Awareness and Knowledge of Occupational Therapy among Health Care Practitioners at Hayatabad Medical Complex, Peshawar
OT Awareness Among Healthcare Practitioners
Keywords:
Awareness, Healthcare Practitioners, Occupational TherapyAbstract
Background: Occupational therapy is an emerging and developing medical discipline in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), and the knowledge and awareness of such fields are considerably low among the public and medical practitioners. The source of referral must possess comprehensive knowledge about the respective field to ensure effective patient care and optimal rehabilitation outcomes. To determine the level of occupational therapy awareness and knowledge among healthcare professionals at Hayatabad Medical Complex, Peshawar.
Method: A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out at Hayatabad Medical Complex, Peshawar, in which 514 subjects participated. A convenient sampling technique was used to select participants for the study. For data collection, a self-developed questionnaire was created, which was approved by experts from the research committee, and then distributed among subjects. Data were analyzed using means and frequencies through SPSS version 22.
Results: The results of this research study demonstrate that the awareness level of healthcare practitioners is below average. The majority of respondents (86.6%) are not aware of occupational therapy as a profession. A smaller number of subjects were aware of the domains and areas where occupational therapists provide services. Only 10.9% of healthcare practitioners were aware of the degree program in occupational therapy at Khyber Medical University, and 91.2% of respondents were not aware of the role of occupational therapy in developing treatment plans for patients.
Conclusion: The majority of healthcare practitioners demonstrate decreased levels of awareness regarding occupational therapy. Action should be channeled to enhance the role of occupational therapy in rehabilitation teams. Consideration must be given to educating referral sources as members of the rehabilitation team by including occupational therapy concepts in their curriculum.
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
