A Scoping Review of Challenges and the Adaptation Process in Academia: Implications for Occupational Therapy Educators

Abstract

The fulfillment of role expectations and responsibilities as one builds an academic career can be challenging. Increased demand for occupational therapy faculty merits examination of academic experiences from the literature. This study describes the experiences of educators using adaptation models (Savickas & Porfeli, 2012; Schkade & Schultz, 2003) as a theoretical lens. Arksey and O'Malley's Scoping Study Framework (2005) was used in the study. Researchers reviewed literature from 2005-2017 from four databases. Researchers analyzed 28 articles from higher education and the health professions using quantitative and qualitative methods. Twenty-two of the 28 articles were published from 2010-2017. The studies analyzed were conducted in seven different countries, the majority in the US (n = 11) and Australia (n = 7), and more than half used qualitative designs (n = 15). Three themes describe academic experiences: identity-related challenges in academia, process of adaptation among academics, and identification of factors affecting productivity. This study describes the various experiences of faculty to meet the demands of the academic environment. Adaptation of OT academics to their occupational roles and environments has not been widely explored. The implications for future study are discussed. Comments The authors report they have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Development and Content Validation of the Adaptation Process in Academia Questionnaire for Occupational Therapy Educators

“…We conducted a scoping review 17 of literature to examine the array of research and available instruments relevant to the purpose of the instrument.…”

“…We completed a scoping review to map, summarize, and describe the literature on the topic. 17 We asked the content experts to rate each item to determine the content validity of the APA-Q. Experts rated each item and/or answer option using an online item relevance scale (not relevant, somewhat relevant, quite relevant, highly relevant) 21 and through an openended question, they wrote their comments on items that were vague, redundant, and that required revisions and suggested additional items that they judged to be relevant for the purpose of the study.…”

“…We reviewed literature from four databases and analyzed twenty-eight (28) articles. 17 Two (2) studies [25][26] that described faculty survey instruments were found to be similar and could be adapted for our study.…”

“…Based on the scoping review 17 and using adaptation as theoretical lens, we drafted our outline illustrated in Figure 1. Latent variables are variables or constructs that cannot be directly observed or measured.…”

“…[12][13][14][15][16] Furthermore, published studies on OT academics are few compared with other health science education; available studies utilized qualitative methods. 17 The adaptation process in academia remains underexplored. This study aimed to develop a questionnaire with established content validity.…”