Rethinking the Practice-Knowledge Interface in an Uncertain World: a Model for Practice Development

Abstract

The world of professional practice is uncertain because of the very nature of working with inexact health sciences in human contexts and because of the rapid changes constantly occurring in the health sciences' knowledge, practice and technology. To work in this uncertain world, occupational therapists, along with other health professionals, need to participate in the development of their individual and collective professional practice. This paper presents a model for practice development which reframes the practice-knowledge interface. This traditional point of division (between knowledge and practice, between academic and practice learning, between propositional and experience-based knowledge) is replaced with a dialectical relationship. Practice can be enhanced through the development of the practice and knowledge of individuals and the profession, recognising the interdependence of practice and knowledge in their mutual generation and operation.