Practitioner‐researchers in occupational therapy

Abstract

Few occupational therapy clinicians are research productive even though their involvement in research is encouraged. The role of ‘research‐practitioner’ is put forward as a means by which practitioners can be research productive. There is, however, an absence of studies exploring experience of the minority of practitioners who do produce research. This study used a qualitative approach to do this in occupational therapy. Purposive sampling was conducted of all research productive clinicians in acute‐care hospitals in one Australian city. Of the 20 possible researchers, 15 participated in in‐depth interviews which explored their experience of research. Results were analysed using the constant comparative method and six conceptual categories were developed to describe their experience. The key findings were that clinicians who did research perceived themselves to be different from other clinicians in terms of attributes; and they described special ways of getting research done, and ways of reflecting on outcomes of their research involvement. The study provides an empirical foundation to further consider the practitioner‐researcher role in practice professions such as occupational therapy.