From paper to practice - academics and practitioners working together in enhancing the use of occupational therapy conceptual models

Introduction: Occupational therapy students are exposed to theoretical models of practice in lectures, and practice application of these during clinical fieldwork placements. During fieldwork, they are exposed to supervising therapists’ approach to theory and model use; and are often confronted with a theory-practice gap. With limited literature available on South African therapists’ use of models, the objective of this study was to observe and describe the use of models by occupational therapists in the Free State, South Africa, to inform collaborative efforts in the process of knowledge transfer between academia, practice and students. Methods: A cross sectional study was done by means of a questionnaire survey, with therapists responsible for fieldwork supervision of students; and a workshop evaluation completed by therapists attending a workshop on model use. Results: Results describe 22 supervising therapists’ use of and perceptions around models; and their own and students’ application thereof, and was used to design a workshop on model use. Workshop evaluations completed by 20 attendees indicated that therapists perceived it as enabling with regard to applying new models with more confidence and competence, and that they felt more confident to supervise students in model use. Conclusion: This study and its resulting workshop show how collaboration between therapists and academics can improve the theory-practice link, benefiting therapists’ professional identity and ultimately impacting on undergraduate training.