Public and professional involvement in a systematic review investigating the impact of occupational therapy on the self-management of rheumatoid arthritis.
James P Gavin, Laura Rossiter, Vicky Fenerty and 5 others
PMID 40336585WHAT IT FOUND
Involving patients and therapists throughout a systematic review improved the search strategy and interpretation of findings.
Partners valued clear roles and timely feedback but noted online-only meetings missed under-served voices. Researchers should plan involvement from the start and evaluate it immediately after key phases.
Key findings
01Public partners helped refine the search strategy by adding terms related to social and psychological concepts like dependency, stigma, and body image.
02Partners identified that living with others often made maintaining self-care difficult, particularly during the pandemic, and recommended involving carers in future interventions.
03Evaluation workshops highlighted that online-only involvement risks missing seldom-seen voices, and partners recommended at least one in-person meeting per year.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The evaluation had a low response rate, with only 46% of public partners and 50% of professional partners completing the survey. The involvement was not included in the selection, synthesis, or analysis phases of the systematic review itself. The evaluation was not a prospectively planned qualitative study with formal thematic analysis, relying instead on basic content analysis. The project duration of 12 months was insufficient to build deep trusting relationships with the partner cohort. Online-only meetings may have excluded under-served populations who lack digital access or confidence.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The project was funded by the Royal College of Occupational Therapists (RCOT) Research Foundation through a Systematic Review grant.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret this as evidence that occupational therapy improves RA self-management outcomes. This paper describes the process of involving partners in a review, not the clinical results of the review itself.