Erfarenheter av utveckling inom arbetsterapi vid Arbetsförmedlingen i Sverige

Sammanfattning: Purpose: To describe occupational therapists experiences of development in occupational therapy at The Swedish Public Employment Service. Method: The study was conducted using qualitative interviews. Thirteen occupational therapists working at The Swedish Public Employment Service participated. The occupational therapists had a geographical spread throughout Sweden. Collected data was transcribed and analysed according to qualitative content analysis. Result: Data resulted in five categories as follows: To work with development of scientific methods, Importance of feasibility to competence development, Cooperation as a part of the improvement work, Preconditions to be person-centered and Importance of continual evaluation to improve actions. The occupational therapists describes in these categories various supportive and hindering factors at to what extent they had preconditions to carry out and develop occupational therapy at The Swedish Public Employment Service. Supporting factors were described as well-developed methods, a person-centered approach and intern cooperation. Obstructing factors were described as defective coordination between social actors in the community, insufficient evaluations, limited possibilities to competence development and implementation of research. Conclusion: This study contribute to knowledge of occupational therapists preconditions to development of methods and improvement work. The study shows that it is a lack of knowledge and a need of research is required to illustrate the role of occupational therapists within vocational rehabilitation at The Swedish Public Employment Service.