Ethical dilemmas experienced by Australian public practice occupational therapists

Abstract

Occupational therapists working within Australia’s dynamic and complex publicly-funded health sector may experience ethical dilemmas as they fulfill their professional responsibilities, compromising client care, straining collegial relationships and negatively affecting their personal well-being. This thesis describes and explores the nature of the ethical dilemmas experienced by public practice occupational therapists. Section One: LITERATURE REVIEW The literature review comprises two parts. First a background to ethics in health care is outlined, where the Person-Environment-Occupation Model is presented as a way of evaluating the ethical dilemmas experienced by occupational therapists. This is followed by a review of literature exploring the ethical dilemmas experienced by health professionals including occupational therapists, speech pathologists, physiotherapists, social workers, rehabilitation counsellors and nursing and medical professionals. However, no literature was identified exploring the nature of ethical dilemmas experienced by public practice occupational therapists, providing an opportunity for further research. Section Two: JOURNAL MANUSCRIPT The journal manuscript outlines a qualitative, descriptive study exploring the ethical dilemmas experienced by five public practice occupational therapists. Findings indicate that public practice occupational therapists experience an array of ethical dilemmas which reflect the complexities of working within Australia’s publicly-funded health care context. Ethical dilemmas reported by public practice occupational therapists are encompassed by five themes: defining boundaries in professional relationships, fair access to quality services, professional status, life choices and the complex client at the heart of the dilemma. Person, environment and occupation factors were all found to contribute to the ethical dilemmas experienced by participants.