Ideas on how to support the relation between theory and practice

Transfer of learning from an academic setting to clinical practice and vice versa is described as a challenge. Consequently, how to best support the relationship between theory and practice within occupational therapy education has been subject of both research and educational discussions. The occupational therapy education is influenced by the shared interplay between students, lecturers, and fieldwork educators. Synthesizing knowledge on factors influencing the relation between theory and practice, from their shared perspective, is therefore important during the process of planning the occupational therapy education. Yet, this knowledge appears sparse and remains open for investigation. The aim of this study is therefore, to identify, organize and prioritize ideas on how to support the relation between theory and practice in occupational therapy education. Group Concept Mapping (GCM) was applied involving six phases: preparing, generating ideas (brainstorming), structuring statements (sorting and rating importance), analyses, interpreting the map (validation) and utilization (developing a conceptual model). The phases involved both face-to-face sessions and online participation. Occupational therapy students, lecturers, and fieldwork educators participated. A total of n=24 students, n=8 lecturers and n=8 field work educators participated in generating ideas at face-to-face sessions. They generated n=187 ideas. After removing redundant and unclear ideas n=123 unique ideas remained. Participants have just completed online structuring of statements. Analyses and interpretation will take place in December 2022 and January 2023. The results will provide important knowledge for use during the process of planning and developing the occupational therapy education.