Investigating the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Occupational Therapy Practitioners

Research Objectives: To investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on occupational therapy practitioners (OTP) from various settings.

Design: Focus groups and an online survey were utilized to target OTPs from a variety of settings to explore the impact, changes during and after, and burnout from the pandemic.

Setting: OTPs were recruited nationwide for the survey, while therapists in the Southeast participated in the focus groups. Therapists from acute care, school based practice, outpatient, skilled nursing facilities, mental health settings, and inpatient rehabilitation were represented.

Participants: There were a total of 70 survey participants and 11 focus group participants. From the survey, 34 have worked >20 years, while the next largest group worked between 4-10 years. Two participants worked < 1 year at the time of the survey. Most of the focus groups were completed at the OT state conference with participants self selecting into a group. The survey was advertised at the state conference, through the national OT association, and social media sites.

Interventions: Questions were designed to explore the impact of the pandemic on changes in mental health, burnout, job satisfaction, and changes within the profession. Survey questions were predominantly close ended. The focus groups were designed to further explore the lived experiences of practitioners during the pandemic.

Main Outcome Measures: Descriptive statistics and thematic coding

Results: The pandemic impacted OTPs greatly. From the survey, 55% of therapists experienced burnout, while 45% reported a negative impact on their mental health. From the qualitative data, themes included fear, decreased quality of care, change in the OT role, PPE, telehealth, "Just Do It" attitude, and supports. OTPs did express negative themes, but many were able to note positive changes and administrative support.

Conclusions: Burnout was a recurring theme. Participants felt moving forward that leadership has a large influence on decreasing these feelings. Additionally, to decrease stress and increase employee satisfaction, employers should consider in-depth telehealth training and PPE that would not interfere with patient care, including gloves that do not impede therapeutic touch.

Author(s) Disclosures: No known conflicts.