Occupational Sciences

Group Leader(s): Dr Jackie Parsonage-Harrison

About us

We are a multidisciplinary group of researchers, clinicians, and lecturers, including occupational therapists, physiotherapists, and colleagues from allied disciplines. Our work is underpinned by a shared commitment to occupational science, a field concerned with understanding and evidencing the relationships between people’s everyday occupations and their health and wellbeing.

We conduct high-quality, health-related, occupation-centred research that advances the occupational science evidence base, informs theory, and translates knowledge into clinical and practice contexts. Our research explicitly addresses real-world challenges, supporting the development, implementation, and evaluation of occupational therapy interventions across diverse health and social care settings.

Our core research activity focuses on:

Developing and delivering occupational therapy interventions underpinned by occupational science.
Working in partnership with others, especially clinicians, in clinical practice-related research.
Occupational science-specific studies to explore and develop knowledge about occupation and its relationship with health.

Children playing outside

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Leadership

Dr Jackie Parsonage-Harrison

jparsonage@brookes.ac.uk

Elizabeth Casson Research Fellow

View profile for Jackie Parsonage-Harrison

Core research activities

As dynamic team, we undertake a variety of healthcare-related qualitative research studies. Examples include:

A novel application of breadth and depth methodology to explore clinic reports on daily activity, identity, and wellbeing from carers of patients referred to a specialist brain clinic.
A qualitative evidence synthesis of peer-reviewed published qualitative research exploring perceptions of adolescents and young people aged 11 to 25 years, with and without diagnosis on the factors/ determinants that influence (engagement and participation) physical activity.
A collaboration with Lund University to increase research capacity in occupational science and intervention development. Including introducing the evidence-based Intervention Balancing Everyday Life in the UK. (adult mental health).
An exploration of health care students’ experiences, views and attitudes towards environmental sustainability.
Views, practices, experiences and priorities of HLS academics in relation to embedding planetary health and environmental sustainability within programme curricula.
Environmental sustainability.

Key publications

2025

Knight R, Demkowicz O, Sprecher E, Gomez Bergin A, Marzetti H, Petersen K, et al. Meeting of minds: imagining the future of child and youth mental health research from an early career perspective. BJPsych Bull. 2025:1-7.
Caravale B, Di Norcia A, Boiani A, Giannini MT, Baldi S, Rava L, et al. Development and psychometric properties of the Italian little developmental coordination disorder questionnaire (LDCDQ-IT). Res Dev Disabil. 2025;158:104923.
Murray F, Hess KY, Rihtman T. Environmentally sustainable person-centred care: Occupational therapy students' attitudes, perceptions and self-perceived preparedness for practice. Australian occupational therapy journal. 2025;72(1):e12998.

2024

Parsonage-Harrison J, Dawes H. Using intervention mapping to develop an occupational therapy informed intervention for adolescents experiencing mental health difficulties. British Journal of Occupational Therapy. 2024;87(12):730-741. doi:10.1177/03080226241269228
Parsonage-Harrison J, Eklund M, Dawes H, A Delphi method investigation to prioritise activity-related determinants thought to affect mental health in adolescent populations
Early Intervention in Psychiatry 18 (9) (2024) pp.720-730 ISSN: 1751-7885 eISSN: 1751-7893 A Delphi method investigation to prioritise activity-related determinants thought to affect mental health in adolescent populations Open Access version on RADAR
Eklund M, Parsonage J, Argentzell E, Occupation- and lifestyle-based mental health interventions – A hallmark for the occupational therapy profession? British Journal of Occupational Therapy [online first] (2024) ISSN: 0308-0226 eISSN: 1477-6006

