Occupational Therapy News OTnews October 2019 | Page 24

FEATURE AWARDS
UK OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY
RESEARCH FOUNDATION AWARDS
UKOTRF Awards have been made to members working on projects that meet the
identified research priorities in occupational therapy
Dr Mellissa Prunty, based at Brunel University London, is receiving a Research Priority Grant to look
at the differences between keyboard and pen use for adolescents with handwriting difficulties.
Up to 90 per cent of referrals to children’s occupational therapy services are for difficulties with
handwriting, and alternatives such as keyboarding are often recommended. They inform access
arrangements for students in secondary schools, and can result in students getting to use a keyboard
during exams.
However, no study has examined whether keyboard use has a positive impact on writing performance
compared with writing by hand. The project will quantify the impact, and measure the factors that predict writing performance.
In addition, little is known about the policies and practice that frame the accommodation of handwriting alternatives, or how
students, occupational therapists and educators experience it. Their views will be gathered as part of the project.
Dr David Haines, based at the University of Brighton, is receiving a Research Career Development
Grant to develop an occupational therapy tool to enable support workers to meaningfully engage people
with intellectual disabilities in activity.
The levels of meaningful engagement levels are often extremely low for people with severe and
profound intellectual disabilities.
The research aims to develop a tool that embeds positive change in how support workers
meaningfully engage people in occupation, based on contributions from occupational therapists. The tool
will then be researched further to establish its validity and acceptability.
Dr Gemma Bradley, based at Northumbria University, is also receiving a Research Career
Development Grant; she will co-produce recommendations for a best-practice model of occupational
therapy-led pulmonary rehabilitation.
It is not clear what the optimum length, location and disciplines are to deliver pulmonary rehabilitation
for people living with COPD, and the evidence base for occupational therapy involvement is limited.
The project will explore the views of stakeholders and people who access services in a community
programme to co-produce the recommendations.
APPLY FOR GRANTS FROM THE NEW RCOT RESEARCH FOUNDATION
This is the final year of awards from UKOTRF, as the RCOT Research Foundation will take over its role in developing
research capability and capacity within the profession.
One Research Priority Grant of up to £100,000 and two Research Career Development Grants of up to £10,000 each will
be available.
Two new Systematic Review Grants will also be made of up to £10,000 each will support the assimilation and development
of the evidence base underpinning occupational therapy, with one focused on interventions that support the return to work.
All grant proposals should be sent by Wednesday 12 February 2020.
Also new for 2020 is the Early Researcher Award, awarded to a pre-registration student for an outstanding research project
completed in the final year of their degree programme. Students need to be nominated by a member of their academic team.
Nominations should be sent by Friday 26 June 2020. The post-registration Early Researcher Award will resume in 2021.
For more information, visit: www.rcot.co.uk/application-information.
24 OTnews October 2019