This week we thought it would be a good idea to have a community idea chat.

This will give everyone an opportunity to have a think about future topics the community would like to discuss.

The themes will be flexible and open to change as the discussion progresses, but some things to think about in preparation:

Have you been wanting to host a chat, but not committed to a date yet?

Do you have any questions that are holding you back from hosting?

Would you like to co-host a chat with someone who shares a passion for a topic? maybe this could be just opportunity to link up, or we could could compile a list?

Have you attended a talk or CPD session and would like to suggest we approach someone to host a chat?

Have you read an article recently that would be a good starting point for a discussion?

What about other media that may of sparked an idea? Maybe a YouTube video or a podcast?

Any other suggestions?

We look forward to tweeting with all your wonderful ideas.

The #OTalk organising team.

POST CHAT

Online Transcript

#OTalk Healthcare Social Media Transcript April 9th 2019

The Numbers

896.881K Impressions
125 Tweets
16 Participants
100 Avg Tweets/Hour
8 Avg Tweets/Participant

#OTalk Participants

This weeks #OTalk is hosted by Dr. Rob Brooks, Course Director for Occupational Therapy at Leeds Beckett University. As his blog below outlines, Rob has based this week’s chat questions on feedback from pre-registration students on their experiences of research. Join Rob on Tuesday 2nd Aril at 8pm to discuss your thoughts on this topic.

Pre-registration Research “Never again!”

We would not argue with the notion that occupational therapists need to be able to interpret research and apply this to their practice. Most occupational therapists have received some research training; indeed, the Royal College of Occupational Therapists standard for pre-registration education states that an entry level therapist should be able to:

1. Select and justify designs, methods and ethics appropriate to research in occupation and occupational therapy.
2. Disseminate research findings in a variety of appropriate ways within and beyond the profession.

Despite research being embedded in pre-registration education, engagement with research in clinical practice is variable and the number of researchers in the profession remains limited. The reasons for this are complex, I would suggest that how students experience research in pre-registration programmes is a contributing factor.

There is little published research on the experience of research by pre-registration students. When I think about what pre-registration occupational therapy students have told me about their experiences they fit into two groups. The first is the “never again!” group. This group find the process of conducting research tortuous and they often struggle to feel skilled in using research in their practice. I worry that we have alienated this group of students from research. The reasons for this can be multi-factorial – was it the way in which research was taught, was it the type of study they carried out, was it difficulty in applying the research to practice? Each student will have their own story.

The second group is those who like research (yes, there are some!). These are the students who find research stimulating and engaging. I do however have concerns about these students too. These students are skilled in research and have the potential to be the future researchers of the profession, yet when they go into graduate jobs we fail to use or nurture their research skills. Again, we can deconstruct a number or reasons – senior staff who themselves feel threatened by research knowledge, lack of opportunity/time to carry out further research, the perception that research is for senior therapists.

Question 1
What were your experiences of pre-registration research?

Question 2
Is pre-registration research actually useful?

Question 3
What could universities do differently to make research more accessible/enjoyable for pre-registration students?

Question 4
What types of research should pre-registration students be conducting?

Question 5
How can clinicians/managers use the research skills of new graduates?

Question 6
What should clinicians and academics do to talent spot potential future researchers?

Post Chat

Host: Dr. Rob Brooks

Online Transcript

The Numbers

1.532M Impressions
402 Tweets
46 Participants
142 Avg Tweets/Hour
9 Avg Tweets/Participant

#OTalk Participants

Data for #OTalk can be up to 15 minutes delayed

This month the #OTalk Research chat is on the topic of Mixed Methods in Occupational Therapy focused research and will be hosted by Naomi Gallant @naomi_gallant here is what she had to say…

Following a stimulating and informative presentation and discussion with the Occupational Therapy Doctoral group via video call on Monday evening, it was fitting to open up discussion with the Occupational Therapy community about the use of mixed methods in research. As the name suggests, mixed methods is a methodological approach to research which includes a combination of quantitative and qualitative data collection, which naturally translates into data analysis. This is not to be confused with triangulation of methods, or multiple-method research, which can use a combination of methods which are all quantitative or all qualitative. The mixed methods design is being used increasingly in researching and applying findings to health settings and complex health phenomena. A pragmatic paradigm is often favoured when approaching mixed methods – use whatever is needed to answer the question in the best way.

Some key points for further discussion jumped out to me during our video call. People had come across, and were anticipating different challenges to using mixed methods in research. These included: being able to justify and convince others (including supervisors) that mixed methods was an appropriate approach; mixing opposing research paradigms; making decisions about sequential or parallel mixed methods typologies; where to publish mixed methods research; and adequately analysing the quantitative and qualitative data.

So, I wanted to open up some questions to the floor to further our discussions from Monday, create an opportunity to share experiences and see what everyone else thinks about using mixed methods research in Occupational Therapy focused research.

1. Let’s start by hearing what people’s experiences are of using, or seeing, mixed methods research, in action

2. How do we address the opposing research paradigms of quantitative and qualitative research when designing mixed methods research?

3. Does an Occupational Therapy perspective side with a particular research paradigm?

4. Why could mixed methods research be particularly useful to Occupational Therapy areas of research?

5. What quality criteria guidelines could be used to ensure rigorous and persuasive research is conducted?

Post Chat

Host: @naomi_gallant

Support on the @OTalk_ Account: @LynneGoodacre

Online Transcript

#OTalk Healthcare Social Media Transcript March 5th 2019

he Numbers

241.845KImpressions
45Tweets
13Participants
36Avg Tweets/Hour
3Avg Tweets/Participant

#OTalk Participants