Protocol for a scoping review of school-based occupational therapy interventions

Abstract

In school-based Occupational Therapy (OT) practice, there is a call to shift from the traditional pull-out service delivery system towards more inclusive practices (Bissell & Cermak, 2015; Cahill & Lopez-Reyna, 2013; Garfinkel & Seruya, 2018). In fact, scholars such as Stephenson (2019) have claimed that being able to adapt and change OT services to take account of contemporary issues is crucial to the profession’s survival and growth. However, in order to address this claim, we believe that more comprehensive knowledge about what Occupational Therapists (OTs) are actually doing in school settings is required. Research suggests that OTs are mainly included in school teams when the performance or participation of students with Special Educational Needs (SEN) or disabilities is at risk. In fact, empirical evidence indicates that the participation of these students can be restricted compared with their typically developing peers (Bedell et al., 2005; Coster et al., 2013; Eriksson et al., 2007). However, the school-based OT practice is complex because of the considerable variability in service provision, including a diversity of targets, places, types and service schedules (Bazyk & Cahill, 2015). In practice, this means that OTs provide services that support diverse conditions and students, and that are delivered in different ways. In consideration of these variations, this review will explore the ingredients of school-based OT interventions and will map these interventions by using the Response to Intervention Model (RtI). This model has been selected because tiered models have been described as those that offer best guidance in ensuring that the level of support provided is needs-based and reach all people (WFOT, 2016). RtI also allows OTs to offer valuable strategies along the tiered continuum-support that includes specialist (intensive), targeted and universal interventions (AOTA, 2012; Bissell & Cermak, 2015).