occupational therapy research topics

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Finding Harmony in Academic Life: Blending the Teacher-Scholar Model Shirley P. O'Brien

Applied Research

The Use of Occupational Therapy Interventions in a Hematology-Oncology Pediatric Intensive Care Unit Lucy Weathers, Sarah Schwartzberg, Kenneth Pettit, Fang Wang, Shilpa Gorantla, and Saad Ghafoor

Effectiveness of an Occupational Therapy-Led Social Skills Group Using Parent Training: A Pilot Study Sheryl Eckberg Zylstra, Yvonne L. Swinth, Aimee Sidhu, and Julie Anderson

Understanding the Needs of Gender-Diverse Youth and Young Adults and Their Staff Members in Homeless Shelters and Supported Housing Sharon Gutman, Ashley Choi, Alexis Kearney, and Margaret Swarbrick Dr

Occupational Therapists’ Consideration of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity when Working with Adolescents: A Preliminary Study Kristin S. Willey, Dana Howell, and Camille Skubik-Peplaski

Current Landscape of Interventions that Promote Self-determination in Adolescents with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities in Secondary Transition: A Scoping Review Chia-Yang Chiang and Tsu-Hsin Howe

Pawsitive Purpose: The Impact Of Autism Assistance Dogs on the Occupations of Autistic Children Morgan Starkweather, Amie E. Germain, and Christine A. Kivlen

Preparation and Use of Physical Agent Modalities Among U.S. Occupational Therapists: A Mixed-Methods, Exploratory-Descriptive Study Keith Gentry, Tammy LeSage, Devin Hebble, Lilly Adams, and Ashlyn Watts

The Experiences of Routine Powered Mobility Users in an Assisted Living Facility: A Case Study Richelle Louise Gray

Breastfeeding as Co-Occupation: Occupational Therapy’s Role in Promoting Health and Well-Being Lisa Joelle Sutton, Julie D. Kugel, Dragana Krpalek, and Arezou Salamat

A Retrospective Study of Healthcare Needs of Unpaid Caregivers in the United States Ranelle M. Nissen, Jessica McHugh Conlin, Mackenzie L. Feldhacker, Whitney Lucas Molitor, and Allison J. Naber

Primary Care Occupational Therapy: Diagnoses, Outcomes, Reimbursement, and Team Satisfaction Sue Dahl-Popolizio, Tina M. Sauber, Mandi Ogaard, Martina Mookadam, Shanthi V. Cambala, and Felicia E. Trembath

Topics in Education

A Synthesis of Professional Socialization Literature and Educational Opportunities in Occupational Therapy Jessica Nakos

Opinions in the Profession

Cultural Respect in Academia Alondra Ammon

Clinical Application of the SOiL Model: A Practical Case Consideration Shivani B. Vij

Letters to the Editor

Letter to the Editor: The COPM: Culturally Sensitive by Design MaryAnn McColl, Susan E. Baptiste, Anne Carswell, Mary Law, and Helene Polatajko

• Occupation and the Artist

Unification of Art and Spirituality Erin Barrus

Would you like to learn about the art featured on the cover? The “Occupation and the Artist” section of OJOT highlights the use of art in the practice of OT and in the occupations of both consumers of OT services and its practitioners. Click here to explore this unique feature of OJOT.

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Critically Appraised Topics

Critically appraised topics from 2023 2023.

Occupational Therapy’s Role in Addressing the Intersectionality of Veterans Who Are Chronically Homeless, Mental Health, and Sleep Deprivation , Maci Bakken, Abby Eken, and Morgan Halliday

The Role of Occupational Therapists Working with Adolescents with Mental Health Conditions in the Juvenile Justice System , Angelina M. Caron, Madalyn M. England, and Mattea J. Johnson

The Impact of Sensory Deprivation and Sensory-Based Intervention for Incarcerated Adults Over the Age of 65 , Kyara G. Crowley, Connor N. Fuchs, and Sydney L. Johnson

Exploring Occupation-Based Sleep Interventions for School-Aged Children Experiencing Homelessness: A Critically Appraised Topic , Aspen DeLano, Joslynn Sauer, and Emily Vieth

Occupational Therapy’s Role in Natural Disasters , Olivia A. Dobrinz, Elise N. Gapp, and Jocelyn R. Kirk

