Resources to help occupational therapists access and appraise research evidence: progress from Australia

Abstract

Evidence-based practice has stimulated the need for occupational therapists to access, interpret and integrate information from research in their clinical decisions. Yet the skills and time required to do so have presented significant challenges to busy clinicians. Concerted efforts have therefore been made by many occupational therapy professional groups, organisations, researchers, academics and clinicians to develop resources to support therapists’ access to, interpretation and communication of research information. Over the last decade, Australian occupational therapists have been at the forefront of endeavours to develop resources to facilitate evidence-based occupational therapy. This paper aims to describe the development and progress of three important resources to support evidence based practice: Critically Appraised Papers (CAPS), Critically Appraised Topics (CATS), and the OTseeker database (www.otseeker.com). These resources provide free access to research that has been both screened for relevance and critically appraised, assisting therapists worldwide to engage in evidence-based practice.