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A survey of recruitment and retention issues for occupational therapists working clinically in mental health
Author(s) -
Hayes Robyn,
Bull Belinda,
Hargreaves Kevin,
Shakespeare Kate
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
australian occupational therapy journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.595
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 1440-1630
pISSN - 0045-0766
DOI - 10.1111/j.1440-1630.2006.00615.x
Subject(s) - workload , occupational therapy , mental health , psychology , medicine , clinical psychology , psychiatry , computer science , operating system
Background: Mental health services Australia‐wide have difficulty recruiting and retaining clinical occupational therapists.Methods: A survey of occupational therapists to identify factors that could influence their retention or loss from clinical mental health practice was undertaken.Results: Typically, respondents were female, aged 30 years or younger, working full‐time at a grade 2 or 3 level, and had worked entirely in mental health. The main positive aspects that respondents identified about their positions were the ‘social/emotional environment’, ‘aspects/nature of their roles’, and ‘using occupational therapy skills’. The main position constraints were ‘insufficient time/workload’ and ‘insufficient use of occupational therapy skills/generic nature of work’.Conclusions: Recruitment and retention strategies are required to retain occupational therapists in clinical mental health positions.