Examining Occupational Therapists’ Role in Providing Client-Centered Care for School-Aged Children in the Educational Setting with Visual Impairment , Nicole Gentry, Skye Gross, Alyssa Hammon, and Angela Mossman-Larson

Effects of Occupation Based Interventions Related to Play and Leisure for Minimization of Post-Concussion or Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Symptoms in Adolescents: A Critically Appraised Topic , Anneka Harris, Melody Mackenzie, and Emmy Miller

Usefulness of Kinesiotaping for Children Experiencing High Tone and Spasticity as a Symptom of Cerebral Palsy , Hailey Koep, Hailey McGuire, and Claire Meyer

Effectiveness of the Use of Kinesiotape for Adults with Elbow Tendinosis in Reducing Pain to Promote Engagement in Occupations , Natasha Minar, Kinley Nordin, and Kaitlyn Peterson

CAT Part IV: Occupational Therapy Interventions to Support Upper Extremity Spasticity in Older Adults Following a Stroke , Mary Redlin, Allie Reiffenberger, Shannon Ring, and Aubrey Rude

Effectiveness of Occupational Therapy’s Role in Promotion of Role Fulfillment with Aviation Students in Higher Education who are Experiencing Mental Health Conditions , Payton O. Schilke, Olivia G. Schoffstall, Lexi K. Smith, and Gracie J. Stimac

The Role of Occupational Therapy in the Transition Process for Young Adults with Developmental Disabilities , Hannah Tanous, McKenzie Ulrich, and Alexis Walther

Telehealth Benefits in Rural Areas: Occupational Therapy , Grant E. Tolkkinen, Grace K. Torgerson, and Kaitlyn J. Wanner

The Role of Occupational Therapy in Determining the Effectiveness of Functional Task Assessments Used to Improve Quality of Life for Older Adults with Parkinson’s Disease. , Kate L. Westphal, Brooklyn L. Wiest, and Jordyn M. Wolff

Critically Appraised Topics from 2022 2022

Effectiveness of Occupational Therapy Self-Management Interventions Among Chronically Homeless Veterans with Mental Health and Substance Abuse Disorders , Jace Allard, Hannah Leisenheimer, and Adeyinka Omotunde

Family-centered Care for Preschool Children with Disabilities , Kaylee Athmann, Ashley Freund, and Rachel Koenig

Identifying the Role of Occupational Therapy in the Pediatric Palliative Care Team for Pediatric Cancer Patients , Rudessa Bedonie, Hannah Gianan, Riley Thomas, and Kennedy Tooke

The Benefits of Habituation Altering Occupational Therapy Interventions to Improve Engagement in ADLs and IADLs for Adults with Chronic Pain , Alexis Brolsma, Aleece Durbin, and Casidi Pullar

How the Physical Long-Haul Symptoms of COVID-19 Influence Occupational Performance From a Person-Environment-Occupation Perspective: A Critically Appraised Topic , Emmalee Burtsfield, Amber Matlock, and Alyssia Pucel

Effectiveness and Availability of Occupational Therapy Interventions for Improving Quality of Life for Families Dealing with Virtual Learning During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Substance Use Issues , Madison Christian, Alexis Lehmann, and Hannah Steckler

The Link Between Occupational Therapy Interventions, Quality of Life, and Social and Leisure Participation in Adults with Chronic Conditions , Katie DeBoer, Callie Kleindl, and Monicah Nyakoe

Occupational Therapy’s Ability to Address Perceived Stress Levels in Caregivers of Individuals with Dementia , Kjerstin Drugan, Molly Van Drehle, and Jadalyn Wagner

Effectiveness of Occupational Therapy Services on Quality of Life Among Chronically Homeless Mothers with Children , Stephanie Dullum, Caitlyn Fussy, and Cierra Jacobson

Interventions for Adults with Rheumatoid Arthritis to Increase Quality of Life and Motivation in Activities of Daily Living and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living: A Critically Appraised Topic , Erin Ferebee, Makenzie Kroupa, and Makayla Tucker

Intervention Strategies to Combat the Impacts of COVID-19 on Adolescents Mental Health: A Critically Appraised Topic , Rylie Garner, Lauryne Griego, Kailey Squier, and Jamie Steinhoff

