Occupational Therapy 624

OCTH 624: Clinical Inquiry

Prerequisite:  Successful completion of OCTH 610, 612, 614 and 616 or permission of the Chair

Credit Hours: (3)

An introduction to methods and resources for fathering and appraising research evidence about occupation and occupational therapy services.  Students develop clinical questions; then use the matrix method along with evidence-based practice databases and bibliographic software to plan, carry out and communicate the results of literature reviews.

 

Detailed Description of Content of the Course

Topics will include:

  • The relationship of research evidence to clinical practice in occupational therapy
  • Writing focused clinical questions and occupation and occupational therapy
  • Using electronic resources (national and international, within and outside of occupational therapy) to gather current published evidence
  • Appraising the relevance and trustworthiness of research studies
  • Communicating the evidence for decision-making
  • Using the matrix method to plan, organize and synthesize a review of research literature
  • Formatting a literature review in APA style
  • Using bibliographic software
  • Using research evidence in quality improvement programs

 

Detailed Description of Conduct of Course

Readings, lecture and discussion will be supplemented by library instruction and individual and group practice with the steps of evidence-based practice.  Each student will conduct, synthesize and report a review of research literature to answer a clinical question about occupation or occupational therapy.

 

Goals and Objectives of the Course

At completion of this course, students will be able to:

  1. Articulate the importance of research relevant to the profession of occupational therapy;
  2.  Demonstrate competence in basic computer use, including the ability to use databases and search engines to access information and word processing for writing;
  3. Effectively locate, understand and evaluate information, including the quality of research evidence;
  4. Use national and international sources of evidence, and appreciate the contributions of international occupational therapy to research;
  5. Understand the Principles underlying the data analysis/statistical methods reported in research studies;
  6. Read research studies and critique their internal and external validity;
  7. Employ logical thinking, critical analysis, problem-solving and creativity to formulate a clinical question and plan a review of research literature;
  8. Demonstrate the skills necessary to conduct and synthesize the results of a review of the literature;
  9. Demonstrate the basic skills necessary to write a literature review in a format appropriate for presentation or publication.
  10. Given clinical scenarios, use research literature to make evidence-based decisions;
  11. Explain how research evidence can be used in the design of processes for quality improvement.

   

Assessment Measures

Tests, participation in discussions and library instruction sessions, and a graded literature review project may be used to evaluate the outcomes of this course.

 

Other Course Information

 

Review and Approval

February, 2009