Occupational Therapy Practitioners’ Perspectives on the Acceptability and Utility of a Self-Advocacy Intervention in an Inpatient Rehabilitation Setting

Access to healthcare is a critical piece to health management for all people but for people with disability it may require knowledge and use of self-advocacy skills to request and receive equitable care. These skills empower clients and support overall health and well-being. Occupational therapy practitioners are uniquely trained to educate clients in self-advocacy skill development. However, there is little evidence of practitioners translating these approaches into practice. Thus, the purpose of this knowledge translation approach was to explore occupational therapist's perceptions of the clinical utility and acceptability of a novel self-advocacy intervention as a step toward intervention refinement for clinical use and future effectiveness research. Using qualitative methods, seven occupational therapists participated in semi-structured interviews after a two-month trial period using the self-advocacy intervention. Thematic analysis of interviews resulted in multiple elucidating insights that align to barriers and facilitators to intervention acceptability and utility. Barriers included length of stay, prioritization of goals, and patient's acceptance of disability. However, occupational therapists were able to deliver the intervention with a small group of patients supporting that the intervention holds promise for use in addressing client self-advocacy.