Annual conference
Annual conference
Feature
If our assessments and interventions feel playful , children are more likely to engage and benefit
Dr Gill Ward was joined by Dr Tanya Rhitman and Dr Sally Payne , Sarah Worth and Amy Beechy , to launch the new evidence-based RCOT Occupational therapy and play practice guideline at Annual Conference .
Tanya , occupational therapy programme lead at Oxford Brookes University and chair of the Play Guideline Development Group , shared the story of the guideline ’ s development process , saying : ‘ It ’ s such a special milestone to have reached the launch of this truly collaborative endeavour .’
She added : ‘ We are delighted to be able to share with you this guideline , which focuses on play in all its key occupational therapy forms : play is an assessment , play is intervention and play is outcome .’
The guideline focuses on play for those aged birth to 18 – ‘ although play is most certainly a lifetime occupation ’ – and Tanya explained that play is considered in the guideline as ‘ both a means and end ’. She said : ‘ While play can be used at various stages of the occupational therapy process , the guideline reminds us of the importance of person-led occupational engagement .’
Explaining that the overall aim of the guideline is to describe the high level , contemporary evidence regarding the occupation of play and the use of play in OT assessment , intervention and as an outcome to inform practice , she said 13 members of the guideline development group reviewed 1,666 abstracts , undertook 426 critical appraisals , through two rounds of literature searching and integration and ‘ hours of debate over the interpretation ’.
Sally , RCOT Professional Adviser , added : ‘ As OTs we recognise play as a primary occupation of childhood ; something children do for its own sake , but also as a way of learning about themselves and the world around them .
‘ We also see play as a tool we can use throughout the OT process ; assessments and interventions have much more meaning for children if they are fun and playful … [ but ] there is a little bit more to play and OT than just playing , as is evidenced in these guideline .’
Sally reiterated that the purpose of the guideline is to provide evidence-based recommendations for the use of play by OTs throughout the OT process , including the recognition that ‘ enabling children and young people to play freely and in their own way is a valid and meaningful occupational therapy goal ’.
She added : ‘ That means identifying play participation as a therapy outcome , alongside identifying goals for self-care and productivity , which traditionally have been prioritised .’ Sally urged OTs to use the ‘ robustly developed ’ guidelines to support their own practice , saying : ‘ Your role now is to consider and apply the evidence to your own practice context , population and environment . Importantly you should use the guidelines to support decision-making and clinical reasoning related to play and OT . They will help you clarify and articulate your rationale for working in a particular way .’
Additionally , she outlined , you can use the guidelines as a framework for auditing your service provision and to identify and address professional development needs . ‘ Why not start by reviewing them as a team to identify learning and development needs and opportunities to grow as individuals and as a service ?’ she urged .
The guidelines also identify a series of unanswered research questions related to OT and play , and they can be used as evidence to support funding bids to address these research gaps , ‘ making sure that the voices of children and young people are incorporated at all stages of the research process ’.
Sally added : ‘ You can use the guidelines to make a case for including the costs of coproduction and involving children and young people in your research plans .’
Ultimately , the guidelines will enable OTs to ‘ provide care that is based on the best available evidence relating to play and occupational therapy ’.
The key message for members is to use the guidelines to engage in conversations about play with teams , commissioners and others , to drive service change and ensure our skills and expertise are recognised and used to enable all children and young people to play .
Dr Gillian Ward
Dr Sally Payne
Sarah Worth
Tanya Rihtman
July 2023 OTnews 17