A critical interpretive synthesis: Use of the occupational justice framework in research

The occupational justice framework was established in the late 1990s with an agenda to spur occupational therapists to take action against injustices pertaining to occupation.

A critical interpretive synthesis of 23 texts was undertaken to examine how the occupational justice framework has been utilised in research, with a particular focus on how such research is located on a knowledge to action continuum and the extent to which it enacts the call to remediate occupational injustices.

Within the texts reviewed, the occupational justice framework was predominantly used to interpret research findings, and only four studies explicitly used an action research approach. There was also a dominant tendency to individualise situations of occupational justice, but with some examples attending to the social and political production of injustices. Absences and silences related to the locations of the research in developed regions and a focus on conceptualisations of justice commensurate with a Western worldview were evident.

Full realisation of the potential contributions of the occupational justice framework requires challenging traditional modes of research that focus primarily on knowledge generation, and expanding into modes of research that embrace a knowledge to action continuum. This expansion, which will enable occupational justice research to more fully embrace action-oriented work, requires practicing epistemological reflexivity, adopting a critical stance, incorporating a participatory action research approach and collaborating with scholars from different disciplines.