2023

Collett, J., Brusco, N., Cordell, N., Cockroft, A., Lawrie, S., Coe, S., Reed, A., Dawes, H., (2023). "Lost employment potential and supporting people with Parkinson’s to stay in work: insights from a Pan European cross-sectional survey." Disability and Rehabilitation 45(5): 832-839.
Ezekiel, L., Veiga, J., Ward, T., Dawes, H., Collett, J. (2023). “Exploring the usability of a smartphone application to monitor fatigue and activity for people with acquired brain injury”. British Journal of Occupational Therapy. 0(0).
Hess K, Rihtman T, (2023) 'Moving from Theory to Practice in Occupational Therapy Education for Planetary Health: A Theoretical View'. Australian Occupational Therapy Journal. 70 (4) pp 460-470
Khalafbeigi, M., Yazdani, F., Genis, F., Hess, K.Y. and Kirve, S. (2023), "Invisibility and diagnosis stigma: disabling factors for female adults with myalgia encephalomyelitis (ME)/chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) in a small-scale qualitative study in England", Irish Journal of Occupational Therapy, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print
Parsonage-Harrison J, Birken M, Harley D, Dawes H, Eklund M. A scoping review of interventions using occupation to improve mental health or mental wellbeing in adolescent populations. British Journal of Occupational Therapy. 2023;86(3):236-250.

2022

Dillon, A., Casey, J., Gaskell, H., Drummond, A., Demeyere, N., Dawes, H. (2022). Is there evidence for a relationship between cognitive impairment and fatigue after acquired brain injury: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Disability and Rehabilitation: 1-14.
Fu, C., Tseng, M., Cermak, S., Chung, T., Chen, Y., Lu, L., Shieh, J., Rihtman, T., (2022). Psychometric properties of the Little Developmental Coordination Disorder Questionnaire-Taiwan'. American Journal of Occupational Therapy. 76 (2).
Jover, M., Ray-Kaeser. S., Memoli, N., Bertrand, A., Albaret, J., Rihtman, T. (2022). Psychometric properties of the French European Little Developmental Coordination Disorder Questionnaire (LDCDQ-FE): a pilot study; Physical and Occupational Therapy in Pediatrics.43(3) pp287-302
Magalhaes, L., Moraes, B., Barbosa, V., Cardoso, A., Rihtman, T., (2022).Cross-cultural validation of the Brazilian Little Developmental Coordination Disorder
Questionnaire (LDCDQ-BR) for preschool children; Research in Developmental Disabilities. 129.
Parsonage, J., Naylor Lund, K., Dawes, H., Almoajil, H., Eklund, M. (2022). An exploration of occupational choices in adolescence: A constructivist grounded theory study.; Scandinavian Journal of Occupational Therapy 29(6): 464-481.
Yazdani, F. Rassafian,M. Nazi, S. Rezaee,M. (2021) The COVID-19 Pandemic May Force the World to Reflect on the Pre-Pandemic Style of Life. International Journal of Travel Medicine and Global Health.

2021

Ezekiel, L., Field, L., Collett, J., Dawes, H., Boulton, M., (2021). "Experiences of fatigue in daily life of people with acquired brain injury: a qualitative study." Disability and Rehabilitation 43(20): 2866-2874.
de Mello Monteiro, C., Dawes, H., Mayo, N., Collett, J., Magalhães, F., (2021). "Assistive Technology Innovations in Neurological Conditions." BioMed Research International 2021: 6846120.
Fitzpatrick, B., Panagamuwa, C., Moss Levy, L., Rihtman T. (2021) 'The impact of hearing loss on speech outcomes in 5-year-old children with cleft palate ± lip: A longitudinal cohort study' International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology 149
Dehghanizadeha, M. Akbarfahimib, M. Zareiyanc, A. Yazdani F, Khalafbeigia,M. Soleimanie, F. (2021) Predictors of interest in doing activities among Iranian adolescents with cerebral palsy. Iranian Journal of Rehabilitation
Rihtman T, Gadsby N, Porter J, (2021). 'Supporting the social-emotional needs of children and young people with Developmental Coordination Disorder: occupational therapists’ perceptions of practice in England'. British Journal of Occupational Therapy 85 (9) pp.653-661.
Yazdani, F. Nazi, S. Kavousipour S, Esmaili S. Rezaee M. (submitted) The perceived impact of the COVID 19 pandemic by the public in Iran (2021). Scandinavian Journal of Occupational Therapy.
Yazdani, F., Bonsaksen, T., Roberts, D., Hess, K.Y. and Karamali Esmaili, S. (2021), "The self-efficacy for therapeutic use of self-questionnaire (SETUS): psychometric properties of the English version", Irish Journal of Occupational Therapy, Vol. 49 No. 1, pp. 21-27.