Les valeurs des ergothérapeutes : résultats quantitatifs d’une étude exploratoire

Abstract

Recent interest for the values in occupational therapy and of occupational therapists can be observed in the literature, because such values are at the heart of professional identity. Yet, studies have reported that many occupational therapists have an ambiguous professional identity and important diversity exists in academic publications regarding these values. This study aimed at determining the importance that is granted by occupational therapists to the values of occupational therapy and the values reported by occupational therapists in the literature. We wanted to verify associations between the importance granted to these values, as well as a) the number of years of professional experience and b) the fact of having undertaken training in ethics. Finally, our study also had as an objective to examine if the importance granted to specific values differed depending on the university or the professional training. A survey containing socio- demographic questions and ratings of 60 values was completed by 26 occupational therapists trained and working in Quebec. Spearman correlations, a Kruskal- Wallis test and a Mann-Whitney test were conducted. The values considered the most important by the largest and smallest number of participants were identified. Statistically significant associations were observed between the importance granted to certain values and the number of years of professional experience, having had training in ethics, and the University where this training was obtained. This exploratory study has permitted us to identify tendencies that deserve to be confirmed by a larger scale study. Our conclusions are innovative, because this is the first study reporting such associations.

Keywords

• occupational therapy
• values
• ethics
• professional identity
• mixed methods
• axiology