Sharing the agenda: pondering the politics and practices of occupational therapy research

Abstract

Aims: Occupational therapists espouse a client-centred philosophy of practice, yet little attention has been given to pondering the politics or client-centred practices of occupational therapy research. The aim of this paper is thus to foster reflection on occupational therapy's commitment to client-centredness in the practice of occupational therapy research. Major findings: Occupational therapy research is not consistently undertaken in a collaborative manner. Power resides in control of the research agenda and participants' priorities can be supplanted by those of researchers. However, examples from the literature and from the authors' research suggest that study participants may wish to influence the research agenda such that their needs and priorities are addressed. Practice conclusion: Client-centred principles appear to require occupational therapists to undertake collaborative research and to ensure that research agendas are informed by clients' priorities. Commitment to client-centred principles demands concerted efforts to identify and address potential barriers to meaningful client participation in the occupation of research. However, it is argued that if researchers and disabled people collaborate, and pool their knowledge and expertise, they may achieve research that is more philosophically compatible with espoused professional values; and that collaborative research may also inform more relevant and useful client-centred clinical practices.

Key words::

• client-centred practice
• focus groups
• participatory action research
• post-colonial theory

Acknowledgements

The authors greatly appreciate the time, effort, and input of the participants in both the studies cited in this paper. They acknowledge their sincere appreciation of Dr Andrea Townson, who was a valued member of the research team, and of their research assistant Bobby Lee. They also acknowledge the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Institute of Aging who provided a New Investigator salary award for Dr Miller.

Sponsorship

The focus group research discussed in this paper was funded by a Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research, Disability Health Research Network grant.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.