A survey of research capacity and partnerships among mental health occupational therapists in the UK

Morris, Karen; Smyth, Genevieve

doi:10.1108/mhrj-12-2016-0024

Cited by 3 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…Disciplines such as occupational therapy and social work report being under pressure to deliver clinically relevant, cost-effective and knowledge (or research) informed practices [ 1 , 2 ]. Allied health clinicians develop basic research-skills training during their undergraduate course, yet it is relatively unknown how these skills develop within the workforce [ 3 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Research capacity and culture in an Australian metropolitan public mental health service: scoping the skills and experience of social workers and occupational therapists

et al. 2022

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Background Investment in a clinical research culture appears to be associated with benefits for consumers, staff, and overall organisational performance. The validated 55-item Research Capacity and Culture (RCC) tool was developed specifically to gauge the research capacity and culture of health professionals and workplace settings within which they work. Results of some individual studies suggest that professional discipline and workplace setting may impact RCC results however it has never been used in a dedicated public mental health setting. Therefore, this study will explore the research capacity and culture of allied mental health clinicians (Part 1). Another aim is to explore potential connections between workplace settings, locations and disciplines based on published RCC-based data to help signpost potential impediments to service improvements (Part 2). Methods Part 1: An RCC-based online survey canvased Australian Social Workers and Occupational Therapists (n = 59) based in a metropolitan public mental health service. Non-parametric analyses explored links between research-related experience and participant characteristics. Part 2: Comparative analyses explored the potential influence of workplace settings and professional disciplines on published RCC results. Results Part 1: Overall, the research capacity and experiences of mental health Social Workers and Occupational Therapists seemed modest. Discipline was statistically associated with level of research-activity experience, weighted towards occupational therapy; demographic characteristics were not. Only two items in the RCC were rated high; many more items were rated low. Part 2: Published studies exploration found no link between RCC ratings and workplace location, setting, or professional discipline. Sampling biases and use of modified, non-validated RCC versions likely impacted the results. Conclusions Allied mental health clinicians may not be sufficiently experienced, knowledgeable, or confident with a range of research-related activities given the emphasis on workforce research capability in policy and practice nowadays. This may be commonplace across health-based organisations. We recommend the systematic implementation of research training programs in (mental) health services, and a ‘whole-of-service levels’ approach be used i.e., transform policy, culture and leadership as well as provide practical resources with individual training. Potential benefits include a positive impact on organisation functioning, clinicians’ confidence and practice, and improved consumer outcomes.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Research capacity and culture in an Australian metropolitan public mental health service: scoping the skills and experience of social workers and occupational therapists

et al. 2022

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“…, 2012; White et al. , 2013), research specific positions (Morris and Smyth, 2017), health service-embedded research positions (Wenke et al. , 2017b ) , substantive research positions (White et al.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Across the literature, a wide variety of terms were used when referring to AH clinician researcher positions in health services. Examples of the different terminology included clinical academics (Connolly et al, 2018;Twelvetree et al, 2019), science-practitioners (Steens et al, 2018), dedicated research positions (Wenke et al, 2017b;Finch et al, 2015;Golenko et al, 2012;White et al, 2013), research specific positions (Morris and Smyth, 2017), health service-embedded research positions (Wenke et al, 2017b), substantive research positions (White et al, 2013), academic and clinical specialists (McNeill and Nicholas, 2012), research leads , conjoint researcher/appointments (Borkowski et al, 2016;Finch et al, 2015;Steens et al, 2018), research coordinators (Stiller and Haensel, 2016), jointly funded/joint position/appointments (Paquin, 2017), split appointments (Paquin, 2017), and research fellows (Harvey et al, 2013).…”

Section: Sub-question 1: Terminology and Definition Of "Clinician Res...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One Australian study found that 36% of Allied Health clinicians in the Victorian public health system reported having access to an organisational Allied Health research lead . Qualitative studies have identified that AH professionals feel that opportunities for dedicated research positions in health services are limited, and there is a need for more (Girot, 2013;Golenko et al, 2012;Luckson et al, 2018;Morris and Smyth, 2017;Paget et al, 2016;White et al, 2013).…”

