The Royal College of Occupational Therapists (RCOT) is pleased to announce that the top 10 priorities for occupational therapy research in the UK have been identified. These priorities will set the research agenda for occupational therapy in the future and address the unanswered questions that matter the most to people who access and deliver occupational therapy services.
Our focus now is to encourage and support members to undertake and contribute to research studies that answer the specific questions that will help to address the priorities. Funding available through the RCOT Research Foundation will be focused on supporting studies addressing the top 10. We will also be working to influence the opening up of external research funding opportunities.
Having this clear agenda for research takes RCOT a step closer to achieving its vision for research which is to have, within the next decade, a UK-wide culture that embraces engaging in and with research as every occupational therapist’s business embedded within the profession.
The top 10 priorities for occupational therapy research in the UK are:
- How does occupational therapy make a difference and have impact on everyday lives?
- How can occupational therapists ensure that person-centred practice is central to how they work?
- How can occupational therapists work more effectively with the family and carers of people who access services?
- What are the long-term benefits of occupational therapy intervention?
- What are the benefits or impact of occupational therapy in primary care settings? (e.g. services delivered by your local general practice surgery, community pharmacy, dental and optometry (eye health) services)
- How can occupational therapy services be more inclusive of both mental and physical health?
- What is the role of occupational therapy in supporting self-management? (e.g. helping people with illness to manage their health on a day-to-day basis)
- What is the role or impact of occupational therapy in reducing hospital admissions?
- How can occupational therapists work most effectively with other professionals to improve outcomes for people who access services? (e.g. multi-disciplinary teams, commissioners, community agencies)
- What is the cost-effectiveness of occupational therapy services?
Each priority is an overarching summary question within which there may be several questions to be answered by research.
Throughout the project RCOT’s focus has been to ensure that people who access occupational therapy, their carers, occupational therapists and other health and care professionals have been involved in every step. We were able to achieve this by partnering with the James Lind Alliance (JLA) in a Priority Setting Partnership to follow JLA’s well-respected and inclusive process.
The first stage of the process was to find out what questions people had about occupational therapy that research could answer. After checking that they truly were unanswered questions, people were then asked to prioritise these questions, first through shortlisting in a nationwide survey and finally through reaching agreement in a final prioritisation workshop.
Find out more by watching Dr Jo Watson, RCOT Assistant Director – Education and Research, talk about why these priorities are so important for setting the future direction of research for occupational therapy in the UK.
Further details on the priorities and the process followed to identify them can also be found here.