Occupational Therapy in Palliative Care: Incorporating Meaningful Occupations and Education Programs for Occupational Therapists , Emily Geissler, Mariah Herring, and Katya Kivi

Efficacy of Educational Programs for Homeless Adults with Mental Illness , Madison Herbeck, Samantha Proctor, and Bailee Scheer

Critically Appraised Topic: The Use of Occupation-Based Sensory Intervention and Environmental Modification with School-Aged Children who have Experienced Trauma , Josie Huot, Abigail Kasper, Erin Siebenaler, and Jessica Wetzel

Effectiveness of Early Intervention Programs Addressing Mental Health Issues Caused by Long-Haul COVID-19 in Older Adults , Grace Kleinvachter, Lauren Fischer, and Kelsey Rajewsky

Effective Occupational Therapy Interventions for Reducing Parental Stress in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit , Ann Landreville, Annah Greenmyer, and MaKayla Murden

Interventions Addressing Social and Leisure Participation for Adults with Musculoskeletal Chronic Pain , Kady Locke, Emily Ray, and Josie Sylte

Effectiveness of Executive Functioning Interventions Among Homeless Elementary Aged Students , Julia Warmack, Abby Jessen, and Taylor Koopmeiners

Critically Appraised Topics from 2021 2021

Impact of Stress Management Strategies and Intervention on the Mental Health of Farmers: A Critically Appraised Topic , Logan Anderson, Zach Gascho, Nicole Gentry, and Ashley Vannelli

Integrating Assistive Technology into Outpatient Rehabilitation Programs to Increase Independent Living in Older Adults: A Critically Appraised Topic (CAT) , Josie Anhorn, Kenadee Eyre, and Tiana Griffith

Post-Breast Cancer Related Lymphedema Interventions and Their Relationship to Social Involvement and Quality of Life for Middle-Aged Women , Abby Bauman, Jenna Holm, and Sarah Zuelzke

Identifying Occupational Therapy’s Role in the Interprofessional Team for Combating Barriers to Correct Medication Adherence for Older Adults , Megan Berginski, Bryce Graves, and Christopher Hernandez

Critically Appraised Topic Paper: What is Motor Learning Theory? How Can It Be Implemented into Occupational Therapy Interventions for Individuals with Cerebrovascular Accidents? , Allyson Bourque, Alison O'Sadnick, Alexis Skogen, and Callie Vold

The Use of Sensory Processing Interventions to Improve Academics and Social Participation for Adolescents with Trauma , Michayla Burckhard, Austin Ellis, and Michael Helgeson

Evidence for the Use of Health Promotion Programs in Schools , Anna Burggraf, Kathryn College, and Taylor White

Critically Appraised Topic: The Use of Interprofessional Practice in Occupational Therapy , Rachel Cheatley, Jaecy Giegerich, and Paige Mann

Impact of Social Skills Groups on School Aged Children with Emotional Disturbance , Stephanie Coauette, Kaitlyn Ekre, and Benjamin Stagg

Utilizing a Community-Based CORE Approach to Foster Occupational Engagement in Individuals with Mental Health Conditions within Rural Communities , Anne Domanus, Melanie Martinez, and Sheena Miller

The Effectiveness of Intervention Facilitating Return to Work Through Improving Cognition for Those with Mild Traumatic Brain Injury , Madison Ertelt, Abbey Marinucci, and Jaden Pikarski

Occupation-Based Intervention with Evaluation of the Home Environment for Older Adults in a Long-Term Care Facility , Teo Faulkner, Autumn Hopkin, and Anna Logan

Effectiveness of Kind Behavior Promotion in Bullying Prevention Among School-Aged Adolescents , Isabell Fetsch, Megan Fuka, and Lexi Zahn

Prevention of Falls in Adults Older than 60 Years through Therapeutic Riding: A Critically Appraised Topic , Isabella Johannes, Dominique Menard, and Alicia Young

Interventions That Reduce Anxiety and Depression to Support Mediation of Lifestyle Balance in Middle School Students , Briana M. Kent, Aleksander R. Kohn, and Cammy C. Robertson

Evidence for Planning as an Intervention Approach for Adults Transitioning Into Retirement , Emily Knust, Olivia Myers, and Bridget Reuss

