Professional Reasoning in Occupational Therapy: A Scoping Review

Professionalreasoninginoccupationaltherapyistheprocessusedbypractitionerstoplan,direct,perform,and reflectonclientcare.Theprofessional’sabilitytomanagetheprocessoftheinterventionisstructuredaroundit,therebyinfluencing theeffectivenessoftheworkcarriedout.Theobjectivesofthisresearchweretoidentifyanddescribe(a)thehistoricaldevelopment ofthisareaofresearchfrom1982to2017and(b)thenatureandvolumeofthescientificliteratureonprofessionalreasoningin occupationaltherapyandtheevidencethatexiststoday.Methods.Ascopingreviewmethodwasusedtocarryoutanhistorical mappingofresearchonprofessionalreasoningandtosummarisethelinesofresearchexploredtodate.Thereviewwas conductedinfivestagesfollowingthePRISMAguidelines.Afterapplyingtheselectioncriteria,thesearchidentified303 references.Results.Theresultsarepresentedunderthreeheadings:(a)natureandvolumeofpublicationsonprofessional reasoninginoccupationaltherapyaccordingtonumberandyearofpublications,journal,country,author,andlineofresearch; (b)historicaltrendsinthescientificliteratureonprofessionalreasoninginoccupationaltherapysince1982;and(c) methodologicalaspectsoftheresearch.Eachofthemisdiscussedthroughstatisticalanalysis.Conclusions.Theresearchabout professionalreasoninginoccupationaltherapyisafieldofempiricalnature,inwhichqualitativestudiespredominate.Principal linesofresearcharefocusedonspecificfieldsofpractice,undergraduates,andtheoreticalaspectsofprofessionalreasoning. Therewereidentifiedthreehistoricalphaseswithcommonfeaturesintermsofobjectivesandresearchmethods