Consulting experts
Four experts were invited by WFOT to take part as advisors to provide feedback for the development of the occupational therapy human resources strategy. Three of the experts were external to the research team and included: the author most frequently cited in the preceding scoping reviews; an external consultant involved in rehabilitation workforce strengthening; and a research scholar in health economics and health workforce with expertise in LMICs. Finally, the panel also included one of our research authors (KM) not directly involved in drafting the SWOT analysis. This expert added workforce expertise for both high-income countries and LMICs. All experts, with the exception of the scholar in health economics were occupational therapists. Altogether, the advisors had occupational therapy, human resources policy and management, rehabilitation workforce, and health policy and economic expertise, across major global regions. The acknowledgement section provides the experts’ names and positions for the three of the four advisors that consented to this acknowledgement.
Following the acceptance of a formal invitation from WFOT, which included terms of reference outlining the experts’ volunteer participation, an online meeting with the advisors was held by the research authors. The draft SWOT analysis was made available to the experts a priori, and was reviewed during the one-hour meeting. Open-ended, iterative, and verbal feedback was sought toward improving the SWOT analysis. Field notes were recorded by the research authors regarding missed or unclear elements of the analysis.
The field notes taken during the meeting were instrumental for refining the SWOT analysis. Using the input provided by the advisors, the SWOT analysis was iteratively edited by the research team. The advisors subsequently had the opportunity to individually provide written input regarding the final version.