- Title
- ‘What's she doing here?’ Overcoming barriers to the implementation of Expert by Experience positions in academia
- Creator
- Happell, Brenda; Gordon, Sarah; Sharrock, Juie; O'Donovan, Aine; Warner, Terri
- Relation
- Australian Occupational Therapy Journal Vol. 69, Issue 6, p. 689-702
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1440-1630.12832
- Publisher
- John Wiley & Sons
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2022
- Description
- Introduction: Experts by Experience involvement in the education of health professionals has gained momentum as an important strategy in ensuring quality, person-centred education. Despite being a requirement for occupational therapy programs in Australia and internationally, involvement is variable and limited. Barriers to the implementation of academic roles have been identified, including negative attitudes of colleagues, systemic barriers, and insufficient evidence of their value. Mental health academics who do not identify as having lived experience (referred to as allies) have provided crucial support for Experts by Experience. Understanding their perspectives on implementation barriers and how they can be addressed is crucial to facilitating a broader level of meaningful involvement. Methods: A qualitative exploratory research project was conducted, involving in-depth interviews with mental health academic allies (n = 16) from Australia, Ireland, and New Zealand. Participants were from the disciplines of nursing, occupational therapy, social work, and psychiatry. Data were analysed thematically. Findings: Two main themes were identified from the data analysis process: convincing colleagues and dealing with university barriers. Participants described varying attitudes from colleagues towards Experts by Experience, with many not understanding or appreciating their contribution to education and student outcomes. At the university level, reluctance to embrace innovation and funding and other resource shortages presented impediments to the implementation of Expert by Experience roles. Participants described using creative measures to overcome institutional barriers and encourage greater acceptance of such roles by colleagues. Conclusion: This research describes how allies experienced and overcame barriers they faced when supporting the implementation of academic positions for Experts by Experience. Allies have an important role to play in overcoming systemic barriers, and the approaches they have taken to achieve this may be an important source of learning for others with similar aspirations.
- Subject
- allies; attitudes; barriers; education; experts by experience; health professionals
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1486628
- Identifier
- uon:51920
- Identifier
- ISSN:0045-0766
- Rights
- © 2022 The Authors. Australian Occupational Therapy Journal published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Occupational Therapy Australia. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.
- Language
- eng
- Full Text
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