Measuring Cultural Effectiveness in Occupational Therapy and Physical Therapy: A Scoping Review

Area of Science:

• Rehabilitation Science
• Health Professions Education
• Cultural Competency Research

Background:

• Promoting culturally effective care is crucial for occupational therapy (OT) and physical therapy (PT) practitioners.
• Current methods for measuring cultural effectiveness in rehabilitation lack clarity and standardization.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically identify and characterize instruments used to assess cultural effectiveness in OT and PT literature.
• To inform the development of more robust and consistent measurement tools in the field.

Main Methods:

• Conducted comprehensive database searches (Academic Search Premier, CINAHL, MEDLINE, PsycINFO) and hand searches.
• Included peer-reviewed articles published in English (US) from January 2010 to June 2022, focusing on cultural effectiveness assessments in OT and PT.

Main Results:

• Seven articles met inclusion criteria, identifying six distinct self-administered instruments.
• Commonly assessed domains included attitude, knowledge, and skills; only one item addressed critical self-reflection.
• Significant variation existed in theoretical foundations and operationalization of cultural effectiveness.

Conclusions:

• Inconsistencies in current measurement tools may impede knowledge advancement and application in OT and PT.
• Future research should focus on developing client-administered assessments and incorporating self-reflection to foster lifelong cultural effectiveness.
• Standardized measurement is essential for practitioners to effectively monitor and enhance their cultural effectiveness.