Occupational Science Concepts Essential to Occupation-Based Practice: Development of Expert Consensus.

IMPORTANCE

What occupational science (OS) knowledge may be essential to occupational therapy practice has not been systematically explored.

OBJECTIVE

To identify and gain expert consensus on OS concepts viewed as essential to occupational therapy practice.

DESIGN

A complex, convergent mixed-methods Delphi design with an international panel of OS experts randomly assigned to two parallel groups. In Round 1, each group generated OS concepts; in Rounds 2 and 3, they rated the degree to which each concept was essential to occupational therapy. Data were analyzed separately for each group. A fourth round combined the two groups and used carefully merged concept definitions from both groups to validate consensus on essential concepts arising from the prior rounds.

PARTICIPANTS

Fifty-two nominated experts from 22 countries who met a priori criteria participated in the 14-mo study.

RESULTS

Of 62 experts invited, 52 (Group A = 24, Group B = 28) participated in the first round, and 42 (81%) completed the full-group final round. Eleven concepts met the consensus threshold (≥70%) established for the study. Additional analysis compared parallel- and full-group results to carefully discern conceptual similarities and differences, especially with near-consensus concepts.

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE

Substantial expert agreement was established for several OS concepts viewed as essential, providing a basis for future studies to refine the concepts for occupational therapy education and practice. What This Article Adds: The results of this research provide a systematically derived preliminary basis for selecting OS content for occupational therapy educational programs and preliminary concepts for organizing OS knowledge germane to occupational therapy practice.