Dear Occupational Therapy Educator,

If you are an Occupational Therapy educator who lectures in Early Childhood Intervention, kindly consider participating in our research.

Who are we?

We are six undergraduate students enrolled in a bachelor’s degree in occupational therapy at the University of Cape Town. As part of our Research and Biostatistics course in our third year and fourth year of study, we are conducting research in the field of family-centred practice (FCP). The title of our research is:

An exploration of the teaching of family-centred practice in early childhood intervention by Occupational Therapy educators at higher education institutions in South Africa.

This study has been approved for ethical clearance by the University of Cape Town Faculty of Health Sciences Human Research Ethical Committee [HREC REF 874/2023].

What is the focus of our study? 

The focus of this study is to explore and describe how occupational therapy educators in the South Africa prepare students to enact family-centred practice in the field of early childhood intervention. There is a need to explore and to identify if or how FCP is incorporated into occupational therapy degree programmes across South Africa, and the study’s findings will help generate an overview of what and how FCP is taught to students. We hope to generate a discussion around how we can build on and address the challenges related to the teaching of FCP from a more Southern perspective, and thus the study may inform future research into how occupational therapy curricula covering FCP can be altered to build on the teaching of FCP. This will better equip undergraduate students for implementing FCP in practice. 

The study hopes to recruit occupational therapy educators from the seven different universities in South Africa that offer occupational therapy undergraduate degrees. These include Stellenbosch University, University of the Western Cape, University of Kwazulu-Natal, University of Witwatersrand, University of Pretoria, University of the Free State and Sefako Mkgatho Health Sciences University. We will be excluding the University of Cape Town to avoid any conflict of interest. 

Inclusion criteria:

• Minimum of 1 year teaching experience as an Occupational Therapy Educator
• Familiarity with curriculum surrounding Early Childhood Intervention, and preferably Family-Centred Practice.

*we note that perhaps your institution does not specifically teach FCP, or does not refer to it in this way, but we would still like to conduct research with you and gain insight into your understandings, even if FCP is not a specific focus of the curriculum.

What would participating in the study entail for you?

• One or two interviews over Microsoft Teams, to be arranged at a convenient time in your schedule.
• These interviews should not be longer than 90 minutes. A second interview may not be necessary, and will only be requested if follow up questions need to be asked.
• Interview questions will be sent ahead of time, and will aim to explore your understandings of the value of FCP, and practical information regarding content within the Occupational Therapy curriculum at your university.
• Names and identifying information will remain anonymous, and all information will be kept confidential and stored on a secure platform.
• Findings of the study will be shared with you if desired.
• There are no anticipated risks involved with participation in this study. Please note that there will be no remuneration for participating in this study.

If you are interested in participating in the study, or have further questions, please contact the researchers using the contact information provided below.

Thank you.

Representative of research group to be contacted: Emma Muirhead: mrhemm001@myuct.ac.za

Supervisor: A/Prof Pam Gretschel: pam.gretschel@uct.ac.za