Research - Practice - PAR

The outcomes of two occupational therapy projects which utilised participatory action research.
 
Project One: 
Mary Law describes a PAR project she undertook which aimed to...”identify factors within the environment, family and/or child that affect the daily activity patterns of children with physical disabilities” (Law, 2004, p. 43).

The outcomes of the research...

“Contrary to expectations, participants did not identify child-related factors such as diagnosis or functional severity as the most important in determining their child’s ability to participate in daily activities...participants identified environmental situations, particularly social and institutional factors (e.g. social attitudes about disability, institutional policies, choice, information, programme support) as the most significant barriers (Law, 2004, p. 48).                           

                   

Achievements of this PAR project

• Informed the development of theory (influential in the development of the environment aspect of the PEO model). 
• Informed the direction of further large scale research projects and addtional projects with participants as research partners
• Action in the local community. Parents formed an ongoing parent support and advocacy group which advocated for change at a local government level. 

Project Two: 
Creation of a new assesment... Model of Human Occupation Screening Tool (MOHOST)

• Practitioners saw that many standardised assessments did not work in the fast-paced environment of acute mental health. They developed an initial version of a screening tool appropriate to this environment
• Practitioners asked for input from researchers to further develop this assessment
• Researchers and practitioners worked together in a PAR process for five years to refine MOHOST
• Final assessment “satisfied both research and practice concerns” (Kielhofner et al, 2006, p. 653).              

References:

Kielhofner, G., Castle, L., Dubouloz, C., Egan, M., Forsyth, K., Melton, J., Parkinson, S., Robson, M., Summerfield-Mann, L., Taylor, R. R., & Willis, S. (2006). Participatory research for the development and evaluation of occupational therapy: Researcher-practitioner collaboration. In G. Kielhofner (Ed.) Research in occupational therapy: Methods of inquiry for enhancing practice (pp. 643-655). Philadelphia: F A Davis.

Law, M. (2004). Building knowledge through participatory research. In K. W. Hammell, & C. Carpenter (Eds.) Qualitative research in evidence-based rehabilitation (pp. 40-50). Edinburgh: Elsevier.

Letts, L. (2003). Occupational therapy and participatory research: A partnership worth pursuing. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 57(1), 77-87.