Synthesizing Research Evidence for Therapists Providing Home-Based Rehabilitative Care

ABSTRACT

Background: Accessible and relevant summaries of research findings can facilitate therapists’ ability to practice evidence-informed care. Purpose: Our study used a knowledge translation framework to explore what topics of research evidence rehabilitation therapists who provided home-based care for older adults would like summarized, and whether a short narrative summary was an acceptable format. Methods: An online survey was administered to community-based occupational therapists and physiotherapists who worked for district health authorities across one province. Findings: Respondents identified topics such as effective ways to educate clients and families and how interventions in rural settings differed from urban settings. The short narrative format was not sufficient for therapists to evaluate the strength of the research evidence. Implications: Researchers trying to disseminate research evidence to home-based therapists need to create short summaries that have sufficient details to assess the strength of the evidence which are pertinent to therapists delivering services in the home.

KEYWORDS. :

• PARIHS
• community rehabilitation practice
• evidence-informed practice
• home rehabilitation
• older adult care
• knowledge translation