Priorities in mental health research: the results of a live research project

Occupational therapists are increasingly being asked to identify priorities for research. This article is based on a questionnaire survey which was used to identify a priority list for research into occupational therapy in mental health. The delegates at the Association of Occupational Therapists in Mental Health's 3rd Annual Conference were surveyed. The demographic data collected included grade and specialism (as defined by the AOTMH). The delegates were asked to prioritise the area of intervention that they most needed to know was effective, to justify this choice and then to write an associated research question.

The data were collected during the ‘Research in Action‘ session at the conference and analysed using SPSS and thematic analysis. The results were presented to the conference the following day. The top three priorities identified were activity/occupation, groupwork and occupational performance skills. The background literature, method and results are discussed and recommendations are made for further action.