Capabilities for recovery-oriented practice in mental health occupational therapy : a thematic analysis of lived experience perspectives

Karen Arblaster, Lynette Mackenzie, Katherine Gill, Karen Willis, Lynda Matthews

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Introduction: Recovery in mental health is both a policy imperative and a contested concept with individual and systemic elements. Occupational therapy research and pre-registration education have not engaged in a substantial way with these ideas, raising questions about how well graduates are equipped for real world practice. We aimed to address this gap by developing lived experience informed recovery-oriented capabilities to inform occupational therapy practice and pre-registration curricula. Method: A participatory qualitative approach guided by a consumer reference group was adopted. In-depth interviews were conducted with 16 mental health consumers, wherever possible with a lived experience co-interviewer. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed using thematic analysis. Findings: Three core capabilities were developed: knowing, comprising five types of knowledge; doing, focused on three key areas of action in practice; and being/becoming, emphasising the lifelong learning journey of becoming a recovery-oriented practitioner who can ‘be’ in authentic partnerships with consumers to support recovery. Conclusion: These lived experience-informed capabilities offer new areas of focus for pre-registration education, practice and research. A need to engage with systemic factors, build students’ capacity for critical thinking about power and structural inequality, and integration of knowledge frameworks through participatory research is suggested.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)675-684
Number of pages10
JournalBritish Journal of Occupational Therapy
Volume82
Issue number11
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2019

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