Rights-Based Involvement of People With Lived Experience in Pre-Registration Occupational Therapy Education: A Scoping Review Protocol.

backgroundPatient and public involvement and engagement (PPIE) is increasingly prioritised in health professional education; however, how it is conceptualised, implemented, and evaluated within pre-registration occupational therapy programmes remains unclear. This protocol outlines a scoping review designed to map how PPIE in occupational therapy education is conceptualised, operationalised, and reported internationally, and to identify reported barriers, facilitators, and outcomes.

methodsThis scoping review will adhere to the methodological framework of Arksey and O'Malley (2005), as refined by Levac et al. (2010). We will search seven databases (MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, ERIC, ASSIA, Web of Science and OTseeker) and grey literature from 2000 onward. Using the Person-Concept-Context framework, eligible sources will include peer-reviewed empirical studies and recognised grey literature reporting PPIE in pre-registration occupational therapy education. Two reviewers will independently screen titles/abstracts and full texts, and extract data using a piloted charting tool, with third-reviewer resolution. Findings will be synthesised using descriptive statistics and directed content analysis through a rights-based lens. Reporting will follow PRISMA-ScR. DISCUSSION: The review will generate the first occupational therapy specific, rights-based synthesis of how PPIE is conceptualised, enacted, and evaluated in pre-registration education internationally. Findings will inform evidence-based, feasible, and equitable approaches to involvement, offering co-created recommendations for educators, programme leaders, and regulatory bodies. This work will also identify gaps to guide future research and policy. LIVED EXPERIENCE OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: People with lived experience who contribute to occupational therapy education will be recruited as contributors to this review and involved at key stages, including search strategy development, screening, data interpretation, and synthesis. Contributors will be supported and remunerated in accordance with National Institute for Health and Care Research (2024) and Royal College of Occupational Therapists (2022) guidance, and their involvement will be documented using the GRIPP2 (Staniszewska et al., 2017) reporting framework.