Research & development
Building the evidence base for the OT profession
The Research and Development Group provides a range of resources and services to support members in their R&D activity
This includes responding to member enquiries, a range of publications and briefings, presenting at member events, providing funding opportunities for professional development, and running events to develop research skills.
Setting standards
- all OT personnel will be research consumers
- some will be participants in research led by others
- a few will be research leaders
- 1% of members to be research leaders
- 4.2% of graduating students to receive capability development funding to ensure an adequate PhD output
- managers to allocate a minimum of one half-day a month for research or other quality-enhancing activity (Ilott and White 2001)1
Dedicated staffing
- 3 R&D officers
- 3 librarians
- 2 administrative staff
Publications
- web-based briefings (e.g. Research resources, Evidence based practice, Research competencies and Applying for ethics approval)
- R&D @ COT and COTIM bulletins
- publications (e.g. R&D strategies, BJOT outputs, OTN pieces, downloadable publications)
Supporting Practice - evidence and resources
- SPEaR topics signpost practitioners to policy, COT resources and evidence
Library and information services
- archive materials
- ejournals / ebooks
- hOT topics
- library catalogue
- literature searching
- national collection of occupational therapy literature
- saved literature searches
- thesis collection/loans
Annual Awards for education, research and continuing professional development
- annual funding stream to support a range of member activities
United Kingdom Occupational Therapy Research Foundation (UKOTRF)
- provides funding to support members’ research activity and research capacity building
- a range of grants available
- commissioned research funding
Events to support research and development activity
- UKOTRF events to support research skills’ acquisition and evidence-based practice
- Annual Conference workshops focussing on research skills acquisition and knowledge-sharing
- contribution to members’ events focussing on research and development, research governance and ethics, and information management
References:
1 Ilott I, White E (2001) College of Occupational Therapists' Research and Developement Strategic Vision and Action Plan. British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 64(6) , 270-77.
