Teaching occupational therapy students how to integrate evidence for better clinical outcomes

This report investigated the skills and attitudes that are essential for new occupational therapy graduates to be confident and effective evidence-based practitioners.

It has developed a model that identifies five components that inform decision-making to provide a comprehensive guideline for teaching Evidence-Based Practice.

Download the report:

Considering a new way to foster skills for evidence-based practice (PDF, 1.1Mb)

Background:

Critiquing research is the most studied aspect of learning how to be evidence-based, however therapists do not spend a lot of time looking for and critiquing research.

This 18-month project, completed in 2019 at Otago Polytechnic, aimed to better prepare occupational therapy students to transition from an academic environment to the realities of evidence-based practice.

Research report prepared by Dr Linda Robertson, Helen Jeffrey, Kim Reay and Dr Angela Benfield.

Co-funded by the Ako Aotearoa Regional Hub Project Fund (RHPF)