As I write this editorial, I think of my discussions about the development of the theme of this issue – creative partnerships. I wondered when we came up with this theme if it would spur interest and jog authors to contribute some of the exciting work that they are doing outside of the traditional work we are all so aware of. It is often what we hear about at conferences but may not see in writing. I need not have worried. I think we have an excellent volume which reflects a variety and depth of actions occupational therapists take with people outside our profession.
Having recently attended the WFOT Council Meeting, I would like to address another level of partnering which takes place within our Federation and among our delegates and individual members to support the profession’s development.
The inner workings of the WFOT Council – partnering at a different level
The World Federation of Occupational Therapists held our biennial WFOT Council Meeting in Colombia in March this year. Here was an opportunity for many to visit South America, an opportunity to understand the society and culture of a country which has worked hard to overcome historical events, an opportunity to visit occupational therapy and integrated rehabilitation in practice, and actually to carry out the business of the World Federation over a full week of international interaction through a very full agenda. See the WFOT EMT and Council Report and the message from the President in the volume. I would like to comment on work that is undertaken by delegates between and during Council Meetings, the inner workings of the WFOT Council Programme groups to support the continuing running of the Federation. The Programmes carry on with the work of WFOT in various areas and I will mention only a few. OTs who are individual members have access to the Council Minutes and can review all the projects and action undertaken over the last 2 years and often building on work that has been taking place over a number of years, as well as the many new projects which have come to the fore this year. See www.wfot.org/ResourceCentre.
The Education Programme is a good example. As noted in the Council Report, eight countries gained full membership in WFOT at the Council Meeting in Colombia. In order to gain full membership, countries have to have a WFOT approved education course. The Education Programme group had to review, give feedback, receive and comment on responses and eventually approve (or not) each education programme received by WFOT. This represents many hours of volunteer work done by delegates and individual members over the 2-year period between Council Meetings.
The constitutions of countries’ national OT associations applying for full membership or associate membership had to be reviewed in relation to relevant criteria and approved within the WFOT Standards and Quality Programme. Similarly, this required many volunteer hours of review, feedback, revisions, and liaison to support this process.
The Research Programme is a new programme which separated from education 2 years ago. This programme is developing its profile and will be emerging as a strong influence globally. Much will come of this programme’s work as it gets up to full speed. Collaboration, discussion, projects, and congress presentations are all part of the creative partnering which takes place to support this development.
The Professional Development Programme is also a new programme which, for one thing, is overviewing the new online forum OTION that enables therapists to interact with one another and will be valuable in developing a database of information about occupational therapists in different practice areas.
There is another major activity related to quality indicators for occupational therapy services which is an emerging method in practice. The quality indicators project will define an international set of valid and reliable indicators that describe the process and outcome of quality occupational therapy in an interdisciplinary practice context. The indicators will be used by health professionals, decision-makers, and policy-makers to measure evidence based occupational therapy practices for health system performance, such as effectiveness, safety, and responsiveness
Disaster preparedness and response has been an ongoing project under the Executive Programme for more than 10 years now. The early emphasis was on raising awareness at local, national, and international levels, with workshops and conference papers of the role of occupational therapists in disaster management. Now it is on capacity building, promoting disaster risk reduction (new position statement) and environmental sustainability (see position statement). Disaster and Development: An Occupational Perspective, edited by Rushford and Thomas (2015), is available through the WFOT online store (www.wfot.org) and supports the new online self-paced course entitled Disaster Management for Occupational Therapists.
WFOT World Occupational Therapy Day 27 October 2016
Another aspect of partnership can be seen in the activities which take place around World Occupational Therapy Day every October in different countries.
Discussions of how and when to celebrate World Occupational Therapy Day have been on the WFOT agenda for a long time. In 2004, Council delegates were looking at how to encourage and enable students to participate in the international development work of WFOT. Following the lead of many of our member organisations, which have created Occupational Therapy Days, Weeks, and/or Months, the WFOT approved the creation of a WFOT International Day. In 2010, 27 October was named World Occupational Therapy Day. Member organisations around the world were encouraged to promote and celebrate occupational therapy successes using this day as a focus. This tradition is now well established.
Much preparation surrounds the build-up to the actual day. Occupational therapists around the world use culturally relevant activities which promote some aspect of occupational therapy or the profession as a whole. Interactive games days with the public, videos, and website development contribute to making this a special day. WFOT provides a wide variety of support materials including a logo, posters, and general information about occupational therapy. Often the activities around World Occupational Therapy Day involve collaborative partnerships with governmental organisations, schools, universities, and NGOs.
Examples of activities undertaken include sending a press release or article about World Occupational Therapy Day to the local hospital or university newsletter, local radio station and newspaper; arranging a fund raising event such as a quiz, sports activity, or competition to support a WFOT project, or organising a local event in a school or shopping mall to promote occupational therapy as a career. What will you be doing?
World Occupational Therapy Day has also become an opportunity to raise funds to contribute to the support of the WFOT volunteer work and to assist in the development of the profession globally. Please consider fundraising for WFOT. Payments can be made by credit/debit card and PayPal via this dedicated link http://tinyurl.com/WFOTDonation. All donations received incur a 12% + $0.40 levy to cover banking and administrative costs. Categories covered by the donations include grants, translation, and education consultations.
Over the years, groups of occupational therapists have taken the opportunity to provide global events to coincide with World Occupational Therapy Day. World Occupational Therapy Day has become an institution.
Occupational Therapy Global Day of Service
The Occupational Therapy Global Day of Service is one opportunity which has become popular around the world. Occupational therapy practitioners and students can volunteer community service for an individual or organisation and share their successes with WFOT. For examples of service activities that you might provide to the benefit of others, and to find out more about OTGDS, go to http://promotingot.org/global-day-of-service-how-can-i-help.
OT4OT 24-hour virtual exchange
The OT 24-hour virtual exchange (OT24VX) started in 2010 and is held each year to celebrate World OT Day. This ‘follow the sun’ conference is run by Online Technology for Occupational Therapy (OT4OT), a small group of occupational therapists from the, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and United Kingdom, United States who are passionate about using online technology to advance entry level education, continuing professional development, research, and practice.
This year the theme for OT24Vx is ‘Making it together’.
The event will take place from 27 October (17:00 GMT) to 28 October (17:00 GMT) and you can enjoy a free, 24-hour interactive online conference – 24 speakers over every time zone in the world. For more information on how to get ready, please go to the website (http://ot4ot.com), or OT4OT on Facebook or follow them on Twitter @OT4OT #ot24vx14.