Section: Sub-question 3: Research Positions In Health Servicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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What is known about clinician researcher careers in allied health? A scoping review of the last decade

Brandenburg

Raatz

Ward

2022

JHOM

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PurposeAlthough the benefits of clinician researchers for health services are now more clearly recognised, their career development is not well understood. Hence, the purpose of this paper, a scoping review, is to determine what has been discussed in the literature about career opportunities for allied health (AH) clinician researchers in health services.Design/methodology/approachA structured literature search was completed in December 2020 for literature published 2010–2020 in English. A total of 2,171 unique abstracts were found and screened by two reviewers and 206 articles progressed to full text screening.FindingsForty-six studies were ultimately included; however, only two of these had aims directly related to AH clinician researcher careers, with the remainder containing only incidental data on this topic. Over half (56.5%) of the included studies were conducted in Australia, with a variety of AH professions represented. In terms of research design, 52.2% used cross-sectional survey designs, while case studies and qualitative research designs were also common. Key observations were that varying terminology and definitions were used, and there was little information about the inclusion of research in clinical positions or opportunities for formal clinical researcher positions in health services. There was some evidence to support that there are limited career opportunities after PhD completion, and that current career pathways are insufficient. There was conflicting evidence on whether engagement in research is beneficial for clinical career progression.Originality/valueThis review highlights a lack of research on this topic and outlines future directions to better support career pathways for AH clinician researchers.

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Describing the evidence-base for research engagement by health care providers and health care organisations: a scoping review

Yoong

Bolsewicz

Reilly

et al. 2023

BMC Health Serv Res

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Background Having a research-engaged health and medical workforce is associated with improvements in clinical outcomes for patients. As such, there has been significant government investment internationally to support health care organisations and services to increase staff engagement with research. Objectives This scoping review sought to provide an overview of the literature describing strategies employed to increase research engagement by health care providers and organisations, and to undertake a qualitative analysis to generate a list of research engagement strategies. Methods A scoping review using systematic search strategies was undertaken to locate peer-review publications and grey literature related to research engagement by health care providers and organisations. Research engagement was defined as a ‘deliberate set of intellectual and practical activities undertaken by health care staff and organisations to conduct research’. A database search of electronic records was performed with no limit on publication date. Publications were included regardless of study type (excluding systematic reviews) and categorised as either databased (presenting data or new analysis of existing data) and non-databased (no new data or analyses). Databased publications were further classified according to study type, study design and setting. A qualitative synthesis using a Framework Approach was undertaken with all studies that described a strategy to improve research engagement. Results A total of 152 publications were included in this study with 54% categorised as non-databased. Of the databased articles, the majority (72%) were descriptive studies describing prevalence of correlates of research engagement, 17 (25%) described intervention studies where only two were controlled studies. The following research engagement strategies were identified: i) dual skilled team/staff, ii) resources or physical infrastructure, iii) incentives, iv) leadership support of research, v) education/training, vi) networks, vii) forming partnerships or collaborations and viii) overall leadership structure of entity. Conclusions The literature on research engagement is primarily opinion-based and descriptive in nature. To provide the evidence needed to inform strategies, this needs to progress beyond descriptive to more rigorous well-designed intervention research.

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A survey of research capacity and partnerships among mental health occupational therapists in the UK

Cited by 3 publications

References 22 publications

Research capacity and culture in an Australian metropolitan public mental health service: scoping the skills and experience of social workers and occupational therapists

Research capacity and culture in an Australian metropolitan public mental health service: scoping the skills and experience of social workers and occupational therapists

What is known about clinician researcher careers in allied health? A scoping review of the last decade

Describing the evidence-base for research engagement by health care providers and health care organisations: a scoping review

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