Yan, W. orcid.org/0009-0009-2848-6659, Ohlsen, S. orcid.org/0000-0002-0643-9394 and Wood, E. orcid.org/0000-0002-1910-6230 (2024) Factors affecting retention of occupational therapists in adult mental health service: a systematic review with narrative synthesis. British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 88 (2). pp. 70-84. ISSN 0308-0226
Abstract
Introduction: There are over 43,000 occupational therapists across the United Kingdom, with mental health occupational therapists being acknowledged as a main workforce of OT services. However, staff shortages are occurring, and urgent action is needed to retain this important workforce. Methods: The systematic literature search was conducted in the CINAHL, PsycINFO and Scopus databases to identify research literature published since 2008. Due to the heterogeneity of the included studies, a narrative synthesis was utilized. Results: A total of 20 studies (21 papers) were included in the review. Five thematic factors – well-being at work, organizational work environment factors, job resources, supervision and staffing, along with various subtheme factors emerged from the synthesis. The findings suggest that retaining mental health occupational therapists is a complex issue, affected by many factors. The study emphasizes the triangular relationship among three aspects of well-being (job satisfaction, professional identity and burnout) at work and introduces the concept of a ’Retention Ecosystem’. This illustrates how subtheme factors interconnect and influence the retention of mental health occupational therapists. Conclusion: The retention of mental health occupational therapists is revealed to be a multifaceted challenge. There is a need for developing more targeted, meaningful and holistic strategies for retaining the current mental health occupational therapist workforce.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Author(s) 2024. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage). |
Keywords: | Mental health; occupational therapists; retention; job satisfaction; workforce turnover |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health (Sheffield) > School of Medicine and Population Health |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number THE HEALTH FOUNDATION 1275277 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 12 Nov 2024 14:48 |
Last Modified: | 03 Feb 2025 11:29 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | SAGE Publications |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1177/03080226241288157 |
Sustainable Development Goals: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:219444 |