Becoming Critical Consumers of Evidence in Occupational Therapy for Children and Youth

Abstract

This special issue of the American Journal of Occupational Therapy on interventions for children and youth highlights the current developments in and evidence for the effectiveness of occupational therapy interventions and psychometric properties of assessments for children and youth. In this guest editorial, we identify various factors that challenge the implementation of evidence-based strategies in daily clinical practice. We assert that scholars, educators, and practitioners need to address several strategic steps. To facilitate critical consumption of evidence in practice, efforts need to be made to build capacity for evidence production and evidence use through implementation science and to ensure that evidence-based practice is not only taught but also reflectively applied across the educational curriculum and that clinicians are given more access to resources that are easy to translate to daily clinical practice. I n the past decade, growth of the published evidence on the efficacy and effectiveness of occupational therapy interventions for children and youth has been expansive. The American Journal of Occupational Therapy has published three special issues focusing on children and youth: first in 2013 (early intervention), second in 2018 (sensory integration), and the current issue (interventions for children and youth). This special issue contains 17 articles addressing various current issues and trends in occupational therapy practice for children and youth, including 8 systematic reviews, 6 of which are part of the American Occupational Therapy Association's (AOTA's) Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) Project. AOTA has also published four practice guidelines for children and youth based on many of the systematic reviews that have been completed: early childhood (ages 0-5 yr; Frolek-Clark & Kingsley, 2013); mental health promotion, prevention, and intervention (Bazyk & Arbesman, 2013); children and adolescents with challenges in sensory processing and integration (Watling et al., 2018); and people with autism spectrum disorder (Tomchek & Koenig, 2016). Updates and expansions to current practice guidelines as well as new practice guidelines for children and youth (ages 5-21 yr) are forthcoming. Systematic reviews are increasingly being used as a mechanism to consolidate information on intervention efficacy and effectiveness. However, the use of systematic reviews has been documented as posing challenges to daily use by practicing clinicians (Gervais et al., 2002). Using a focus group discussion methodology, DiRezze et al. (2013) explored how the use of tables summarizing findings from systematic reviews can aid practitioners in translating knowledge to practice, known as knowledge translation (KT). They found that practitioners may benefit from translation of technical statistical findings, summaries of direct and practical