Enhancing research use

through online action research

CONCEPEREA I REALIZAREA UNUI PROIECT

DE CERCETARE DE TEXT

PROFESOR: CONF. UNIV. DR. CAMELIA CMECIU

MASTERAND: MDLINA ELENA DIMA
MASTER TMCSC, AN II

Summary
Introduction
Objectives
Method
Participants
Design and procedure
Data colection
Data analisys
Results
Discussion
References

Introduction
Health professionals, including occupational therapists, have difficulty

utilizing research findings in daily practice.

Determine if an online action research project could enhance research
use among occupational therapists working in similar practice areas.
Four groups of 12-14 occupational therapists met online for
approximately one year. Online communications and post-group
interviews were thematically analyzed.
Only half of the participants who began the project were still online
with the research project at completion. They believed that their
involvement in the group led to increased personal awareness,
motivation and confidence regarding the use of research evidence in
practice and knowledge to be used in practice.
Online meetings designed to enhance research use among occupational
therapists appear to hold some promise, but refinements are needed to
ensure their ultimate success.

Objectives
1. Link occupational therapists with colleagues who have similar
clinical interests via the Internet;
2. Increase participants use of research findings in clinical practice;
3. Facilitate participants development of strategies that may be
useful for their integration of research evidence into practice and
have generalizability to other contexts.

In this paper we report our findings regarding the first two

objectives. Findings related to the third objective will be reported in
a further paper

Method
Participants:
Canadian occupational therapists if they met the

criteria.
A call for participation was posted on the CAOT web
site, and later sent to all CAOT members by e-mail.

Design and procedure

Web-mediated action research was used to carry out the project.
The project was guided by Stringers (1996) approach to action

research in which all stakeholders participate in a systematic

process of inquiry.
The University of Ottawa provided a platform for the projects
Internet communications through WebCT, a software program
used in distance education (WebCT, 2003).
After obtaining informed consent, facilitators instructed
participants how to log on to the project.
Each group continued to meet over the Internet for 10-13
months.

Data collection

- While we had planned to use WebCT software exclusively for

group discussions, one group switched to regular e-mail and
another group supplemented their asynchronous
communications with a live chat using MSN Chat Room.
We maintained verbatim transcripts of all of these
communications.
Group members participated in individual telephone interviews
carried out by the group facilitators.
- The main purpose of these interviews was to gather information
about participants experiences in the group and the impact of
their participation on their research utilization. -- These interviews
were tape recorded and transcribed verbatim.

Data analysis

- Participants experiences with the project and their perceptions

of its effects were examined through analysis of records of online
activity, actual online communications between group members
and post project telephone interviews.
- To determine whether the second objective of the project had
been met, we examined the Internet communications and exit
interviews.
- To examine the experience of group members, the transcripts of
Internet communications between group members and
telephone interviews were coded line by line. hese codes and code
categories were compared across the interviews within each
group.

Results
Internet linkage of occupational therapists: 25
participants remained involved with their group until
the completion of the project. Participants were
certainly linked, and found this linkage helpful, but
the specificity of clinical interest was not always ideal.
2. Changes to participants use of research findings in
clinical practice: two main themes emerged from the
group discussions and post-group interviews:
- enhancement of research use
- continuing barriers to research utilization
1.

Discussion
Linking geographically dispersed occupational therapists with shared clinical interests into

productive problemsolving using the Internet was clearly possible. This linkage was highly
valued by participants.
It was possible to link occupational therapists across Canada in virtual discussion groups .
Maintaining these links was challenging and was not as successful as we had hoped.
However, the ongoing challenges of meeting asynchronously online would have remained.
This facilitated group process appeared effective in further mobilizing the enthusiasm,
resources and skills that the members had available to them. Projects such as this one may
be important in bridging that gap from knowledge to practice in this area. It did not provide
adequate solutions to the problem of lack of time and skills to read, critique and summarize
research findings. To overcome this, interventions may be required at more of a systems
level.
Participants may have benefited further from a research utilization mentor to help them
develop the skills required to critique research findings.
This project made good use of a method favoured of continuing education.
Linking individual occupational therapists through the formation of Internet groups is a
promising method for using this preferred learning style while avoiding some of the logistic
difficulties of face-to-face group meetings. Difficulty maintaining group linkages raises the
issue of the suitability of this format for facilitating group research activities.

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