Evidence Based Practice

Introduction

The recent emergence of Evidence Based Practice (EBP) encourages clinicians to approach occupational therapy practice with a critical eye. The skills needed to assess the evidence for our practice include searching for research literature and then evaluating it to determine if the findings of the study are of high or low quality.

Essentially you are asking yourself the question:

How do I know that what I do is effective?

Your observational skills will provide ‘evidence’ of this, however, the evidence-based-practice movement considers that this type of evidence is of low quality; the preference is to base practice on research which uses randomised controlled trials.

There are many databases that will provide summaries of this type of research. Your task is to see if it exists for your area of interest (e.g. as a systematic review).   If it does not exist (which is often the case!) then you need to evaluate any reported studies to determine the quality of this work.

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Otago Polytechnic Student EBP work

Students from the third year occupational therapy class at Otago Polytechnic, have been using the Occupational Therapy Critically Appraised Topics (OTCATS) outline to critique chosen research articles. To read their work you can click on the pdf documents listed below. The assigned task was to review one allocated systematic review plus one other article. For any comments or queries please contact Linda Robertson at Otago Polytechnic.

2009 Student reviews

The effectiveness of cognitive Strategies as an intervention for children with Developmental Co-ordination Disorder - prepared by Melissa Sherlock

The effectiveness of functional assessments for people with dementia - prepared by Hamish Wohlers

Employment experiences for people with severe mental illness - prepared by Tara Morrison

There is insufficient evidence to prove that assistive devices (ADs) have a positive psychological impact on adults with physical disability -  prepared by Rebecca Lovett

2008 Student Reviews

Measures that lead to successful community integration following severe brain injury - prepared by Aften Little

There is insufficient evidence to support the use of lycra splints for functional benefits for children with cerebral palsy - prepared by Carly Halkett and Monica McMahon

Home assessments and people who have dementia. Differences in clinical and home environments - prepared by Rachel Blair

Functional assessments for older people with dementia - prepared by Sarah Hamilton

Are caregiver's perceptions a reliable source for rating functional performance of a dementia client? - prepared by Colette Steel

There is insufficient evidence for using life skills training programmes to integrate clients back into the community - prepared by Jessica Rodger