training and explicit curricular competencies to ensure that entry-level recreational therapists are adequately prepared to meet the needs of their clients. This dissertation contributes to the limited body of literature examining faculty perspectives on the hidden and null curricula in recreational therapy education and offers implications for curriculum development, faculty reflection, programmatic alignment, and philosophical cohesion in the profession.

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DOI

10.25777/h1tc-7r62

ISBN

9798193216230

ORCID

0000-0002-8717-629X

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