DEVELOPMENT OF AN ONLINE COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE TO SUPPORT OCCUPATIONAL THERAPISTS IN THEIR ROLE IN HEALTH PROMOTION

Background: Occupational therapists (OTs) recognize they can play an important role in health promotion. However, many of them express a need for support to develop their knowledge and competencies in this domain. Online... [ view full abstract ]

Background: Occupational therapists (OTs) recognize they can play an important role in health promotion. However, many of them express a need for support to develop their knowledge and competencies in this domain. Online communities of practice (OCoP) can facilitate professional development in different domains. This project aimed to develop and assess an OCoP prototype (PROMOT) to support OTs’ professional development in health promotion.

Method: Phase 1- PROMOT was developed by a team of researchers and practitioners with complementary expertise in health promotion, knowledge transfer, communities of practice and educational technologies and according to best practices. Phase 2- 27 OTs who previously expressed their interest in taking part in an OCoP in health promotion were invited to explore PROMOT for a 6 week period. An online survey was sent afterwards to assess several variables which were drawn from the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology Model.

Results: Phase 1- PROMOT includes a library of resources, a blog, a forum, and a calendar of scientific/professional events. Phase 2- PROMOT was launched in October 2015 after pre-testing. Data collected among 20 OTs through an online survey informed the research team about OTs’ satisfaction level, perceived utility and intention to use PROMOT in the future, and the factors influencing members’ participation level.

Conclusion: This project provides valuable insights on how to successfully implement PROMOT on a larger scale.

Application to Practice: PROMOT has the potential to be a useful tool for helping OTs play a larger role as health promoters.