Surveys / Research

The Ontario Society of Occupational Therapists is committed to support occupational therapy research and will promote OSOT member participation in promoting research that support the development of knowledge about occupational therapy practice and/or occupational therapists.

To promote membership awareness of opportunities to participate in research activities relating to occupational therapy, the Society circulates a bi-monthly Supporting Occupational Therapy Research communique by email to all OSOT members (approximately 4,400 Ontario occupational therapists and student occupational therapists) which will include researchers’ project descriptions and any links to online surveys. In addition, the Society will post this information to the OSOT website. 

For more details and to send in your research survey for publication, please see our order form.

The following posts have been purchased by the researchers to access OSOT membership.  While posting does not imply OSOT partnership or sponsorship, we encourage members to participate!

Promoting leisure participation of older adults in homecare occupational therapy

Researcher(s): Tressa Ducharme, BScOT, OT Reg (Ont.), Masters of Occupational Therapy student, Post Professional Program, Dalhousie University. Supervised by Heidi Lauckner, PhD, Occupational Therapist, Assistant Professor, Department of Occupational Therapy, Dalhousie University.

Do you work in the Ontario Home and Community Care sector with rural-residing* older adults? Have you addressed older adults’ participation in their favourite activities? You are invited to participate in a virtual interview followed by a virtual focus group exploring how OTs address leisure needs in rural settings. 

Study Description: The purpose of this study is to explore how occupational therapists in the Ontario public Home and Community Care system are addressing the leisure participation challenges experienced by their older adult clients, with a particular interest in rural practices. Findings from this study are intended to provide contextually-based understandings of the everyday practice world to guide future decision-making for improved client care.

*Note: For this study, 'rural’ includes communities with populations smaller than 30,000 and at least 30 minutes away from larger communities. Rural also includes Northern Ontario and Remote communities. We are looking for OTs who work with both urban and rural clients, as well as OTs who work solely in rural areas. 

Please contact lead researcher Tressa Ducharme by email to participate at Tressa.Ducharme@dal.ca

Response Deadline: December 2020

Ontario Registered Health Professionals Responses to the Psychotherapy Act
Researcher(s): Leslie M. Vesely (MSc student at the University of Guelph), working under the supervision of Dr. Olga Smoliak 

Study Description: The research project aims to explore regulated health professionals’ response to the Psychotherapy Act in Ontario, which was fully enforced January of this year. Under this legislation, psychotherapy is deemed a controlled act that only those registered with at least one of six colleges have access to: College of Occupational Therapists of Ontario, College of Psychologists of Ontario, College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario, College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers, College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, and College of Nurses of Ontario. 

The researcher is interested in exploring how professionals in these various colleges understand the controlled act of psychotherapy, and how this act influences their relationship with their profession (i.e. identity and practice), other colleges and professions, and broader institutions (ex. third party payers). 

If you have questions regarding this study, please contact Leslie M. Vesely.

Response Deadline: December 2020

Complete the Survey

Promoting engagement in physical activity among young people with juvenile idiopathic arthritis: Development of a social network-based intervention
Researchers: Sabrina Cavallo, erg. PhD., Assistant professor, École de réadaptation, Université de Montréal, Jennifer Stinson, PhD., Dr. Ciarán Duffy, Sara Ahmed, PhD., Dr. Julie Barsalou, Karine April Toupin, PhD., Claudine Auger, PhD.

Study Description: Researchers are currently looking for young people living with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) and/or their parents to participate in the study, Promoting engagement in physical activity among young people with JIA: Development of a social network-based intervention. Researchers would like to get their opinion on JIActiv, a social media-based group intervention aimed at promoting physical activity.

To participate, young people and parents need to meet the following criteria: 
1) Understand and be able to express themselves in English or French. 
2) Have an email address or be willing to create one for the purpose of the study. 
3) Have access to an electronic device giving access to the internet. 

Young people need to be between 13 and 25 years of age and have been diagnosed with JIA by a paediatric rheumatologist. The parents of the young people must have at least one child aged 13 and 25 living with JIA. 

Participation in the study involves two one-hour interviews with the young person or parent as well as filling out a short questionnaire. Participants will be compensated in the form of gift cards. Interviews will be anonymized to maintain participant confidentiality. All research data will be kept on a secured server of the Institut universitaire sur la réadaptation en déficience physique de Montréal. The current study is supported by the Canadian Association of Rheumatology through a CIORA grant.

Response Deadline: December 2021

Please contact Sabrina Cavallo, researcher at the University of Montreal, to participate at 514-343-7217 or by email at sabrina.cavallo@umontreal.ca