FORUM: Contexts of Participation: The Critical Thinking Tool

The Forum will consist of a short presentation on Contexts of Participation, a critical thinking tool designed to promote analysis of the barriers and enablers to participation. It is an attractive interactive tool consisting of 5 concentric movable rings; participation is at the centre with personal, local, social and national factors radiating outwards. Each ring contains a set of categories based on the WHO ICF and concepts from Occupational Science and the simplicity of the design promotes cross-cultural relevance. Each ring moves independently to allow the user to consider how various combinations of factors can work together as barriers or enablers to participation. The tool was originally developed to support an occupational therapy programme in the UK and is specifically designed to promote discussion around topics of interest to occupational science such as, ‘is participation formed by the person or is the person formed through participation?’, ‘Is occupation an individual or transactional pursuit?’, ‘What is the impact of changes in social policy or national priorities on an individual’s participation in everyday life?’, ‘How does a change in mental health affect social relationships?’, ‘How does the media affect the participation of disabled people in their desired occupations?’.The tool has been evaluated through classroom audit, by service users and by clinicians. The results show it is promotes new perspectives, challenges assumptions and helps to create new meaning and understanding of the barriers and enablers to participation. The authors have received money from the UK Higher Education Academy (HEA) to develop the tool The next stage is to carry out research and evaluation in different institutions and disciplines such as Education and Public Health. Rationale and Aims of the Forum: To introduce the CoP tool for participants to have an opportunity to use the tool to explore the barriers and enablers to participation. Plan for generating and managing discussion: The Forum will give participants an opportunity to use the tool either with prepared questions or with participant’s questions. The tool is also useful to analyze stories, either from media sources or from service users, and can therefore used as a framework for critical analysis of the barriers and enablers within a person or a community’s narrative. There will be an opportunity to host a discussion around the potential use of Contexts of Participation for research