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Open research questions in Occupational Therapy Practice and Research

85 unresolved questions extracted from the limitations and future-work sections of 2,224 Occupational Therapy Practice and Research papers in our library. Each links back to the study that raised it.

What the literature leaves open

  • An additional factor was that our sample was limited to the 29 therapists available within the constraints of our study context; such that the political volatility of East Jerusalem in particular after European Journal of Public Health…

    OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY PRACTICE FOR CHILDREN WITH ADHD IN EAST JERUSALEM: PROFESSIONAL VALUES, INSTITUTIONAL CONSTRAINTS, AND THE POLITICS OF CARE · 2026 · DOI

  • Conclusions and Relevance Addressing the identified gaps in knowledge, skills and infrastructure through the suggested interventions and policy changes could enable occupational therapists in Saudi Arabia to contribute effectively to driver assessment and rehabilitation services for at-risk drivers, as well as promote road safety for all within Saudi Arabia.

    Occupational Therapists’ Perspective on Driver Assessment and Rehabilitation Practice in Saudi Arabia: A Descriptive Qualitative Study · 2026 · DOI

  • The strength of this study lies in its pioneering nature in South Africa, focusing on reasonable accommodation within the occupational therapy profession. The interview guide was well designed, providing data saturation with seven participants. There were limitations to the virtual interviews, which impacted the ability to observe treatment areas in person. The study’s focus was solely on facilitating reasonable accommodation for employees with MDD.

    Occupational therapists’ perceived ability to facilitate reasonable accommodations in the workplace for employees with major depressive disorders · 2026 · DOI

  • This QI initiative was not designed to establish causal inference. Attrition over 12 months was primarily related to hospitalization, health deterioration, or care transitions, resulting in a longer-term follow-up sample that may represent a relatively more stable subgroup. This survivorship pattern may have influenced observed functional trends, and effect sizes calculated within the complete-case subset may overestimate true population-level effects. The use of a convenience sample may also have introduced selection bias. Participants who were already engaged in individualized functional training and who completed at least one full dialogue cycle may have been more clinically stable, more receptive to interaction, or more motivated than other daycare users. Therefore, the findings may not represent all users of daycare services. Because the dialogical process was primarily facilitated by a single supervising physiotherapist, the extent to which findings reflect the structured method itself versus facilitator-specific relational style cannot be determined. This single-facilitator structure may have influenced participant engagement, communication patterns, and observed outcomes. Inter-provider applicability was not evaluated; future studies should examine whether trained care staff or rehabilitation professionals can deliver the approach with comparable fidelity, ideally using standardized training, independent fidelity assessment, and inter-rater reliability procedures. Quantitative changes in SF-BBS scores may also reflect natural variation, regression to the mean, assessment bias, or contextual influences unrelated to the dialogical process. In addition, SF-BBS assessments were not blinded or independent from the intervention process. Therefore, findings should be interpreted as descriptive signals within a real-world implementation context rather than evidence of intervention efficacy. Measurement limitations should also be acknowledged. Comprehensive frailty indicators-such as grip strength, gait speed, nutritional assessment, and cognitive testing-were not systematically collected. As a result, interpretation relies primarily on SF-BBS scores and participant narratives, limiting multidimensional assessment of frailty [17,18]. Although the dialogical process generated rich qualitative 2026 Yoneta et al. Cureus 18(5): e109010. DOI 10.7759/cureus.109010 10 of 17 material, no formal qualitative analytic method (e.g., thematic analysis or conversation analysis) was applied, constraining deeper examination of how participants interpreted and responded to the dialogue process [19,20]. Accordingly, conversational observations should be interpreted as descriptive examples of implementation processes rather than as formal qualitative findings. Fidelity monitoring was reflective and practice-based rather than objectively scored; no external audit, inter-rater reliability assessment, or formal adherence rating was conducted. Finally, the initiative was conducted in a single facility with a specific organizational culture and staffing structure. Generalizability may therefore be limited, and replication across diverse settings will be necessary. As with many real-world QI initiatives, the intervention evolved incrementally during implementation. The four-stage dialogue structure and autonomy-supportive feedback remained fixed, whereas prompt wording, repetition, pacing, and goal adjustment were adapted according to participant needs and context. This flexibility supported contextual fit but may reduce procedural reproducibility.

    Practice-Based Quality Improvement Initiative to Support Voluntary Frailty Prevention Through Autonomy-Supportive Dialogue · 2026 · DOI

  • Conclusion: This study's findings can be used to implement student-led special interest groups in other occupational therapy curricula, provide feedback to guide their implementation, effectively target student participation and encourage further research into the relevance of such groups in other disciplines.

    The experiences of a student-led special interest group by occupational therapy students at Curtin University · 2024 · DOI

  • The invited paper summarizes the first 10 years and considers a number of original goals that remain to be realized to support and advance this honor society.

    The History of the National Academy of Recreational Therapists: 2011-2021 · 2024 · DOI

  • Occupational therapy has been identified as a required service in the neuro critical care unit (NCCU), however who receives occupational therapy services and what services they receive are not well understood.

    Predicting Receipt and Types of Occupational Therapy Services for Patients with Arousal Deficits in the Neuro Critical Care Unit · 2022 · DOI

  • Since the adoption of the Occupational Therapy Competencies in 2008 and the launch of national occupational therapist registration in Ireland in 2015, there has been limited research on the effectiveness of service learning pedagogies in Irish higher education for meeting core competencies.

    Elevating Student Understanding: Irish Occupational Therapy Students’ Experience of a Service Learning Project · 2019 · DOI

  • Several gaps in research are evident including updating the theory development on occupational adaptation, types of maladaptation, studies conducted in less affluent countries, quantitative studies with robust designs, inclusion of men and younger persons as subjects, vulnerable groups, health promotion, and community settings.

