Soon Yong En, Murray Carolyn M, Aguilar Alejandra, Boshoff Kobie
Healthcare Australia, Unley, SA, Australia.
Allied Health and Human Performance Academic Unit, International Centre for Allied Health Evidence, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA, Australia.
Br J Occup Ther. 2022 Aug;85(8):585-594. doi: 10.1177/03080226211064475. Epub 2022 Feb 1.
Consumer involvement in occupational therapy programmes is one of the accreditation requirements of the Occupational Therapy Council in Australia. Consumers are direct recipients of occupational therapy services. Current knowledge about consumer involvement within occupational therapy education is minimal and mostly in mental health. This study identifies the trends for involvement and methods for recruitment and retention of consumers in Australian occupational therapy university education programmes.
Twenty-one occupational therapy programme directors in Australian universities were directly invited by email to participate in an online questionnaire. Prior to distribution, the questionnaire was piloted and the content validity tested. Analysis of closed-ended questions occurred using frequencies and percentages and content analysis occurred with open-text responses.
Nine programme directors completed the questionnaire. Consumers were mainly involved in delivering lectures, sharing stories and having discussions in small groups. Consumers were recruited to programmes through collaboration with organisations and/or by direct approach. The main retention strategies included employing consumers as university educators and providing support before/during involvement.
Consumer involvement in curricula addresses university programme requirements and aims to prepare students for consumer-focussed practice. The findings inform educators about diverse ways of recruiting, retaining and involving consumers in their programmes.
消费者参与职业治疗项目是澳大利亚职业治疗委员会的认证要求之一。消费者是职业治疗服务的直接接受者。目前关于职业治疗教育中消费者参与的知识非常有限，且大多集中在心理健康领域。本研究确定了澳大利亚职业治疗大学教育项目中消费者参与的趋势以及招募和留住消费者的方法。
通过电子邮件直接邀请澳大利亚各大学的21位职业治疗项目主任参与在线问卷调查。在分发问卷之前，先进行了预测试并检验了内容效度。对封闭式问题的分析采用频率和百分比，对开放式回答进行内容分析。
9位项目主任完成了问卷。消费者主要参与授课、分享故事以及分组讨论。通过与组织合作和/或直接邀请的方式招募消费者参与项目。主要的留住消费者的策略包括聘请消费者担任大学教育工作者，并在参与之前/期间提供支持。
消费者参与课程既满足了大学项目的要求，也旨在让学生为以消费者为中心的实践做好准备。研究结果为教育工作者提供了关于在项目中招募、留住消费者并让其参与的多种方式的信息。