Best Interventions for Working Adults Experiencing Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain , Hailey Koep, Samantha Larson, and Michelle McNamee

Efficacy of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy on Adults Experiencing Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain , Emma Lehman, Abbigail Smith, and Krista Weiland

Critically Appraised Topics from 2020 2020

Critically Appraised Topic: Evidence for the Effectiveness of Implementing Home Modifications to Age in Place , Feyi Adewoye, Michaela Gerving, and Ashley Osbjornson

Fostering Improvement in Occupational Performance Through Environment Modification in Skilled Nursing Facilities , Grant Baker, Erin Grensteiner, and Rachel Lindemann

Aging in Place: Causes and Importance of Fall Prevention Education , Molly Banks, Danielle Halstead, and Mariah LeRoux

Occupational Therapy Lymphedema Management and Its Relationship to Quality of Life , Jessica Blackman, Marissa Dreiling, and Ashley Mutziger

Critically Appraised Topic: Evidence for Mindfulness Therapies for Veterans with PTSD , Hayley Blom, Julie Juracich, and Sydnie Merriman

The Use of Sensory Integration to Mitigate the Traumatic Environment of the NICU: A Critically Appraised Topic (CAT) , Heather Bowman, Audrey Soulek, and Abby Werkmeister

Intervention Strategies for Older Adults in Rural Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNF) , Mackenzie Brokaw, Hallie Longtin, and Sarah Schumacher

Evidence of Occupation-Based Interventions for Acute Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy Symptoms: A Critically Appraised Topic , Stacy Buschette, Jacob Kullot, and Allison McGauvran

Preserving Shoulder Integrity for Pediatric Wheelchair Users , Nora Carlson, Miranda Jensen, and Katelyn McLellan

Occupational Therapy Interventions for People with Type 2 Diabetes in Rural Communities , Katherine Christopherson, Meghan Janssen, and Nicole Merchlewicz

Effectiveness of Complete Decongestive Therapy (CDT) as a Lifestyle Management Intervention for Adults with Secondary Lymphedema. , Hannah Curlett, Alexia Gallagher, and Amy Shaver

Occupational therapy intervention approaches for successful employment outcomes for individuals with an intellectual disability , Kaitlyne Dittberner, Heidi Janssen, and Shivangi Patel

Occupation-Based Education for Fall Prevention in Community-Dwelling Older Adults: A Critically Appraised Topic Paper , McKenzie Dye, Samantha Hudson, and Therese Pettersen

Assistive Technology and In-Home Use for Individuals with Tetraplegia , Benjamin Germolus, AshleyMarie Hirdler, and McKenzie Peterson

Supporting Adults with Chronic Pain Through the Use of a Non-opioid Pain Management Program , Chloe Haas, Richard Seaman, and Jaslyn Seeley

Critically Appraised Topic: Hippotherapy Intervention for School Age Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders , Jedekiah May, Delanie Vitosh, and Karleen VonKrosigk

The Use of Bottom-Up, Sensory-Based Approaches for Adolescents with Complex Trauma , Dina Nickoson, Rebecca Rimel, and Cassie Madsen

Effectiveness of Self-Management Programs to Reduce Occupational Deprivation in Older Adults , Sophia Schutt and Kristin Thompson

Critically Appraised Topic: Impact of Occupation-Based Interventions on Older Adults in Skilled Nursing Facilities Experiencing Occupational Deprivation , Kassandra Severson, Kaitlynn Stearns, and Tyler Stecher

Using Meaningful Leisure Activities in OT to Decrease Occupational Deprivation in Older Adults , Alicia Zinger and Ellie Roche

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Hot Topics in OT (2022)

• Post date --> January 2, 2022

We’re living in conflicted times as OTs. On one hand, we’re having what some would call a moment .

In fact, I’d call it more than a moment! 

Based on the most influential OT research coming out, we are seeing that many of our core principles are, in fact, evidence-backed, financially viable, and improving the lives of our patients.

That’s why writing about occupational therapy trends had me giddy at times; I found myself SO excited for what is ahead in our profession, and how we can use the latest findings to level-up our care for our patients. 

