Barbara Hooper

Using bibliographic software to appraise and code data in educational systematic review research

Background: Bibliographic database software is often recommended as a tool that can assist researchers in managing the large numbers of references produced in early stages of a systematic review. The uses of such software in systematic review research are often represented solely in terms of bibliographic functions, while the uses that extend beyond simple bibliographic functions have not been explored. Aims: This article provides a guide on how to use extended functions of bibliographic software to systematically complete the steps of appraising search results and coding references for inclusion in or exclusion from the systematic review. Methods: The process is illustrated using an ongoing systematic review as a case description and using screenshots from the bibliographic database, EndNote®, the authors’ preferred software program for the study. Results: The case description illustrates how bibliographic software serves not only to organize and store search results, but also to appraise and code search results and to explicitly track researchers’ decisions across the systematic review. Conclusion: Bibliographic tools can contribute to make the methods that researchers adopt for the phase following the initial literature search more transparent and systematic. The illustrative case description involves a systematic review of academic education in occupational therapy, but easily generalizes to systematic reviews in other health science professions.

On Arriving at the Destination of the Centennial Vision: Navigational Landmarks to Guide Occupational Therapy Education

ABSTRACT The Centennial Vision for occupational therapy in 2017 is like a topographical map for the profession. It holds up a destination toward which practitioners, educators, administrators, and researchers collectively travel. Arriving at the destination will require a careful read of the map to identify suppositions about learning it contains; then a careful selection of theory and instructional processes that are tightly aligned with those learning suppositions. This paper examines learning suppositions within the Vision and offers subject-centered and self-authorship as two conceptual landmarks tightly aligned to the Visions destination on which educators can set their sights, and take steps toward, each day in the classroom.

An international systematic mapping review of fieldwork education in occupational therapy

Background. Owing to its importance in preparing occupational therapists, fieldwork education has generated numerous studies. These have not been collected and reviewed, leaving researchers without a map for growing a science of fieldwork education. Purpose. This study aimed to systematically categorize the topics, research designs, methods, levels of impact, and themes that have and have not been addressed in fieldwork education scholarship. Method. Guided by a systematic mapping review design, 124 articles, identified through database searches and inclusion coding, were studied. Data were collected using a data extraction instrument and analyzed using Microsoft Access queries. Findings. Papers primarily addressed curriculum (n = 51) and students (n = 32). Conceptual/descriptive inquiry methods (n = 57) were predominant. Qualitative (n = 48) and quantitative methods (n = 49) were used equally. Research outcomes mainly targeted perceived participation in fieldwork. Recurring themes included student perceptions, external influences, and transition to practice. Implications. Three recommendations were identified: strengthen procedures for studying singular fieldwork experiences, broaden rationales for studying fieldwork, and translate educational concepts for occupational therapy.

Shortening the distance between the "i" and the "it": a transformative approach to improving teaching.

“It” science focuses on the external and technical dimensions of action. “I” science focuses on the internal experiences and meaning particular actions hold for people. Elevating “It” science over “I” science can deform occupational therapys body of knowledge and, consequently, stunt its practices. Similarly, elevating the technical or instrumental dimension of teaching over the internal experiences of educators can deform education and even do harm to students. A transformative learning approach to improving teaching foregrounds the inner lives of educators, thus balancing the instrumental with the deeply personal aspects of teaching. Such a balance is vital given the hopes that ride on occupational therapy education.

Strengths and limitations of the occupational therapy model curriculum guide as illustrated in a comprehensive curriculum revision process.

ABSTRACT The Model Curriculum was developed to guide curriculum design initiatives in occupational therapy. No data exist describing the Model Curriculum guide in an actual curriculum design process. This paper offers initial descriptive data on the strengths and limitations of the Model Curriculum guide as illustrated in a comprehensive curriculum revision process. The strengths of the Model Curriculum guide included: (1) it represented curriculum as a holistic academic plan and curriculum design as a series of decision points around interrelated elements, (2) it provided an orientation to the vocabulary and process of inductive curriculum design, (3) it provided a general process for undertaking curriculum revision work that was data-driven, and (4) the guide helped raise fundamental questions about the nature of curriculum and learning. Yet, each of these functions was also limited. Limitations are described and recommended revisions to the Model Curriculum guide are offered.

Balancing Efficacy and Effectiveness with Philosophy, History, and Theory-Building in Occupational Therapy Education Research

The preferred focus for education research in occupational therapy increasingly rests on studies that investigate efficacy and effectiveness in the teaching-learning context. While important, the almost exclusive promotion of outcomes-focused studies can come at the expense of other forms of inquiry, including philosophy, history, and theory-building. To fully inform education and enhance practice, outcomes-focused research needs the conceptual foundation provided by philosophical, historical, and theory-building studies. In this paper, the authors suggest that the research enterprise in occupational therapy education is in its infancy and, therefore, quite susceptible to shortcuts that head straight to outcomes. To address this issue, the authors promote an approach where theory-building studies and philosophical explorations both precede and enrich all research endeavors, including those aimed at identifying “what works” in professional education.

Occupational therapy education and the centennial vision.

“Our practice is education!” Thus did our senior editor advocate throughout her tenure as Chair of the Educational Special Interest Section from 1995 to 1998. Continuing to uphold, value, and strengthen the practice of education, we are pleased to present this fourth volume of Occupational Therapy in Health Care dedicated to the growing scholarship of education in occupational therapy. Our first volume in 2001, subtitled Strategies for the New Millennium, was followed by the second volume in 2004, Best Practices in Occupational Therapy Education, and then the third volume, New Directions in Occupational Therapy Education, in 2007. In this fourth special issue, Occupational Therapy Education and the Centennial Vision, we align each contribution to one or more of the major themes within the 2017 American Occupational Therapy Association’s (AOTA) Centennial Vision for the profession: