Affiliations: [a] Work-link Vocational Rehabilitation practice, South Africa
| [b] Department of Occupational Therapy, Faculty of Health Sciences, School of Therapeutic Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
| [c] Department of Occupational Therapy, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa
| [d] Department of Occupational Therapy, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| [e]
Steve Biko Academic Hospital, Pretoria, South Africa
| [f] Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa
Correspondence:
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Address for correspondence: Hester van Biljon, PO Box 830, Auckland Park, 2006, South Africa. Tel.: +27 83 473 8489; E-mail: HesterMvanBiljon@gmail.com.
Abstract: BACKGROUND: Occupational therapy clinicians working in South Africa’s public healthcare had views on what patients thought about their vocational rehabilitation services that were based on anecdotal evidence. However evidence-based practice requires more than that. Reliable information is important in patient-centred practice and in the assessment of service quality. OBJECTIVE: Clinical occupational therapists used the convergent interviewing technique to explore patients’ views of the vocational rehabilitation services on offer in public hospitals. METHOD: An Action Learning Action Research (ALAR) approach was used to explore the vocational rehabilitation services occupational therapy clinicians provided over a two week period in three settings. RESULTS: The majority (96%) of patients interviewed were not aware that occupational therapists offered vocational rehabilitation services. The convergent interview technique allowed continued unrestricted discussion of their vocational rehabilitation concerns and provided evidence that patients had significant concerns about work. Critical reflection on the interview experience and technique indicated that therapists were in favour of using convergent interviewing to obtain their patients views about the services offered. Therapists found the convergent interview technique easy to apply in clinical practice. CONCLUSION: Establishing patients’ views of a clinical service have multiple values. However it is meaningless unless clinicians use the knowledge to improve service delivery to the patients who provided the views. Convergent interviewing was a valuable technique for occupational therapy clinicians to incorporate patients’ views of their services into service development.
Keywords: Quality assurance, public healthcare, clinical practice, vocational rehabilitation, ALAR
