A scoping review of occupational therapy scoping reviews – utilisation of the WFOT proposed international occupational therapy research priority

Abstract

Introduction: This study aims to map existing occupational therapy scoping reviews to identify their characteristics and highlight research priorities to help occupational therapy researchers conduct further research in the eight prioritized research areas proposed by the WFOT Delphi study.

Method: The review followed the scoping review guidelines from Arksey and O'Malley (2005). Six electronic databases (PubMed, ProQuest Central, Scopus, CINAHL and AHMED, and Web of Science) were used for the search. The inclusion criteria were set as follows: written in English; related to occupational therapy and scoping reviews.

Results: A total of 189 articles were mapped to the WFOT research priorities: Effectiveness of occupational therapy interventions (n = 57); evidence-based practice and knowledge translation (n = 74); healthy aging (n = 26); participation in everyday life (n = 29); occupational therapy professional issues (n = 29); community development and population (n = 10); occupational therapy and chronic conditions (n = 41); technology and occupational therapy (n = 11); and some non-categorized studies.

Conclusion: Our findings also support the WFOT study findings indicating the current research focus in evidence-based practice and knowledge transition.

KEYWORDS:

• Occupational therapy
• scoping review
• methodology
• knowledge gap
• research priority

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).