Date Presented 04/21/21
Findings will be presented from a quantitative study exploring if, how, and when OTs address self-advocacy with their clients during therapeutic interventions. Implications for OT practice will be discussed, including examples of strategies used to provide clients with self-advocacy education and how they are being implemented in treatment and continuing education.
Primary Author and Speaker: Laura Vanpuymbrouck
Additional Authors and Speakers: Yinao Wang, Abigail Catalano
Contributing Authors: Gesina Phillips
PURPOSE: Self-advocacy, a key aspect of empowerment, allows people with disabilities to speak up about how they interpret and understand their lives so they are able to make changes (Goodley, 2005). When discussing self-advocacy, it is important to differentiate the concept from self-determination. While self-determination is often a facet of self-advocacy, self-determination is concerned with the opportunity and space for an individual to make their own choices, whereas self-advocacy is the action of identifying and communicating one’s needs (Holzberg et al., 2018). Self-advocacy equips those with disabilities with tools such as knowledge of rights, communication strategies, and leadership skills (Holzberg et al., 2018). The literature has shown the power of self-advocacy for those with disabilities. Self-advocacy is written into the occupational therapy practice framework as an individual independently making decisions about their life, obtaining information of interest or importance, developing social networks, knowing their rights and responsibilities, acquiring assistance, and learning self-determination (American Occupational Therapy Association [AOTA], 2014). While self-advocacy is in occupational therapy’s scope of practice, there is a lack of understanding of how self-advocacy is actually being implemented in practice. Therefore, this study explores if, when, and how therapists implement self-advocacy into treatment.
DESIGN: To answer the research question, we used a quantitative research design, a 21-question survey was distributed using REDCap; a secure web-based application to collect data. Snowball sampling methods were used to distribute surveys to currently working occupational therapists via email distribution lists maintained by the Department of Occupational Therapy, academic listservs, and professional organizations.
METHOD: The data from this questionnaire were assessed with descriptive statistics using REDCap. Data analysis occurred through summarizing data from the survey’s closed-ended questions. Descriptive statistics were analyzed using REDCap/SPSS to look at percentages across responses to each question. Comparative statistics, such as t-test and ANOVA, were used to analyze the relationships between variables such as use of self-advocacy interventions and areas of practice.
RESULTS: Preliminary findings and implications for occupational therapy practice will be discussed including: how clinicians learn to address self-advocacy in practice; if and how occupational therapists are addressing self-advocacy with their clients; what activities of daily living self-advocacy interventions are most aligned to; and, current best practice approaches occupational therapists describe for incorporating client self-advocacy into treatment.
CONCLUSION: The findings of this study provide valuable insight into the current state of the profession in attending to self-advocacy interventions as described in the OTPF (2014) to support and promote clients in their efforts to seek and obtain resources to fully participate in daily life occupations. It highlights the need for further development of educational and clinical exposure to self-advocacy intervention approaches. It also provides insight into the need for further research on client self-advocacy and the impact self-advocacy interventions can have on occupational participation and occupational justice.
References
American Occupational Therapy Association. (2014). Occupational therapy practice framework: Domain and process (3rd ed.). American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 68(Suppl. 1), S1– S48. http://dx.doi.org/10.5014/ajot.2014.682006
Goodley, D. (2005). Empowerment, self-advocacy and resilience. Journal of Intellectual Disabilities, 9(4), 333-343. https://doi.org/10.1177/1744629505059267
Holzberg, D. G., Test, D. W., & Rusher, D. E. (2018). Self-advocacy instruction to teach high school seniors with mild disabilities to access accommodations in college. Remedial and Special Education, 40(3), 166-176. https://doi.org/10.1177/0741932517752059
