Scholarship

Role of Evidence

-"help the practitioner select the best assessments, and intervention procedures from an array of possibilities" to get the best possible outcomes for the patient -responsibility to use evidence to make professional decisions and to generate new evidence through independent or collaborate research

Making Evidence-Based Decisions (Step 5)

-Clinical bottom line -practitioner integrates the answer to the clinical question with his/her expertise, and considers the situation, beliefs to make a decision on the best intervention

Characteristics of a true experimental study are:

-Control --2 groups of participants --one group does not receive treatment & comparison group receives an alternative treatment --having 2 groups shows the dependent variable influenced the outcome -Randomization --participants in the groups are selected randomly so they have equal opportunity to be in either group --shows that investigators did not influence the study when selecting participants & participants of both groups will be similar -Blinding --participants do not know which group they are in or receiving or not receiving the intervention --prevents conscious or unconscious expectations and coloring of responses to the treatment

Qualitative research (Data)

-Data collection process includes: --in-depth unstructured or semi-structured interviews --focus groups --participant observations --review of pertinent records & documents -Data documentation --written notes --photographs --audio recordings --video recordings -Data analysis & interpretation --review recurring patterns of concepts & themes

Quantitative Research

-Experimental research -highest level of evidence (Level I) -Randomized controlled trials using independent & dependent variables.

Making Evidence-Based Decisions (Step 1)

-OT practitioner formulates an answerable clinical question using the PICO approach to answer the question PICO explanation & example: --P: person, problem, or population of interest (65 y.o. with a history of falls in the home) --I: issue or intervention being considered (does home health fall prevention education by OT/OTA) --C: comparison (ex. alternative intervention vs. no intervention; as compared with out-patient clinic OT fall prevention education) --O: outcome that would be affected by the intervention (lessen the number of falls in the home)

Four criteria for evaluating trustworthiness of research:

-Truth value --level of confidence in the veracity of the research findings -Applicability --the extent to which the findings of a research study can be applied to other contexts, settings, groups or generalized to large populations -Consistency --the degree to which the research findings are reproducible, given that the study is duplicated with the same participants and setting or contexts -Neutrality --the level of freedom from bias --research findings are not influenced by the personal motivations or perspectives of the investigators but are the sole function of the conditions of the study

Scholarship

-also known as research -activities designed to build the knowledge base and further advance the practice and teaching of OT

Scholarly practice

-also referred to as evidence-based practice -using the knowledge base of the profession or discipline in one's practice and teaching

Making Evidence-Based Decisions (Step 3)

-critical appraisal of the evidence -Assess the quality & trustworthiness of the evidence in the published literature that is related to the question -Consider the make up of the research --quantitative vs. qualitative --participants --variables --methods used to gather the data --the findings

Validity

-indication of the soundness of the methods and findings of a research study -reflects findings that accurate and not distorted by inaccuracies in the theories, design, measurements or analysis of the information -rigor is another term for this and is related to trustworthiness

Qualitative research

-non-experimental -lowest level of evidence -Naturalistic method of scientific inquiry that is exploratory & subjective -Goal is to gather in-depth, detailed descriptions of a subject, such as a problem or condition -Process is cyclical & open-ended, and driven by the participants -Research develops slowly while data accumulates over time -data is collected, documented, analysed, and interpreted -Meaning & significance emerge leading to linkages

Making Evidence-Based Decisions (Step 2)

-systematic search of the published literature for directly related research evidence -Peer-reviewed studies may be located on the Internet, electronic databases, college or university library -Start search by using keywords from the clinical question, adapt the terms as needed

4 Dimensions of Scholarship

1) Scholarship of discovery --conducting original scientific research which contributes to the growing knowledge base 2) Scholarship of integration --seeks new information from existing original research & contributes to the development of new OT theories 3) Scholarship of application --provides a link between theory and practice using the information from scholarship of discovery and integration to address OT assessments, interventions, or classroom teaching 4)Scholarship of teaching & learning --this type of scholarship contributes to the knowledge base needed for high-quality teaching of OT students & public sharing of OT knowledge.

Making Evidence-Based Decisions (Step 4)

OT practitioner draws an unbiased conclusion after integration of information from multiple studies on how the question was answered

Quality of Evidence

the degree of confidence an OT practitioner or academician has in the trustworthiness, accuracy, relevance and usefulness of information from published research when making practice decisions