Centre for Rehabilitation and Special Needs Studies, Occupational Therapy Programme, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Jalan Raja Muda Abdul Aziz, 50300 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Center for Psychology and Rehabilitation of Atfal Jannah, Jalan Pinang 7, Bukit Kuang, 24000 Kemaman, Terengganu, Malaysia.
Occup Ther Int. 2022 Mar 9;2022:2588902. doi: 10.1155/2022/2588902. eCollection 2022.
Occupational therapy is a client-centered health profession and is a part of an interdisciplinary team. Effective interdisciplinary practice occurs when each professional understands the role of another professional in the team. This resulted in optimal referral among the professionals that can benefit the clients to receive good care and service. However, it seems that referrals to occupational therapy are becoming lesser by day in specific settings and hospitals in Malaysia. This brings a perspective if other professions in the healthcare team understand the role of occupational therapists. This study is aimed at exploring the perception and misconceptions of allied health professionals on the roles of occupational therapists. A focus group discussion was conducted among seven allied health professionals using a heuristic approach. The interview data were analyzed thematically. Themes developed were (i) awareness of occupational therapy ecosystem, (ii) in cooperating togetherness for the benefit of the client, and (iii) addressing the limitation to enhance the occupational therapy visibility. Findings found that the knowledge of other healthcare practitioners and clients on the occupational therapist's role is still limited. Role confusion and overlapping are common among other allied health professionals. Occupational therapy needs to continually promote the profession's role and identity for the maximum benefit to the client and overall improvement.
职业治疗是一种以客户为中心的健康专业，是跨学科团队的一部分。当每个专业人员都了解团队中其他专业人员的角色时，有效的跨学科实践就会发生。这导致专业人员之间的转诊更加有效，从而使客户能够获得良好的护理和服务。然而，在马来西亚的特定环境和医院中，职业治疗的转诊似乎每天都在减少。这就提出了一个问题，即医疗保健团队中的其他专业人员是否理解职业治疗师的角色。本研究旨在探讨辅助卫生专业人员对职业治疗师角色的看法和误解。采用启发式方法对 7 名辅助卫生专业人员进行了焦点小组讨论。对访谈数据进行了主题分析。得出的主题是：（i）职业治疗生态系统的认识；（ii）为了客户的利益共同合作；（iii）解决限制问题以提高职业治疗的可见度。研究结果发现，其他医疗保健从业者和客户对职业治疗师角色的了解仍然有限。其他辅助卫生专业人员之间普遍存在角色混淆和重叠。职业治疗需要不断宣传该专业的角色和身份，以最大限度地为客户和整体改善服务。