But, at the same time, we are in an era of major fluctuations and disruptions. The pandemic has brought new challenges and underscored inequities we have long struggled with. 

Amidst the swirl of uncertainty, I have felt particularly anchored by the AOTA 2025 Vision. I have found it to be a hopeful picture of where we are headed—and decided to group our trends for 2022 according to its pillars.

Hot topics are evidence-backed (at least they are in my world!).

I also want to preface things by noting that this article is covering hot topics, according to the evidence . 

This is a list of my personal reflections, based on reading the 100 most influential research articles from the past five years and discussing them as a community within the OT Potential Club and on the OT Potential Podcast . 

Without further ado, let’s chat about these hot topics in OT!

1. We are becoming more effective.

According to the AOTA 2025 Vision, the first pillar of where we are headed is “effective.”

I truly believe that OT is becoming more evidence-based and more effective. 

Research continues to expand at an exponential rate. And, evidence-based practice resources are more abundant than ever. 

We are learning more about the conditions we treat—and more about what is and isn’t effective for treatment.

When I think about the trend of effectiveness in treatment, there is certainly a push to put our clients in the driver’s seat of their own care. 

As OTs, client-centered care has long been an aspiration of ours, but sometimes our old ways of doing things and old systems stand in the way. I wanted to highlight these three discussions below—as they really pushed me to reconsider how we can be even more client-centered and thereby more effective.

2. We are becoming leaders.

In the swirl of change, we’ve realized that if we want to advocate for our individual clients—we also need to be advocates at a systems level. 

I am encouraged to see OTs discovering that the problem solving and holistic thinking that makes us effective with individual clients also makes us effective leaders and advocates. 

Two voices that really inspired my thinking on this were Amy Lamb and Adam Cisroe Pearson:

3. We are becoming more collaborative.

Being more collaborative ties closely to the first two pillars—as collaboration makes us more effective with our individual clients and more effective as leaders and change makers. 

One journal article we reviewed, but didn’t get to discuss on the podcast was Occupational therapists and paramedics form a mutually beneficial alliance to reduce the pressure on hospitals . This article was such a beautiful example of trying new collaborations to create better systems. 

On the individual client level, we consistently need the push to listen to our clients before steamrolling ahead with our own ideas. I loved how the conversations with Rafi and Lauren really pushed me to consider the clients as experts in their own health—and to take the time to build a collaborative relationship with them.

4. We are becoming more accessible.

For these last two trends/pillars, I would say that we are just on the beginning of the growth curve. 

Part of our goal as occupational therapists is to be accessible to those who need our services. 

But, the reality is that there are SO MANY clients who would benefit from our services—who we remain inaccessible to. This may be because of reimbursement, the inconvenience of seeing a therapist, but in some cases it is simply lack of awareness of our offerings. 

There are many areas where we are poised to help but are simply missing the mark. This issue came up again and and again on the podcast. Below you will see areas where I believe we need to continue to become more accessible.

5. We are becoming more equitable, inclusive, and diverse.

We are still in the early stages of creating a profession that is more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive. 

If we look closely at this issue we are confronted with the reality that the health care we provide to different populations varies based on factors like race. 

We are also confronted with the fact that our profession does not reflect the demographics of the people we serve. Our profession is missing needed voices—and is therefore slanted towards particular points of view. 

The three episodes below informed my thinking on this topic, and helped paint a vision of what progress looks like this area.

Closing thoughts

As I reflect on these trends, I feel convicted in the many areas that our profession needs to grow and change. 

But, I feel hopeful about where we are going. Particularly when I reflect on the amazing individuals that make up our OT community. 

In a year of tough change and uncertainty, the people I’ve been honored to speak to about our profession have inspired and pushed me. Here’s to more growth and learning in 2022!

Looking for an easy and fun way to stay on top of future OT research trends?

One reply on “hot topics in ot (2022)”.

Your closing thoughts really hit the elephant in the room! "… lasting change takes time". We are so used to getting what we want instantly. Active collaboration with patients in letting them problem solve with the base that you’ve gained their trust and showing that you actually care…is an amazing combo!

But planting seeds often gets overlooked… Thanks for a great article!

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Effectiveness of paediatric occupational therapy for children with disabilities: A systematic review

1 Cerebral Palsy Alliance, Discipline of Child and Adolescent Health, The University of Sydney, Camperdown North South Wales, Australia

Associated Data

Introduction.

