CAOT - Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists

FOR OUR MEMBERS

Membership Satisfaction Scores High in '99

By Claudia von Zweck, CAOT Executive Director

Many thanks to all renewing members who completed the membership survey enclosed in our annual membership renewal package. The results provide valuable information regarding satisfaction with CAOT services and areas for improvement. The results also identify important issues affecting members. The CAOT Board uses the findings in the strategic planning process to define and prioritize annual Association goals. The information also assists National Office staff in planning new member services and modifying existing ones.

Here are the results…

Publications
CAOT communication and publication products continue to be very popular. These include the Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy (CJOT), Occupational Therapy Now (OT Now), the CAOT web site and books. In 1999, we introduced workbooks on spirituality and on program evaluation for evidence-based practice. Watch in 2000, for others, including a workbook on reflective practice by Anne Kinsella and one on mentoring by Sue Baptiste.

Over 95% of members reported satisfaction with our new periodic, Occupational Therapy Now. This is a wonderful endorsement of our initial efforts to provide timely and relevant information in a practice magazine format. A second more extensive evaluation conducted by the CAOT OT Now Committee validated these findings and provided information regarding the further development of the online discussion groups.
The popularity of our CAOT web site (www.caot.ca) continues to grow, as reflected in a high member satisfaction rating on the survey and in steadily increasing web site traffic over the course of the last year. Web site visits have increased 10% per month with an average of 5000 visitors/month. Our new "members only" section on the web site launched February 29, 2000 allows greater flexibility in the range of services we can offer on the web site, such as the complete version of OT Now and networking opportunities.

Continuing education
CAOT continuing professional education activities such as conferences also scored highly for satisfaction with members. CAOT is now in high gear preparing for the Tri-Joint Congress 2000 to be held in Toronto this coming May. Check the conference supplement included with the February 2000 CJOT for more information regarding the vast array of interdisciplinary and discipline specific presentations scheduled for the Congress.

Planning activities are well underway as well for our "Back to the Future" conference to be held in Calgary in May 2001. The Call for Papers for this exciting conference - celebrating 75 years of CAOT - is included with this mailing of Occupational Therapy Now.

Lobbying insurance companies
The need for increased funding of occupational therapy services topped the list of issues that members want CAOT to address. With declining public funding for occupational therapy services, members are anxious that CAOT should continue to seek third party payment for occupational therapy. CAOT is working actively in collaboration with provincial occupational therapy associations on this issue. In 2000, a new private insurance lobby toolkit will be published to assist members with their individual efforts in lobbying for extended health benefit coverage of occupational therapy.

Promoting occupational therapy
Public awareness of occupational therapy also rated highly as a concern of CAOT members. Our survey indicated that members want CAOT to more actively promote our profession. CAOT significantly increased initiatives to promote occupational therapy in late 1999 with the launch of the new consumer web site, www.otworks.com and the development of new "Occupational Therapy - Skills for the Job of Living" promotional products and information. This year will see further initiatives to support this national awareness campaign. See the January 2000 issue of OT Now for more information on CAOT's marketing and promotional initiatives.

Evidence-Based Practice
Members identified that accessing, using and generating research evidence for occupational therapy practice is their number one practice problem. Additional member feedback regarding overwhelmingly high caseloads, professional isolation and the lack of required time to address work priorities tells us that CAOT resources to promote evidence-based practice must be easily accessible, user friendly and relevant to practice. The diverse CAOT strategies and tools to assist members in evidence-based occupational therapy were outlined in the December 1999 CJOT. Examples of our strategies include our new Evidence-Based Practice Toolkit, Laurie Snider's column in OT Now and our Spring Tel-Ed teleconference series with many sessions focusing on evidence-based occupational therapy.

Your feedback is essential to ensure CAOT provides valued services to our members
If you wish further information regarding the results of this survey or on any of CAOT's initiatives, please contact me at CAOT National Office or talk to your Board Director.