Systematic reviews of occupational therapy interventions: summarizing research evidence and highlighting the gaps

Hackett, Katie, Newton, Julia, Rapley, Tim, Deane, Katherine ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0805-2708, Deary, Vincent and Ng, Wan-Fai (2014) Systematic reviews of occupational therapy interventions: summarizing research evidence and highlighting the gaps. British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 77 (9). pp. 479-482. ISSN 0308-0226

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Abstract

As services are commissioned based on effectiveness, occupational therapists are under pressure to demonstrate the efficacy of their interventions. Occupational therapists also need to know that the interventions they are providing are effective. Robertson et al (2013) demonstrated that the occupational therapy literature is important for clinicians and is an essential part of their practice. However, as more research is published, it can be increasingly time-consuming and confusing for clinicians to keep abreast of the current literature. Occupational therapy-related research may be published in different forms, in a range of locations, and be of varying methodological quality. Furthermore, readily available published studies that investigate occupational therapy efficacy may not be sufficiently powered, or may lack external validity, when applied to different clinical settings. When well conducted, systematic reviews provide a useful way of synthesizing and evaluating the evidence on a particular topic and, to some extent, provide a solution to this problem. This paper focuses upon reviews of randomized controlled trials, as these provide the highest quality of evidence on the question of a particular intervention’s effectiveness. The merits of reviews of qualitative studies are also considered, together with the possibility of combining more than one type of review.

Item Type: Article
Faculty \ School: Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > School of Health Sciences
UEA Research Groups: Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Community and Family Health (former - to 2017)
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Health in Later Life (former - to 2017)
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Dementia & Complexity in Later Life
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Centres > Lifespan Health
Depositing User: Pure Connector
Date Deposited: 08 Oct 2014 08:52
Last Modified: 19 Oct 2023 01:22
URI: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/50306
DOI: 10.4276/030802214X14098207541199

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