Paediatric occupational therapy seeks to improve children's engagement and participation in life roles. A wide variety of intervention approaches exist. Our aim was to summarise the best‐available intervention evidence for children with disabilities, to assist families and therapists choose effective care.

We conducted a systematic review (SR) using the Cochrane methodology, and reported findings according to PRISMA. CINAHL, Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, OTSeeker, PEDro, PsycINFO were searched. Two independent reviewers: (i) determined whether studies met inclusion: SR or randomised controlled trial (RCT); an occupational therapy intervention for children with a disability; (ii) categorised interventions based on name, core components and diagnostic population; (iii) rated quality of evidence and determined the strength of recommendation using GRADE criteria; and (iv) made recommendations using the Evidence Alert Traffic Light System.

129 articles met inclusion ( n  = 75 (58%) SRs; n  = 54 (42%)) RCTs, measuring the effectiveness of 52 interventions, across 22 diagnoses, enabling analysis of 135 intervention indications. Thirty percent of the indications assessed ( n  = 40/135) were graded ‘do it’ (Green Go); 56% (75/135) ‘probably do it’ (Yellow Measure); 10% ( n  = 14/135) ‘probably don't do it’ (Yellow Measure); and 4% ( n  = 6/135) ‘don't do it’ (Red Stop). Green lights were: Behavioural Interventions; Bimanual; Coaching; Cognitive Cog‐Fun & CAPS; CO‐OP; CIMT; CIMT plus Bimanual; Context‐Focused; Ditto; Early Intervention (ABA, Developmental Care); Family Centred Care; Feeding interventions; Goal Directed Training; Handwriting Task‐Specific Practice; Home Programs; Joint Attention; Mental Health Interventions; occupational therapy after toxin; Kinesiotape; Pain Management; Parent Education; PECS; Positioning; Pressure Care; Social Skills Training; Treadmill Training and Weight Loss ‘Mighty Moves’.

Evidence supports 40 intervention indications, with the greatest number at the activities‐level of the International Classification of Function. Yellow light interventions should be accompanied by a sensitive outcome measure to monitor progress and red light interventions could be discontinued because effective alternatives existed.

Occupational therapy intervention for children promotes engagement and participation in children's daily life roles (Mandich & Rodger, 2006 ). Children's roles include, developing personal independence, becoming productive and participating in play or leisure pursuits (Roger et al .). Inability to participate because of disease, disability or skill deficits, can cause marginalisation, social isolation and lowered self‐esteem (Mandich & Rodger, 2006 ). Occupational therapists select interventions for children based upon an analysis of the child's performance of daily life roles, how their performance is affected by their disability, and how their environment supports or constrains their performance (Mandich & Rodger, 2006 ).

The practices of paediatric occupational therapists have evolved and changed based on research and theory (Rodger, Brown & Brown, 2005 ), such as family centred care and the World Health Organisation's (WHO) International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF; World Health Organisation, 2001 ). These frameworks have led many occupational therapists to move away from impairment‐based interventions at the body structures and functions level aimed at remediating the child's deficits (known as ‘bottom‐up’ interventions), and instead to focus on improving functional activity performance and participation (‘top‐down’ interventions) (Weinstock‐Zlotnick & Hinojosa, 2004 ), as well as partnering with parents to deliver therapy embedded within daily life.

Clinicians will always have different expertise and preferences, but there are financial and ethical ramifications of delivering interventions. Ensuring the latest research findings are easily accessible to families and clinicians is vital. Occupational therapists positively embrace evidence‐based practice, but on the ground, implementation can lag (Flores‐Mateo & Argimon, 2007 ; Upton, Stephens, Williams & Scurlock‐Evans, 2014 ). Systematic reviews (SR) indicate that the translation of the latest evidence into routine clinical care lags 10–20 years in all countries and specialities ( Flores‐Mateo & Argimon ), which for paediatric patients is an entire childhood. Multiple paediatric occupational therapy interventions exist to address children's specific goals. In partnership with parents, it is the therapist's role to choose and tailor the intervention choices to match the child and parent's goals, preferences and potential for improvement based upon their diagnosis. Staying up‐to‐date is time‐consuming. Furthermore, appraising evidence and up skilling in new interventions requires reallocation of time and resources.

