Highlighting the importance of digital literacy in occupational therapy education and practice: Development of the information management knowledge transfer framework

Introduction: Digital technology has changed how people interact with information and with each other. Being able to access, store, generate, and share information ensures healthcare practitioners can keep abreast of new and ever-changing information, which can facilitate improved service provision. Objectives: The purpose of this paper is to present the Information Management Knowledge Transfer (IM-KT) Framework which emerged from a larger study looking at improving digital literacy in the occupational therapy profession. Method: The research was undertaken in three stages. Firstly a period of time was spent becoming grounded in the literature, which enabled the creation of a conceptual framework that informed the development of a survey about the use of digital technologies. The survey was sent to occupational therapy students, academics and practitioners across five different countries. Refinement of the framework occurred after the surveys were returned. The IM-KT framework presented in this paper is the result of the final stage of the study, which was completed using the Delphi method, where nine pairs of experts were consulted in four rounds of qualitative questionnaires. Results: The IM-KT framework assists individuals and groups to better understand how information management and knowledge transfer both occur within and between individuals and that digital literacy is integral to the process. Conclusion: The IM-KT framework highlights the central role of digital literacy in information management and knowledge transfer. While this research was conducted in the context of the occupational therapy profession, the framework can be applied across a wide range of disciplines