Priority 3 from the Occupational Therapy PSP

UNCERTAINTY: How can occupational therapists work more effectively with the family and carers of people who access services? (JLA PSP Priority 3)
Overall ranking 3
JLA question ID 0100/3
Explanatory note Without undermining the importance of person-centred practice, this question focuses on the additional importance of working in partnership with the families and carers of the person accessing services to improve outcomes for people accessing services.
Evidence

There are some conversational and observational papers but no robust evidence in relation to this question (see example references). This is an area of uncertainty.
An, S.-J. L. (2017). "Parent Training Occupational Therapy Program for Parents of Children with Autism in Korea." Occupational therapy international 2017: 4741634-4741634.
Augustyn, J. and A. Wallisch (2017). "Occupational Therapy in Early Intervention: Supporting Families and Children Through Cultural Cempetency and Coaching." OT Practice 22(6): 14-17.
Bourke-Taylor, H. (2017). "Occupational therapists working with children and families: two decades of progress." Australian Occupational Therapy Journal 64: 11-13.
Casagrande, R. P., et al. (2015). "Occupational Therapy contributions in the support and assistance to families of people with mental disorders." Cad. Ter. Ocup. UFSCar (Impr.) 23(2): [427-437].
D'Arrigo, R., et al. (2019). "Parent engagement and disengagement in paediatric settings: an occupational therapy perspective." Disability And Rehabilitation: 1-12.
Davel Pickens, N. and T. Long (2016). "Occupational Therapy Practitioners Working With Caregivers in Adult Palliative Care and End-of Life Care." OT Practice 21(3): CE-1-CE-8.
Edwards, M. (2015). "Family Caregivers for People with Dementia and the Role of Occupational Therapy." Physical & Occupational Therapy in Geriatrics 33(3): 220-232.
Kuhaneck, H. M. and R. Watling (2015). "Occupational Therapy: Meeting the Needs of Families of People With Autism Spectrum Disorder." The American Journal Of Occupational Therapy: Official Publication Of The American Occupational Therapy Association 69(5): 6905170010p6905170011-6905170015.
M'Crystal-Fletcher, C. and N. McGonagle (2016). "Occupational therapy and physiotherapy community service developed more than a family support project." British Journal of Occupational Therapy 79: 60-60.
Miller Kuhaneck, H. and R. Watling (2015). "Occupational therapy: Meeting the needs of families of people with autism spectrum disorder." American Journal of Occupational Therapy 69(5): 5.
Riley, B., et al. (2017). "How Do Pediatric Occupational Therapists Implement Family-Centered Care?" American Journal of Occupational Therapy 71: 108-108.
Stoffel, A., et al. (2017). "Family Centered: Occupational Therapy's Role in Promoting Meaningful Family Engagement in Early Intervention." OT Practice 22(18): 8-13.
Walker, B. A., et al. (2017). "Identifying Effective Strategies in Occupational Therapy to Support Persons With Alzheimer's Disease and Their Caregivers." American Journal of Occupational Therapy 71: 113-113.

Health Research Classification System category Generic Health Relevance
Extra information provided by this PSP
Original uncertainty examples Is there any scope for occupational therapists to work with families as a unit, rather than one individual service user, within the NHS, some areas of independent practice appear to offer this, but mainly in paediatrics. ~
Why don’t Occupational therapists work in a tri partite way with school and family to ensure the child and their needs are at the centre of the therapy input in all their environments? ~ How are OT’s working with families where either the children or the parents have issues with each other, ie: toxic parenting or self harm in children and issues with understanding MH conditions? ~ How well do OTs consider the needs of carers and contribute to personalised whole family approaches within their work?
Submitted by Occupational therapists, Carers, Students, Other
PSP information
PSP unique ID 0100
PSP name Occupational Therapy
Total number of uncertainties identified by this PSP. 66 (To see a full list of all uncertainties identified, please see the detailed spreadsheet held on the JLA website)
Date of priority setting workshop 27 July 2020