Debra Humphris

Implementing Evidence-Based Practice: Factors That Influence the Use of Research Evidence by Occupational Therapists

Developing a professional and organisational culture within National Health Service (NHS) trusts that is supportive of improving evidence-based practice will require both the generation and the use of research evidence. This article reports the findings of a study that explored the factors that inhibit and facilitate the use of research evidence by occupational therapists. The sample of 100 occupational therapists was drawn from across seven acute NHS trusts, in one NHS region, including two teaching hospitals. The postal survey achieved a 78% response rate. The findings illustrate that whilst occupational therapists have a positive attitude towards the use of research and are keen to make use of that evidence in practice, workload pressures are a major inhibiting factor. The challenge for practitioners and managers alike is to create organisational conditions that are supportive of the NHS policy objectives to enhance the use of evidence-based practice.

Developing common learning: the new generation project undergraduate curriculum model

This paper describes the curriculum model developed for an ambitious interprofessional education programme for health and social care professions implemented in two universities in the south of England (the New Generation Project). An outline of how the New Generation Project has interpreted the meaning of interprofessional learning is presented first. This is followed by an outline of the structure of the programme, describing both learning in common and interprofessional learning components. The pedagogies underpinning this curriculum initiative are presented and an integrated pedagogical model, facilitated collaborative interprofessional learning, is proposed. The New Generation Project curriculum is then discussed as an extension of an established typology of interprofessional education.

Strange new world: applying a Bourdieuian lens to understanding early student experiences in higher education

Occupational therapy pre‐registration education stands at the intersection of the fields of health and social care and higher education. UK Government agendas in both fields have seen an increase in the number of students entering with non‐traditional academic backgrounds, a group noted to experience particular challenges in negotiating the transition to, and persisting and succeeding within, higher education. Drawing on data from an ongoing longitudinal case study, a Bourdieuian lens is applied to exploring the early educational experiences of a group of these students during their first year of study and highlights a number of key issues, including the high‐value status of linguistic capital and its relationship to understanding the rules governing practices within the learning environment, the processes via which students manage to adapt to or interestingly, to resist, the dominant culture of the field, and some of the barriers to finding a foothold and legitimate position within the new field.

The development of multiprofessional audit and clinical guidelines: their contribution to quality assurance and effectiveness in the NHS

In an attempt to improve the cost-effectiveness of the NHS, the responsibility for the provision and purchasing of health care services has been separated by the creation of a managed market. Quality assurance mechanisms have been introduced to reassure professionals and the public that quality will be maintained as costs are controlled. Providers of health care have adopted a number of approaches to improving quality, mainly derived from industrial models. Over the last 10 years these have progressed from involving managerial processes only, through uniprofessional medical and nursing audit to multiprofessional clinical audit. Commissioners of care are seeking to utilise audit within contracts to ensure that only services that have been proven to be effective are purchased. The government has introduced a number of national policies to facilitate this approach; including a research and development strategy, supporting continuing professional development and restructuring the complaints procedures. Clinic...

Emotional work: students realising, negotiating and overcoming barriers

Purpose – The purpose of the research is to explore Foundation degree students’ experience of an innovative curriculum, designed to enable pathway choices and widen access to Honours degree programmes in a wide range of health professions and Social Work.Design/methodology/approach – A longitudinal, cohort design followed three years’ of entrants through their degree and in some cases beyond. Semi‐structured, in‐depth interviews were carried out by a dedicated researcher at approximately yearly intervals.Findings – Social networks and friendship groups emerged as pivotal to participants’ well‐being and persistence. Institutional barriers included communication problems and a lack of information about timetables and other practical issues. Over time participants came to assert their needs and confront problems, individually and collectively, describing a more questioning and assertive approach to their study and work lives.Research limitations/implications – The experiences over time of students who leave...

Leadership Development: Applying New Learning in an Organisational Context

This paper presents findings from a qualitative study evaluating the impact of a leadership development intervention. The evaluation was designed to look beyond individual learning, but explore organisational learning once participants rejoined their organisations. A range of interviews were conducted with participants and their line managers to elicit perceptions about what participants learned, how interviewees thought the learning was used in practice and what organisational procedures are in place to integrate new learning into work practices within the organisation. The evaluation shows that individual learning took place, but little organisational learning transpired. The research found that lack of time to practice new learning and fragmented organisational support are the factors that influence learning transfer. Additional factors influencing the identification of learning transfer are the non‐alignment of organisational strategy/need with the education agenda supporting this strategy/need and the limited understanding of measurable benefits ‐ financial or behavioural ‐ that such training may provide.

Beyond inequality? A case study of progression, achievements and experiences of health and care workers in higher education, 2005-2011

During the first decade of the new millennium, the New Labour government promoted a discourse of inclusion in health and care work in two central ways: • A restructured career ladder was introduced with the aim of offering advancement based on ability. • The Foundation degree was introduced, as an attempt to open up access to health education in higher education (HE). This paper focuses on the latter, analysing the progression statistics of all entrants to one Foundation degree (at a research-intensive university) over six years. Two groups of students are discussed: those who attained honours degrees and professional qualifications (30% of all who continued) and those who left with no qualifications (19% of all entrants). In order to move beyond typologies that seek to correlate personal characteristics with the likelihood to achieve, we reflect on the contextual and social factors reported by students. Interviews reinforce the importance of peer support and the prospect of a professional career. The dataset examined here would suggest that the range of student voices needs to be attended to with greater sensitivity if the plurality of student perspectives and needs are not to be obscured. The data here enables a more profound consideration of what inclusion could mean.