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Ammattilaisten ja vanhempien käsityksiä yhteistoimijuudesta varhaiskasvatuksen toimintaterapian yhteistoiminnassa

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Ammattilaisten ja vanhempien käsityksiä yhteistoimijuudesta varhaiskasvatuksen toimintaterapian yhteistoiminnassa

Community based occupational therapy, when conducted directly in early education settings together with the early educators, health care professionals and parents, is quite a new way of working. This study is a part of a project which is funded by Finnish National Agency for Education. The aim of this Yhdessä Esteetön-project was to develop innovative learning environments which are physically and socially unobstructed. During the project an occupational therapist was working directly in early education settings in two kindergartens in 2018-2020. There was also a speech and language therapist working in the same settings. The aim of this study was to explore professionals and parents conceptions of shared agency in community based occupational therapy in early education settings. The professionals were early educators and occupational and speech and language therapists. The qualitative data were collected in January 2020 by phenomenographic individual interviews. Ten interviews were conducted and four early educators, four parents and two therapists (one occupational therapist and one speech and language therapist) were interviewed. The participants were from 28 to 50 years of age and nine were women and one man. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using the phenomenographic analysis. According to this study the conceptions were divided into four categories of description. In these categories shared agency was seen as sharing knowledge, connecting different aspects, working towards shared goals and doing things together in everyday life situations. There were three themes that variated in categories and they were: roles, methods and the end results of shared agency. The categories of description were expanding in a way that the next category also included the former categories. The critical aspects between the categories were: connecting the agent`s knowledge in reciprocal communication, identifying and engaging in the common goals and working and doing things together in ordinary life situations. The results of this study showed the same trend that is seen in the former study of shared agency and therapeutic collaboration regarding to the categories of sharing information, working towards shared goals and doing things together in everyday life situations. On the other hand the study brings new basic information about community based occupational therapy in early education settings which is not yet well studied and expands the conceptions of shared agency by adding the category of connecting different aspects. The results can be utilized in understanding and developing community based occupational therapy in early education settings.

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