Strategies to promote evidence-based practice in pediatric physical therapy: a formative evaluation pilot project.

Background: The physical therapy profession has been perceived as one that bases its practice largely on anecdotal evidence and that uses treatment techniques for which there is little scientific support. Physical therapists have been urged to increase evidence-based practice behaviors as a means to address this perception and to enhance the translation of knowledge from research evidence into clinical practice. However, little attention has been paid to the best ways in which to support clinicians' efforts toward improving evidence-based practice.

School-based pediatric physical therapists' perspectives on evidence-based practice.

Purpose: This study described the current knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, and practices of a group of school-based pediatric physical therapists regarding evidence-based practice (EBP).

Methods: Five practitioners participated in this project. Each was interviewed individually and in a group and completed a quantitative survey.

Using journal clubs to promote skills for evidence-based practice.

Occupational therapy students in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, participated in a 9-week journal club experience within an evidence-based practice course. Working in groups of seven, students were provided with an overall framework to develop and conduct weekly journal club sessions. They determined the focus and direction for their journal club section, decided on the number, type, and focus of research articles that were discussed each week, created methods for evaluating individual and group performance, and determined the effect of the journal club experience on their knowledge and professional behavior.

Using personal projects to enhance students' first-person understanding of occupations.

A semester-long assignment was developed to emphasize occupational therapy students' real-life, first-person experience in establishing, modifying, and sustaining occupations. The overall goal of the assignment was to help students integrate core content on occupation, habits, and client-centered intervention within the context of ongoing, lived, personal experience. By pursuing their own personal projects, occupational therapy students developed, modified, or ceased occupations in their real-life context.

A holistic approach to teaching evidence-based practice.

Articles pertaining to evidence-based practice have become increasingly visible in occupational therapy literature. Authors have defined and described evidence-based practice for occupational therapy (Lloyd-Smith 1997; Taylor 1997), identified resources that therapists can draw upon to inform their practice (Hayes & McGrath, 1998; Lieberman & Scheer, 2002), and articulated strategies to gather research evidence in practice (Tickle-Degnen 2000a; Unsworth, 2000). As associate editor of the American Journal of Occupational Therapy Evidence-Based Practice Forum, Tickle-Degnen has also written a series of articles that explain how to engage clients in the research process, and communicate research evidence to clients and families (1998, 2002).

The good beginnings clinic: an interdisciplinary collaboration.

The purpose of this paper is to present the development, implementation and outcomes of an interdisciplinary clinic that models "best practices" in pediatric occupational therapy and speech language pathology. The collaborative process is presented through the use of a case example as well as information about the program's logistics, benefits, limitations and future goals.