ABSTRACT

Objective: The purpose of this study is to analyze qualitative research published in the Korean Journal of Occupational Therapy. Methods: The researchers identified 16 qualitative studies among 692 papers in the Korean Journal of Occupational Therapy from the first issue in 1993 until 2018. These studies were analyzed using COnsolidated criteria for REporting the Qualitative research(COREQ) developed by Tong et al(2007). Results: The first domain, “Research team and reflexivity”, properly maintained the notification items for research purposes, as well as the participants’ rights and the researchers’ duties, whereas the reported items of researcher experience and training were insufficient. In the second domain, “study design”, phenomenology was the most common research methodology, and most of the interview guidelines were presented in the paper, although interview dropouts and interview environment reports were insufficient. Finally, in the third domain “Analysis and findings”, the participants’ quotations and topic presentation items were generally well followed, but the participant checking was not. Conclusion: This study showed that COREQ can provide a systematic reporting framework for qualitative research and can be a useful guideline to improve the consistency of the research methods and the transparency of the research methods. Therefore, COREQ is expected to contribute to the improvement in quality of the qualitative research conducted in occupational therapy.