Prequalifying MSc Occupational Therapy and prequalifying MSc Physiotherapy Programmes Research Stran

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Pre-qualifying MSc
Occupational Therapy and pre-qualifying
MSc Physiotherapy ProgrammesResearch
Strand and what it may offer
your department
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Background

• Students on the pre-qualifying MSc Occupational
  Therapy and MSc Physiotherapy Programmes have to
  complete a research study to fulfil their degree
  requirements.
• We are keen for our students to have their
  projects informed by clinically relevant
  questions and have been working with OT and
  physiotherapy managers to generate ideas for
  research project development.

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Within the MSc Research Strand

• we aim to help students
• develop a working knowledge and understanding of
  research paradigms, methodologies and methods
• use this knowledge to make a contribution to the
  evidence relevant to occupational therapy and
  physiotherapy practice.

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Potential project areas

• Students can choose to do their project in one of
  the following three areas

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Empirical Project

• Primary data collection -
  can be quantitative or qualitative
• Development of new knowledge
• Usually generalisable to settings outside the one
  that was researched

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Empirical ProjectsExamples

• Communication skills of people with Parkinsons
  disease their influence on healthcare students
  impressions of the person and their effect on
  conveyance of emotions
• The employer's perspective and experience of
  returning and retaining employees with long-term
  health conditions and/or disabilities
• The social needs of students attending university
  and what resources/facilities are available to
  meet those needs
• Validity of the 2-minute walk test in chronic LBP
  patients with or without sciatica
• An exploration of patients' perceived value of
  physiotherapy in a High Dependency Unit

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Practice development / evaluation projects

• Local
• Context-specific
• Evaluation or improvement of practice
• May be cyclical / action research

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Practice projectsExamples

• An evaluation of pathways of care following
  musculoskeletal triage assessment
• A service evaluation exploring a
  multidisciplinary teams management of the
  psychosocial impact of stroke
• Development and implementation of a falls
  monitoring strategy in a Gateshead residential
  care home
• A service evaluation of one aspect of the
  vocational services strategy for the mental
  health service at X Service users' perspectives
• A service evaluation of luncheon groups for older
  people with mental health problems

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Systematic Appraisal

• Secondary data/published literature
• Aggregation of existing knowledge
• Driven by practice relevant question
• Can inform the development of care pathways

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Systematic AppraisalsExamples

• Systematic appraisals of MUA and steroid
  injection for adhesive capsulitis
• A systematic review of parenting as an
  occupational role
• A systematic appraisal of the evidence base for
  occupational therapy intervention with adults who
  have been diagnosed with an eating disorder
• Validity, reliability and responsiveness of
  outcome measures used in chronic LBP
  rehabilitation
• Effectiveness of interventions to prevent
  hamstring injuries
• Physiotherapy outcome measures in ITU

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Potential MSc project team
Project co-ordinator(s)
For roles and responsibilities of team members,
please refer to our separate document
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MSc Project Learning Partnership
Academic supervisor
Shadow Supervisor
Practice supervisor/contact
Student
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Benefits of involvement with MSc projects

• Service evaluation/development
• Development of care pathways
• Research capacity building for staff
• Research process
• Ethics
• RD
• Proposal writing
• Awareness of paradigms
• Writing for publication

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• To discuss potential project ideas informally, or
  just to get a better idea of how MSc OT and/or
  physiotherapy students might be able to help your
  department in undertaking research, please
  contact
• Dr Dorothée Debuse, Senior Lecturer in
  Physiotherapy, Coordinator of the MSc Research
  Strand, on 0191-2156292, or via e-mail
  dorothee.debuse_at_unn.ac.uk
• Id be delighted to hear from you.