Community Occupational Therapists’ perception of the long-arm supervision of students on role-emerging placements

The focus of this research was the perception occupational therapists have of long arm supervision on role-emerging placements. Such a study is important in order to understand why occupational therapists are not engaging in this form of placement supervision, particularly when role-emerging placements have been shown to be of vital importance to the future of the profession. The qualitative research approach adopted in this dissertation was Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis of interviews with six community occupational therapists. Solution focused questioning was used during semi-structured interviews to enable the participants to generate solutions to their lack of engagement with role-emerging placements. The findings from this research provide evidence that therapist reasons for non-engagement are complex and rooted in a culture of fear, blame and lack of leadership. The findings also show that participants are not just concerned with their own wellbeing but of the students and the future of occupational therapy. These findings can be utilised by the Higher Education Institution to increases occupational therapists’ willingness to participate in long arm supervision of role-emerging placements.