Developing a Global Strategy for strengthening the occupational therapy workforce: a two-phased mixed-methods consultation of country representatives shows the need for clarifying task-sharing strategies.

Occupational therapy has been underdeveloped and often neglected in the global health workforce agenda, contrasting with the global rise of population needs for services. The World Federation of Occupational Therapists (WFOT) is utilizing a research-based, multi-step process for developing a Global Strategy for strengthening the occupational therapist workforce. A multi-pronged scoping review, situational analysis, and expert input process enabled the drafting of a provisional Global Strategy. Here, feedback on that draft from representatives of WFOT member organizations was obtained and analyzed as one key intermediate step toward shaping the in-developing Strategy's content and structure. Two-phased, mixed-methods consultation consisting of: (1) online survey with score ratings and comments on the utility of each strategy and (2) four in-person focus groups discussions on low-scoring items involving a total of 76 representatives of WFOT member organizations. The focus group discussions were analyzed using an inductive thematic analysis approach. Strategies involving 'task shifting/task sharing' or the 'harmonization of workforce data-collection requirements' received the lowest scores in the initial survey and were thereby addressed in the focus groups discussions. The overarching theme of the focus groups was the need to: "clarify, specify, and contextualize the strategies", including: (1) "clarify the terminology and specify the application", for example, describe the meaning of task shifting, specify which tasks can (and cannot) be shifted and to whom, to address concerns regarding scope-of-practice, service demand, and safety; and (2) "outline the context of need and the context for the implementation" of the strategies, elucidating why the strategies are needed and how they can be feasibly implemented across the different jurisdictional contexts. Within a mixed-methods consultation, WFOT representatives identified challenging topics on the draft workforce strategies and suggested methods to improve the Global Strategy, its acceptability, and implementation. The terms 'task shifting/task sharing' raised the greatest discussion among the profession leaders, when the strategy was not sufficiently clarified, specified, or contextualized.

Bhattacharjya S ，Curtis S ，Kueakomoldej S ，von Zweck C ，Russo G ，Mani K ，Kamalakannan S ，Ledgerd R ，Jesus TS ，World Federation of Occupational Therapists ... -  《Human Resources for Health》

Situational analysis for informing the global strengthening of the occupational therapy workforce.

Occupational Therapists are needed for meeting the health, rehabilitation, and occupational needs of the population worldwide, but there is no strategy for strengthening the occupational therapy workforce against a backdrop of an insufficient and inequitable supply worldwide. To perform a situational assessment of occupational therapy workforce development and research toward informing a global human resources strategy for the occupational therapy workforce strengthening. A multi-methods design incorporating Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis based on scoping review findings, workforce development frameworks, and expert feedback. Strengths included identified workforce research trends, gaps, and findings. Weaknesses included a shortage of workforce research, lack of uniform and readily available workforce datasets, absence of workforce research programs, over-reliance on descriptive and non-experimental research, lack of research on workforce topics (e.g., diversity), and lack of labor market or economic analyses. Opportunities are the availability of guidance and tools for strengthening the health and rehabilitation workforce worldwide, and increased membership from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) in the World Federation of Occupational Therapists. Threats include the suboptimal funding of occupational therapy workforce research, the lack of occupational therapists data on international datasets and studies, suboptimal educational capacity in LMICs, lack of professional regulation and uniform workforce data collection in many contexts, and a perceived lower priority of this health workforce focused on health and wellbeing rather than medical outcomes. This SWOT analysis identifies strengths and opportunities to be seized and weaknesses and threats to be addressed by development of a strategy for the global strengthening of the occupational therapy workforce.

Jesus TS ，Mani K ，Bhattacharjya S ，Kamalakannan S ，von Zweck C ，Ledgerd R ，World Federation of Occupational Therapists ... -  《-》

Human resources for health (and rehabilitation): Six Rehab-Workforce Challenges for the century.

Jesus TS ，Landry MD ，Dussault G ，Fronteira I ... -  《Human Resources for Health》

International Occupational Therapy Research Priorities.

World Federation of Occupational Therapists ，Mackenzie L ，Coppola S ，Alvarez L ，Cibule L ，Maltsev S ，Loh SY ，Mlambo T ，Ikiugu MN ，Pihlar Z ，Sriphetcharawut S ，Baptiste S ，Ledgerd R ... -  《-》

Mapping the occupational therapy workforce research worldwide: Study protocol for a scoping review.

Jesus TS ，von Zweck C ，Mani K ，Kamalakannan S ，Bhattacharjya S ，Ledgerd R ，World Federation of Occupational Therapists ... -  《-》