Crossing Borders: A Qualitative Study of How Occupational Therapy Educators and Scholars Develop and Sustain Global Partnerships.

The World Federation of Occupational Therapists (WFOT) and the American Occupational Therapy Association promote a globally connected profession that responds to the needs of our diverse societies. Global partnerships are grounded on the principle that cross-cultural experiences are enriching and provide mutual benefits. The purpose of this study was to uncover how occupational therapy educators and scholars perceive and experience (1) developing and sustaining global partnerships and (2) lessons learned. In this qualitative study, 30 occupational therapy educators and researchers completed an online survey. Eight participated in an interview. Results found major themes that help develop and sustain partnerships: building relationship of trust and respect, communicating effectively, cultivating cultural competence, sharing power and resources with collaborators and creating a context for reciprocal learning. Lessons learned include a call to walking humbly, building relationships of trust and respect, establishing open and honest communication, supporting local solutions to local problems, ensuring equality of resources and learning from their global partners. The findings suggest that global partnerships have the potential to transform both partners if the partners engage with mutual understanding and respect. Limitations of this study include a small sample size and participant's pool limited to occupational therapists from United States. Recommendations for future research include qualitative studies to identify model occupational therapy programmes that sustain global partnerships using a diverse sample of international occupational therapy educators and researchers.