Occupational Therapists as Social Change Agents: Exploring Factors that Influence Their Actions.
Jessica Picotin, Michaël Beaudoin, Sandrine Hélie and 2 others
PMID 34297637WHAT IT FOUND
Successful occupational therapists acting as change agents rely on nine personal factors, including adaptability and directed collaboration.
They also depend on environmental supports like accessible expertise and collaborative teams, while facing barriers such as resistance to change and lack of resources.
Key findings
01Nine cross-cutting personal factors underpin effective action, including adaptability, confidence in expertise, directed collaboration, discovery, effective communication, observation/analysis, planning, positivism, and reactivity.
02Eleven environmental factors were identified that can either facilitate or impede actions, grouped under six themes: development of the profession, macrosystem, mesosystem, microsystem, organizational culture, and resources.
03Participants described a lack of public knowledge about occupational therapy as a barrier, making it more difficult to promote social change projects within society.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The sample was small (18 participants) and recruited via convenience sampling, which may limit transferability. The interview guide focused heavily on personal factors due to the theoretical framework used, potentially leading to a less detailed exploration of environmental factors. Participants were selected for successful change projects, so the study does not capture the experiences of those who failed or faced different challenges. Social desirability bias may have influenced responses, as participants knew they were being studied for their expertise in this area.
Declared interests
The authors disclosed receipt of financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. No specific commercial conflicts were detailed in the text provided.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret these factors as a validated competency framework or a guarantee of success. The study describes the perceived experiences of a small group of successful therapists; it does not prove that possessing these traits causes effective social change, nor does it account for therapists who succeeded without them.