Hello! We would greatly appreciate your help. With the recent changes in the Queensland workforce and the effect on designated health promotion positions, we are interested in the overlapping features of occupational therapy practice with health promotion activity. To do this we are exploring the ways occupational therapists (OT’s) understand and use health promotion activities in their practice.
We would like to invite you to assist us in piloting this survey. After feedback from the pilot and appropriate refinement, this survey will be sent to all occupational therapists registered with OT Australia in Queensland as we aim to get a picture of OT’s and health promotion across the breadth of locations, practice settings, training backgrounds and current practice types.
Your participation in the pilot would be greatly appreciated to assist us in ensuring that the questions allow us to gather the information that we are looking for. All data collected will remain anonymous, treated as confidential, and stored securely at the university.
We anticipate that the survey will take approximately 15 - 20 minutes of your time but would appreciate it if you could time it and let us know on the very last page how long it did take to complete.
If you have any questions, please contact us using details below. Thank you in anticipation of your participation and I look forward to receiving your responses.
Dr Sue Devine (Senior Lecturer, Public Health and Tropical medicine, James Cook University)
Phone: 0747816110
Email:
General and Demographic questions
The following questions are about you and your current practice setting.
- What is your gender?
□ Male
□ Female
- What is your year of birth? ……………………………..
- Which year did you graduate as an OT? …………………………….
- What is the highest tertiary qualification you have?
□ Bachelor of Occupational Therapy
□ Post graduate certificate
□ Post graduate diploma
□ Masters degree
□ PhD (or equivalent)
□ Other ……………………………………………….
5. What is/are the postcode/s of your current practice location (include postcodes that you cover during outreach services)?
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
- Please indicate the option that best describes your current work setting (tick all that apply)
□Hospital
□Private
□Government
□NGO
□Not for Profit
□Community
□Private
□Government
□NGO
□Not for Profit
□Education services
□Private
□Government
□NGO
□Not for Profit
□Industry (e.g. mining)
□Private
□Government
□NGO
□Not for Profit
□Private practice
□Other ……………………………………………………………………………………..
- How would you describe your primary client base? (please select one)
□Children (0-4 years)
□Children (5-12 years)
□Adolescent (13-17 years)
□Adult (18-64 years)
□Elderly (65 and over)
□Mixed (Please specify) ………………………………..
□Other (Please specify) ………………………………..
□Do not work directly with clients
Education and Training in health promotion
These questions relate to your level of initial education in health promotion as you trained to be an occupational therapist, as well as any subsequent training you have done since graduating.
For the purposes of this study the following WHO definition of health promotion is provided:
“Health promotion is the process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve, their health. It moves beyond a focus on individual behaviour towards a wide range of social and environmental interventions.”
8. What course component regarding health promotion did you receive at undergraduate OT level? (tick all that apply)
□Specific health promotion subject/unit of study
□Health promotion component within another subject/unit of study
□Health promotion embedded across two or more subjects/units of study
□No health promotion component
□I don’t specifically remember
9. Thinking about your exposure and training in health promotion in your initial occupational therapy qualification, please indicate how adequately you were prepared to practice health promotion activity in your OT role?
Very Inadequate / Inadequate / Adequate / Very adequate / Highly adequate10. Have you received any health promotion trainingsince graduating as an OT?
□Yes – if yes please proceed to Q 11
□No – if no please proceed to Q 12
11. Training received since graduating in OT.(Tick all that apply)
□CPD
□Short course
□Undergraduate course
□Postgraduate course
□Other (please specify) ……………………………………………………………………………………………
12. What areas, if any, of Health Promotion would you like further training in?
□Theory (including health promotion frameworks
□Needs assessment
□Planning
□Strategy development
□Evaluation
□Capacity building
□Other
Health Promotion Awareness
13. How would you rate your current overall level of health promotion knowledge? (1 being not at all knowledgeable , 5 being very knowledgeable) [Source: Hume report]
1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 514. How would you rate your overall confidence regarding health promotion practice? (1 being not at all confident, 5 being very confident)
1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 515. How would you rate your overall skill regarding health promotion practice? (1 being not at all skilled, 5 being very skilled)
1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 516. Using the definition stated for each of the following questions,please indicate the approach(es) you have employed in your practice in the last 12 months:
Medical approach – “concerned with preventing disease and illness, tends to be ‘top-down’, and relies on giving information and trying to persuade the adoption of a healthy behaviour.” e.g. give diet sheet to overweight clients.
Never / Rarely / Sometimes / Often / AlwaysBehavioural change – “concerned with persuading people to think about their behaviours and, where necessary, to change them.” e.g. quit smoking advice.
Never / Rarely / Sometimes / Often / AlwaysEducational approach – “concerned with providing learning opportunities for people so they can understand the effects on their health, where to seek help, how to develop skills and so on, such that they can make informed decisions about their health.” e.g. fallseducation forelderly people.
Never / Rarely / Sometimes / Often / AlwaysEmpowerment approach – “concerned with working alongside people so that they can work out what health issues are important to them, and gain more power to influence the determinants of their health so they can take more control over their own lives.” e.g. working with disadvantaged community group to prioritise health problems and then approach relevant authorities.
Never / Rarely / Sometimes / Often / AlwaysSocial change approach – “concerned with changing the social, economic, and political factors that affect health.” e.g. Local council working with community group to tackle antisocial behaviour and vandalism.
Never / Rarely / Sometimes / Often / AlwaysEnvironmental approach – “concerned with modifying the environment to enable people to increase their participation in activities which have meaning to them.” e.g. increasing accessibility to public spaces for people with mobility challenges.
Never / Rarely / Sometimes / Often / AlwaysSpecific Health Promotion Activities
This section relates to any activities you have planned and participated in,during the last 12 months, which may be classified as health promotion.
17. Do you engage in specific health promotion activities?
□Yes(if ‘Yes’ go to question 18)
□No (if ‘No’ go to question 21)
18. At which of the following levels do you deliver your health promotion activities? (Tick all that apply):
□Individuals,
□Groups,
□Organisations,
□Communities,
□Policy makers
□Other (please specify) ……………………………………….
□Did no health promotion work
19. Using the definitions given below, which level/s of health promotion (if any) doesyour current health promotion practicetarget (choose all that apply)
Primary health promotion- defined as “Promoting the health of the general population to maintain health, prevent health damaging behaviour, prevent ill health and improve quality of life.”
□ Yes
□ No
Secondary health promotion- defined as “Promoting the health of individuals or groups where health damaging behaviour has already occurred, to change behaviour and prevent health moving to a chronic or irreversible stage.”
□ Yes
□ No
Tertiary health promotion- defined as “Promoting the health of those with chronic conditions or disability to enhance quality of life and potential for healthy living”
□ Yes
□ No
Quaternary health promotion- defined as “Promoting the emotional, social and physical health and wellbeing of the terminally ill”.
□ Yes
□ No
20. Regarding your engagement in health promotion as part of your current practice, please briefly describe what health promotion strategies or approaches you use.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Barriers and Enablers to health promotion within occupational therapy practice
In this final section, I would like you to indicate any factors which have made it easier or more difficult to do health promotion activities as an occupational therapist.
The following definitions are being used here for simplicity.
- Barriers – factors which make undertaking health promotion activity more difficult in health practice.
- Enablers – factors which make incorporating health promotion activity in health practice easier.
21. In your current practice, what are the any barriers to OTs engaging in health promotion? …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
22. In your current practice, what are the any enablers to OTs engaging in health promotion? ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Thankyou so much for your time and patience. Please see additional questions on the next page.