Advancing the use of theory in occupational therapy: A collaborative process / Promouvoir l’application de la théorie en ergothérapie : un processus de collaboration

Abstract

The TAP presents a collaborative process for students, faculty, and therapists to work together to advance the use of theory in practice.

From paper to practice - academics and practitioners working together in enhancing the use of occupational therapy conceptual models

“…Despite these promising results about participants' perception of the workshop, we agree that the integration of theory into daily practice "remains challenging" 18:182 and that transformation of practice by the integration of theory is rather more complicated 18,29 than presenting an once-off workshop.…”

“…However, even though this two-day workshop was limited in its capacity to transform practice by model-use, it opens up the dialogue between practitioners and academics about the use of models 1 ; and using theory with intention 18 .…”

“…Similarly, the work of Kielhofner 1 and Leclair et al 18 on the theory-practice gap, inspired the collaborative process described in this article, where occupational therapists supervising students identified the need for training on model use and subsequently attended a workshop on model use. Our aim was therefore to demonstrate the process of collaboration between academics and practitioners, in order to advance the integration and model use of students.…”

“…Ultimately, the profession benefits from the use of models in that it guides us to offer an occupational therapy process that boldly reflects our profession's 'unique contribution' through occupation-based practice 9 . These benefits notwithstanding, a number of factors play a role in practitioners' choice to use models or not, their choice of models and their proficiency in applying these models 17,18 . Undergraduate training impacts on practitioners' confidence in their own use of models, which is problematic in view of limited literature about instruction of occupational therapy students on the use of models in practice 17 .…”

“…At the same time, practitioners who are exposed to students' use of theory, may benefit from being continuously exposed to model-use and remain in contact with ongoing learning opportunities. If these learning opportunities are planned according to specific principles of theory advancement 1,18,29 ; it is expected to lead to strengthened professional identities of practitioners, ultimately creating an environment where students can more efficiently negotiate the grey area between paper and practice. …”