THE CONCEPT OF PERFORMANCE PROFILING AND THE EXTERNAL INFLUENCES UPON THE OCCUPATIONAL THERAPISTS' IDENTITY AND REASONING

This research initially sought to understand the perspectives of occupational therapists of performance profiling (Butler and Hardy 1992), a technique utilised within sporting psychology which quantifies perceptions of both the client and therapist. The research used a constructionist methodology (Burr 2015). The initial data collection included a workshop on performance profiling followed by either a focus group or an unstructured interview. Nine participants from three countries were asked two questions: 1) To share their thoughts about performance profiling and 2) whether they thought it could support occupational therapy practice. The data was firstly analysed thematically and secondly through the lens of constructionism to consider the perceptions to broader themes (Burr 2015). There was agreement that performance profiling could support occupational therapy practice by enhancing communication (Perryman and Morris 2015). The second analysis nurtured a model which displays how participants were dominated with thoughts of performance profiling to justify the occupational therapy service over the potential to grasp the client’s voice. Meaning, the collaboration with the client was present but the relationship was stronger with the service. Knowledge and information were not at the forefront of the occupational therapist justification and was therefore considered as leaning on this relationship over being integrated into the occupational therapists’ reasoning. This led the researchers to further question the concept of performance profiling as a tool to understand the identity of the occupational therapy profession and the external influences upon our reasoning. This research is now being carried out as a PhD to explore this further.\ud \ud References:\ud Butler, R. and Hardy, L. (1992) ‘The Performance Profile; Theory and Application’. The Sport Psychologist, 253–264.\ud Burr, V. (2015) Social constructionism. 3rd Edn, Hove, East Sussex; New York, NY: Routledge.\ud Perryman, M. and Morris, K. (2015) ‘Occupational Therapists’ Perspectives on the potential use of performance profiling in Occupational Therapy Practice’ Poster. College of Occupational Therapists National Conference.