Community-Engaged Research: A Path for Occupational Science in the Changing University Landscape

Abstract

In this paper, we highlight community-engaged research (CER) as an anchor for occupational science within the shifting American academy. Specific changes in the relationship of research funding, university priorities, and the discipline's aims provide a rich context for discussion. We define CER along a continuum and note its relation to current research approaches and funding priorities. We discuss the benefits and barriers of CER, focusing particularly on forces that drive and legitimize academic disciplines and their research. We suggest that recent developments in American higher education create a space for occupational science to produce legitimate, important, and interdisciplinary CER. Taking a cue from anthropology, we consider the ways in which occupational science may be “in use” within and outside academe via CER and chart a possible future path for the American arm of the discipline. We culminate by posing questions to continue this important discussion.

Keywords:

• Community-engaged research
• Occupational science
• University trends

Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge Dr. Virginia Dickie's insightful comments on an earlier draft of this paper. We would also like to thank the research participants who were involved in the studies described at the end of the paper. Finally, the American Occupational Therapy Foundation and the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society provided partial funding for Aldrich's (2011) research.

Notes

1. At a presentation based on parts of this paper, an audience member noted her distaste for the “gold standard” appellation, observing that “all funding is gold.” We agree with this sentiment, and only use the term to acknowledge the status given to certain funding agencies within the current academic milieu.

2. Although Nyden's (2003) piece fell outside preferred time parameters for our review, we included the article because we felt it underscored an important point that continues to characterize CER.

3. Part of this section was based on the first author's presentation at the Society for the Study of Occupation:USA conference in Park City, UT, October 20–22, 2011.