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Published on: September 8, 2015
Attitudes and opinions of evidence-based practice among hand therapists: a survey study
Kristin Valdes1, Rebecca von der Heyde
1Hand Works Therapy, 2616 Bee Ridge Road, Sarasota, FL 34239, USA. hotglassgal@comcast.net
Unlabelled:
The adoption of evidence-based practice (EBP) principles is advocated by many professional organizations. The purpose of this study was to assess the current attitudes and opinions of hand therapists toward EBP. A 35-item electronic survey was sent via e-mail to 2,997 hand therapists and 312 (10.4%) of eligible therapists responded. There was an overall strong endorsement of EBP among most respondents. Nearly all respondents believe that EBP plays a positive role in clinical practice, improves patient outcomes and clinical decision making, and that therapists should be familiar with EBP techniques to critically appraise clinical research studies. Respondents had a positive attitude toward EBP and the main barriers to EBP included: time limitations, limited journal access, and lack of evidence for treating specific diagnoses. Efforts to advance EBP in hand therapy should focus on reducing these barriers.
Level Of Evidence:
3b.
