Date Presented 03/26/20
A qualitative, phenomenological approach explored OTs’ perceptions of interprofessional collaboration in schools in the United States. Semistructured interviews with 11 participants from all US regions yielded five themes: collaboration is elusive, time is a barrier, administrative support is key, trust yields success, and collaboration is a personal choice. Implications include finding consistent language to define collaboration and the need for continuing education to adopt a collaborative model.
Primary Author and Speaker: Erin Rose
Additional Authors and Speakers: Francine Seruya
PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to acquire deeper knowledge about lived experiences of occupational therapists (OT) in regards to interprofessional collaboration in school settings in the United States (US). Research exploring OT perspectives and experiences of collaboration in school settings is primarily from outside of the US, and is based on older literature (Bose & Hinojosa, 2008). Current literature in the US has focused on teachers’ perspectives, resulting in implications that mainly focus on collaboration between teachers and OTs only (Casillas, 2010). This study sought to gain an understanding of OTs’ perspectives on interprofessional collaboration, inclusive of all stakeholders (i.e. PT, psychologist, social worker, paraprofessional), how OTs define and implement interprofessional collaboration, and the barriers and facilitators of interprofessional collaboration in school settings in the US.
DESIGN: This qualitative, phenomenological study involved in-depth, semi-structured interviews. Participants had to be currently working in a school setting in the US and have at least one year of experience. Participants were recruited through social media: Facebook and CommunOT websites.
METHOD: In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with OTs to collect data. The participants were asked questions pertaining to their lived experiences of interprofessional collaboration in schools, including how they defined and implemented collaboration, what barriers exist, and what resources are needed to facilitate collaboration. The interviews lasted about 1 hour and were audio recorded and transcribed. The transcripts were coded and categorized. Categories were then analyzed and culled into key themes.
RESULTS: Five main themes emerged as a result of data analysis. Collaboration is elusive, meaning there is a wide variation in how it is defined and implemented according to participants. Support from the administration is key to the successful implementation of collaboration, with several participants discussing how it helps or hinders the process. Time is the greatest barrier and resource, which strongly supports previous findings. Building relationships and trust between stakeholders yields more success. Participants emphasized the impact of rapport and its relationship to successful collaboration. Lastly, participants felt that collaboration is a personal choice and something that they chose to pursue instead of a model of service delivery aligning with best practice.
CONCLUSION: This study has corroborated previous findings of time being a barrier (Laverdure et al., 2017) and has emphasized the importance of building relationships to improve the success of interprofessional collaboration in school settings. The findings have established an additional perspective indicating collaboration is difficult to define and quantify, thus, collaboration has become quite elusive and difficult to implement consistently across the profession. Implications include establishing consistent language on what constitutes interprofessional collaboration and how it is defined and continuing education to help OTs become more effective collaborators and to transition to a more collaborative model to align with best practice and legal mandates of IDEA. Recommendations for future research include the study of administrators’ perceptions of interprofessional collaboration either in qualitative or quantitative form as well as studies exploring the efficacy in improvement of student outcomes when implementing a collaborative approach.
References
Bose P. & Hinojosa J. (2008). Reported experiences from occupational therapists interacting with teachers in inclusive early childhood classrooms. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 62, 289–297. doi:10.5014/ajot.62.3.289
Casillas, D. (2010). Teachers’ perceptions of school-based occupational therapy consultation: Part II. Early Intervention & School Special Interest Section Quarterly, 17(2), 1–4.
Laverdure, P., Cosbey, J., Gaylord, H., & LeCompte, B. (2017). Providing collaborative and contextual service in school contexts and environments. OT Practice, 22(15), CE1–CE8.
