Ikiugu's eclectic method of combining theoretical conceptual practice models in occupational therapy

Background/aim: Occupational therapists are often reluctant to use single theoretical conceptual practice models to guide practice because they recognise the limitation of individual models in addressing clients' occupational performance issues. However, there is a dearth of eclectic methods of guiding theoretical model combination in the profession. The effectiveness of one such newly developed method in guiding combination of models by students working on a case study was investigated.

Methods: This was a mixed methods study with experimental and phenomenological designs in which forty-three occupational therapy students participated.

Results: There was increased confidence in ability to apply theory in a case study for all research participants. The improvement was significantly higher for participants in the experimental group, who had been introduced to the eclectic method. Participants in the experimental group were more capable of combining models systematically in a case study compared with those in the control group.

Conclusions: Adopting Ikiugu's eclectic method of combining theoretical conceptual practice models may help students learn how to combine them systematically and increase their likelihood of using theory effectively to guide clinical practice in their future as occupational therapists.