    The Use of Occupational Adaptation in Research: A Scoping Review · 2018 · DOI

  • Shared decision making (SDM) shares values of client-centered practice; however, a few studies exist that explore experiences of occupational therapists (OTs) working in adolescent mental health.

    Occupational Therapy Shared Decision Making in Adolescent Mental Health · 2015 · DOI

  • The themes which emerged from the occupational therapists' responses were: (1) role confusion; (2) limited knowledge base; (3) identification and provision of occupational therapy services; (4) administrative factors; (5) lack of efficient teaming; (6) classroom factors; (7) the behaviors of the student with emotional disturbance; and (8) parental factors.

    The Dilemma of Psychosocial Occupational Therapy in Public Schools · 2006 · DOI

  • Abstract: This article briefly examines experimental approaches and sources of error in the evaluation of psychiatric or psychosocial rehabilitation programs: pre-post quasi-experimental designs, the selection of groups that are extreme on criterion measures, the problem of self-selection and differential attrition, the absence of no-treatment controls and nonblind assessment, and individual variation in response to poorly defined treatments.

    Individual Choice and Sources of Error: Idiographic Evaluation of Psychosocial Rehabilitation · 1995 · DOI

  • In the 1992 and 1993 Amendments, Congress instituted changes that will affect the daily work of rehabilitation professionals and the lives of the persons they Although the extensive proposed regulations that will implement the bulk of the Amendments' provisions remain to be adopted (Federal Register, May 3 1993), it is not too soon to adjust to the new developments in rehabilitation service delivery that the revisions will cause.

    Towards Access, Accountability, Procedural Regularity and Participation: The Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1992 and 1993 · 1994

  • Previous research has suggested that attendance at an Employment Rehabilitation Centre (ERC) leads to some favourable psychological outcomes, but little is known about which aspects of client experience at the ERC produce those outcomes.

    A note concerning psychological well‐being and client experiences at an Employment Rehabilitation Centre · 1988 · DOI

  • will shed light on this potential problem by a more thorough investigation of the public vocational rehabilitation program's income redistribution aspects.

    Interstate allocation of resources in the federal-state vocational rehabilitation program · 1974 · DOI

  • partment's Handbook [17] began in 1957 to fur nish counselors and producers of infor mation with accurate and up-to-date data on occupations on a biennial basis in the following areas: nature of work; location training, other qualifications, and advancement; employment outlook; and earnings and working conditions. The Handbook information also furnishes additional on major industries in regard to the nature and location of the industry and the types of occupations generally found in that industry. Although the Handbook has been criticized for its high reading level and emphasis on economic information, it has provided much basic information which was not formerly available to consumers and producers of occupational literature.

    A New Look at Occupational Literature · 1966 · DOI

  • 1 Highly recommended (maximum adherence to NVGA Standards). 2 Recommended (general adherence to NVGA Standards).

    Current Occupational Literature · 1965 · DOI

  • With the establishment of this dichotomy, although admittedly the lines are not clearly defined, the time seems to have arrived for the counselor to move from the area of theoretical formulation to the counseling situation itself where psycho logical differences in different occupations must be applied.

    Needs and Values in Three Occupations · 1963 · DOI

  • 371 was a superior performance on the intelligence test in his battery (the Pressey); the group was approximately average for vocabulary, cleri- cal aptitude, and dominance; no data were available for any mechanical ability or dexterity measure. All in all-and with what sparse data are at hand-encouraging confirmation of the obtained aptitude pattern is found.

    Occupational Aptitude Pattern Research · 1950 · DOI

  • Objective To map the literature on occupational therapy interventions for individuals with Down syndrome across the lifespan and identify gaps in the evidence base for future research and education that require attention.

    Occupational Therapy Interventions in Down Syndrome: A Scoping Review · 2026 · DOI

  • Results Six themes were identified: (1) insufficient knowledge and practical skills, (2) lack of training and supporting infrastructure, (3) motivation [but it is hard], (4) recommended interventions, (5) recommended changes in policies and (6) collaboration.

    Occupational Therapists’ Perspective on Driver Assessment and Rehabilitation Practice in Saudi Arabia: A Descriptive Qualitative Study · 2026 · DOI

  • Lack of data consistency was observed between disciplines and across reporting years, including non-standardized reporting formats, different naming or grouping of categories, and unexplained gaps and fluctuations in the data.

    Evaluating data quality at a primary healthcare rehabilitation centre in a low-resource context · 2026 · DOI

  • While there is a growing body of research to support the use of this model in developing student skillsets and confidence, there remains limited information on the topic, and no studies which look at its use with occupational therapy assistant students.

    Occupational Therapy Assistant Students’ Perceptions of using Standardized Patient Encounters as a Replacement for Traditional Level I Fieldwork · 2024 · DOI

  • Future research is needed to better understand the neutrality recreational therapists with disabilities perceive of their workplace as well as to conduct more robust studies.

    How Recreational Therapists with a Disability Perceive Their Current Workplace: Perception of Climate of Inclusion, Self-Advocacy, and Occupational Self-Efficacy · 2024 · DOI

  • The unfolding case study, which has the case study client evolve over time, has been shown to positively influence both academic and affective performance, though to this point has not been studied in terms of development of self-efficacy in clinical skills or engagement with course content.

    Increasing Self-Efficacy and Engagement in Occupational Therapy Education through the Use of an Unfolding Case Study Curricular Design · 2023 · DOI

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85 open questions have been extracted from the limitations and future-work passages of 2,224 Occupational Therapy Practice and Research papers in our library. Each one below links back to the study that raised it, so you can read the original claim in context.

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