Opportunity model of collaboration: a model for assessment instrument development

Collaboration between allied health educators and clinicians has a long history in terms of fieldwork education. Use of collaborative partnerships for practice endeavors and research also has been reported in the literature. Another possible area in which collaboration could be effective is the development of an assessment instrument. Collaboration can have negative and positive results, however, and individuals who plan an instrument development project are cautioned to pay attention to the collaborative nature of the project as well as to the instrument development task itself. This article describes a model for collaboration that evolved out of an instrument development project involving educators from the occupational therapy programs at Utica College and the University of Illinois, Chicago; clinicians in school-based practice; and occupational therapy students. Experiences from the project are used to illustrate concepts of the model.