Assoc Prof Helen Buchanan

My area of practice and scholarship is predominantly in the area of physical health, and is concerned with return to occupation and the experience of injury. My teaching and research focus on evidence-based practice, practice improvement and adult physical health practice, specifically hand rehabilitation.  I am passionate about education and the provision of quality rehabilitation based on sound evidence. My PhD investigated evidence-based practice in the occupational therapy profession in South Africa and the Western Cape. An important learning was the importance of measurement and measurement tools, and their relevance for the South African context. These helped determine how best to empower clinicians, and how to offer best-quality services to their clients and equip them to better-manage their own health. 

I also enjoy research with clinicians and inter-professional groups as we can learn and collaborate with each other, and better understand each other’s practice challenges. I supervise both undergraduate and post-graduate students across a range of topics within the physical health cluster and studies concerned with occupational therapy education. 

My current research projects include;
-    Global Health and Palliative Care - Symptom Self-Management: expanding access: Acceptability and feasibility of symptom self-management of pain, breathlessness, and fatigue for the people living with chronic organ failure in South Africa.  
-    The Occupational Therapy Academic Workforce Survey: An International Study
-    Digital stories and professional identity development. 

Qualifications:
BSc (OT), MSc (OT), PhD, PG Dip (HSE) UCT, 

ORCID ID: 0000-0001-5540-9928