Order of information: impact on perceived level of functional independence

The order in which information is reviewed can influence judgment. The present study examined the impact of information order on ratings of functional independence by occupational therapists and occupational therapy students. Eighty-six occupational therapists and students were assessed in a pretest-posttest design. At pretest participants read identical background information about an independent, elderly gentleman with suspected memory problems, and then estimated his functional independence. Then the participants read the same clinically relevant information in one of two randomly assigned orders. One group received information from a clinical interview first, followed by assessment results. The other group received the same information in the reverse order. Analysis revealed that information order affected the final estimation of functional independence. Participants who read the assessment results first rated the elderly gentleman as less independent than those who read the interview data first. The clinical relevance of these findings and future directions are discussed.