Mrs Samantha Turner

My role at the University of Plymouth focuses on involvement in teaching on many aspects of the undergraduate and postgraduate Occupational Therapy programmes. I also deliver lectures for other programmes within the School of Health Professions such as Physiotherapy. I am the Admissions Tutor for the BSc (Hons) and MOccTh Occupational Therapy programmes which includes managing new applications, Values Based Recruitment, International Admissions and Marketing. I was previously a member of the placements team which required provision of support to coordinate, educate and work towards ensuring that all of our students experience a range of clinical placements. I am also the BSc and MOccTh Occupational Therapy first year lead. My clinical experience has been varied within a number of different physical settings in London and the South West of England. I specialised in the area of neurological rehabilitation for a number of years and gained in depth training in this area at The National Hospital of Neurology and Neurosurgery in London. I have also worked in managerial roles within the NHS in the South West of England. I am currently the National Executive Committee Continuing Professional Development and Lifelong Learning Officer for the Royal College of Occupational Therapists Specialist Section for Neurological Practice which consists of a range of activities including national strategy development for members of the section. 

Qualifications

MSc Advanced Professional Practice Occupational Therapy

Professional membership

I am HCPC registered. I am a member of the British Association of Occupational Therapists and the Specialist Section of Neurological Practice. 

Roles on external bodies

CPD and Lifelong Officer on the National Executive Committee for Royal College of Occupational Therapists Specialist Section in Neurological Practice.

Teaching interests

I have module leadership responsibility for the following modules:

Research interests

I have completed the MSc in Advanced Professional Practice in Occupational Therapy programme. My research project was a quantitative study using a secondary data analysis methodology to examine Occupational Therapy service use by people with Multiple Sclerosis in the South West of England.

Research degrees awarded to supervised students

I have supervised numerous BSc (Hons) Occupational Therapy group research projects using both quantitative and qualitative research approaches. I also provide research supervision for a range of students on the MSc (pre-registration) programme and the APP Occupaitonal Therapy programme. 

Conference Papers

• Turner, S. (2017) An exploration of the attitudes, knowledge and ability of Occupational Therapists in applying evidence to practice. Facilitated Journal Club Session. Royal College of Occupational Therapists Annual Conference, Birmingham, UK.
• Turner, S. (2017) What are the most effective treatment approaches to use to reduce fatigue for people with Multiple Sclerosis? A critical appraisal of the literature. Poster Presentation. Royal College of Occupational Therapists Annual Conference, Birmingham, UK.
• Turner, S. (2017) Current Fatigue Management Literature Related to Multiple Sclerosis. Presentation. RCOT Specialist Section for Neurological Practice Conference, London
• Turner, S. (2017) What can Occupational Therapy do for me? Presentation. South West Impact of Multiple Sclerosis Conference, Cornwall

Other Publications

Rule, R; Hedges-Stearn, J. and Turner, S. (2018) Acting upon innovation. OTNews, British Association of Occupational Therapy.

Reports & invited lectures

I am a guest lecturer at Plymouth Marjon University once a year delivering a lecture for the Speech and Language Therapy students on the importance of inter-professional working within neurological rehabilitation services. 

I was invited to provide a lecture at the RCOT Specialist Section in Neurological Practice annual conference in 2017 related to fatigue management for people with Multiple Sclerosis. 

Other academic activities

I have engaged in a range of additional academic activities, an example of these are as follows:

• Collaboration project with Help for Heroes charity by delivering Occupational Therapy health and well-being sessions jointly with students.
• Support and guidance provided to two entrepreneurial Occupational Therapy students to setup a charity called Sense Aware including fundraising for equipment, project planning, grant applications, intervention ideas, publication and marketing, and signposting to stakeholders.

Additional information

I have received previous nominations for six University of Plymouth SSTAR awards by students for ‘Outstanding Personal Tutor’, ‘Best Placement Support’ and ‘One in a Million Support Staff’.