Leadership within Occupational Therapy : A Mixed Methods Study

PURPOSE: This sequential embedded mixed methods study first identified the ways in which occupational therapy leaders experience leadership, then explored the ways in which those same leaders utilized their professional training as occupational therapists within their practice of leadership. METHODS: The twelve participants held formal leadership positions in either academia, clinical practice, or professional associations. The ecology of human performance model of practice was utilized to frame the research study. Data was collected through an initial interview with all 12 participants and through leadership artifacts and a second interview with six participants. RESULTS: Three themes resulted from thematic analysis of initial interview: leadership journey, leadership deconstructed, and personal approach to leadership. The leadership artifacts were analyzed using a coding frame, which included four dimensions: occupational perspective of leadership, connections, leadership approach, and team mindset. Thematic analysis of the second round of interviews resulted in three themes: how they do leadership, leadership interaction, and reflection on leadership action. CONCLUSIONS: The participants described the construct of leader as a role consisting of contextually discrete leadership occupations. A number of parallels were identified between the practice of occupational therapy and the practice of leadership. The development of a personal leadership identity was found to occur over time and required some form of either internal or external recognition of leadership ability or outcome. The structure of this mixed methods design included a combination of two qualitative methods, which was novel to the occupational therapy literature. Acknowledgements I would like to thank the occupational therapy leaders who participated in this study for sharing their time and their leadership journeys. I would like to acknowledge Dr. Susan Cleghorn and Dr. Shaunna Kelder for their editing assistance and constant support. I would also like to thank Dr. Cynthia Grapczynski for her review of qualitative processes and our many conversations through the analysis process. I have to extend a special thank you to Drs. Adrienne Lauer and Barbara Hooper for their timely and insightful comments that have served to strengthen this study. And a heartfelt thank you to Dr. Kristin Winston who has helped keep both this study, and me, on track from the beginning; I am so grateful for you assistance and listening ear throughoutit is an honor to call you a colleague, mentor, and friend. To my colleagues within the faculty of Grand Valley State University’s Department of Occupational Science and Therapy who have demonstrated a true sense of team and family and you have all made it a pleasure to lead you for the past year. I am heartfelt thankful for all of the support from my parents, Al and Jackie, throughout the past five yearsthank you for all of your help with child care and for your willingness to help in any possible way. I would be remiss if I didn’t also thank my children, Griffin and Isla; thank you for keeping me grounded and giving me a reason to step away from my laptop“Daddy’s book” and “grade 24” are done! Finally, I am eternally thankful for my wife, Dawn; you have been my rock for the past five years and have literally kept our house standing. If I have learned nothing else from this process, it is that everyone’s journey is a collective one; so whenever you have said “I’m proud of you” I have learned to reframe it as “I’m proud of us! ”