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Impact of a Curricular Change on Perceived Knowledge, Skills, and Use of Evidence in Occupational Therapy Practice: A
Teal W Benevides1, Tracey Vause-Earland2, Robert Walsh3
1Teal W. Benevides, PhD, OTR/L, is Assistant Professor, Department of Occupational Therapy, College of Health Professions, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA; teal.benevides@jefferson.edu.
Objective:
We evaluated the impact of a curriculum revision that emphasized experiential use of evidence in clinical environments on occupational therapy graduates' attitudes, perceived knowledge and skill, and use of evidence in practice.
Methods:
We used a retrospective cohort design to compare two curriculum cohorts of recent graduates exposed to different evidence-based practice (EBP) educational approaches. Responses on a validated survey of attitudes, knowledge/skill, and use of evidence in practice were compared using t tests and Mann-Whitney U tests for Cohort 1 (n = 63) and Cohort 2 (n = 62) graduates.
Results:
Findings suggest similar attitudes and use of evidence between cohorts; Cohort 2 reported statistically greater perceived knowledge of and skill in EBP.
Conclusions:
Emphasis on experiential learning in school with reinforcement of skills in clinical learning environments is not sufficient to change graduates' use of evidence. Although the curriculum revision improved perceived knowledge/skill, our study suggests systems or other factors may influence use after graduation.
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