"It felt like therapy": How participation in research can alter the research experience

Background: Current literature reflects the globalization of professional skill building and ‘cultural competency’ for occupational therapy students,1,2 suggesting international learning opportunities as a means to develop... [ view full abstract ]

Background:
Current literature reflects the globalization of professional skill building and ‘cultural competency’ for occupational therapy students,1,2 suggesting international learning opportunities as a means to develop these capacities. Preparatory and reflective processes are central components to such cross-cultural experiences.

Method:
Drawing from narrative phenomenology,3,4 a nine-month ethnography of the narrative representations of experiences of 24 American Masters of Occupational Therapy (pre-registration) students who traveled to Africa for a two week leadership opportunity was conducted. Data was collected from interviews, participant observation, field notes and collected artifacts revealing anticipatory, participatory and retrospective perspectives.

Results:
Participants’ reflections at home and abroad were invited and witnessed. On multiple occasions the participants commented that the research experience felt like therapy. The position of the researcher as an enquiring participant-observer, with confidentiality and neutrality upheld, appeared to support and supplement the students’ own experiential learning process.

Conclusion:
Applying psychoanalytic theories5 to the interpretation of these findings verifies that the experience of being held in regard, permitting space for reflexive and vulnerable sharing, and having received due care and attention could feel therapeutic.6,7

Application to Practice:
With the study population being future practitioners, there is an important opportunity to draw parallels to the applied nature of the occupational therapy profession - the distinction between ‘doing therapy’ and ‘being therapeutic.’ The socialization of students to recognize the experience and meaning of occupation mirrored their reflexive turn to their own experiences of significance.