The aim of this paper is to systematically describe current intervention options available to paediatric occupational therapists across different child diagnostic populations, rating the quality and recommendations for use of each intervention, using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) system (Guyatt et al ., 2008 ) and the Evidence Alert Traffic Light System (Novak & McIntyre, 2010 ). The purpose of reviewing and rating the entire evidence‐base is to provide a ‘one‐stop’ access guide for clinicians and policy‐makers, allow for the easy comparison of interventions, encourage the uptake of evidence‐based interventions, to confer better outcomes for children. We sought to answer the following ‘PICOs’ question: What is the effectiveness of occupational therapy intervention for children with disabilities? P opulation = children with a disability (including arthrogyposis OR attention deficit hyperactivity disorder OR autism spectrum disorder OR behaviour disorders OR brachial plexus OR brain injury OR burns OR cerebral palsy OR cancer OR chronic pain OR developmental coordination disorder OR developmental disability OR down syndrome OR fetal alcohol spectrum disorder OR learning disability OR mental health OR muscle diseases; OR intellectual disability OR obesity OR preterm infants OR physical disability OR rheumatoid arthritis OR spina bifida); I ntervention = occupational therapy (including all specific named occupational therapy techniques); C omparison = none specified; O utcome = all outcomes accepted; and S tudy Design = SR OR randomised controlled trials (RCTs).

Study design

A SR of reviews was conducted, to provide an overview of the best available evidence. RCTs not included within the SRs were also appraised.

Search strategy

This review was carried out according to the Cochrane Collaboration methodology (Higgins & Green, 2011 ), incorporating the recommended quality features for conducting SRs of reviews (Smith, Devane, Begley & Clarke, 2011 ), and is reported according to the PRISMA statement (Moher, Liberati, Tetzlaff & Altman, 2010 ). Relevant articles were identified by searching: CINAHL (1983–2016); Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews ( http://www.cochrane.org ); Database of Reviews of Effectiveness (DARE); EMBASE (1980–2016); ERIC; Google Scholar; MEDLINE (1956–2014); OTSeeker ( http://www.otseeker.com ); and PsycINFO (1935–2016). Searches were supplemented by hand searching and retrieval of any additional articles meeting eligibility criteria that were cited in reference lists. The search of all published studies was performed in March 2014 and updated in August 2018. Interventions and keywords for investigation were identified using the contributing authors’ knowledge.

Inclusion criteria

Published studies fulfilling the following criteria were included: (i) Type of study: All SRs and RCTs meeting inclusion criteria were appraised. SRs were preferentially sought since they provide a summary of large bodies of evidence and help to explain differences amongst studies. Plus, SRs limit bias. We also included RCTs not included within the SRs, because they are the gold standard design for measuring the effectiveness of interventions. Lower levels of evidence were only included if: the SR reviewed lower levels of evidence; (ii) Types of interventions: Studies that involved the provision of any type of occupational therapy intervention; and (iii) Types of participants: Studies that explicitly involved humans in which 100% of the participants were children of any childhood disability diagnosis.

Exclusion criteria

(i) Studies about typically developing children or adults; (ii) diagnostic studies OR prognostic studies OR about outcome measure psychometrics OR about theoretical frameworks NOT intervention; (iii) interventions that primarily fall under the skillset of another profession, for example pharmacotherapies, psychotherapy, speech therapies, etc. (iv) a second publication of the same study (Note: RCTs that met inclusion criteria but were also cited within included SRs, were treated as duplicates and not reported on twice); (v) studies were unpublished or non‐peer reviewed; and (vi) full‐text was not available in English.

Data abstraction

A data abstraction form was devised based on the Cochrane's recommendations (Higgins & Green, 2011 ). Abstracts identified from searches were screened by two independent raters. Both independent raters reviewed full‐text versions of the articles and articles were retained if they met inclusion criteria. Agreement on inclusion and exclusion assignment was unanimous. Data extracted from included studies comprised: authors and date of study; type of intervention (if named), core components and diagnostic population; who delivered the intervention; location of where the intervention was carried out; intensity of the intervention; study design and original authors’ conclusions about efficacy across study outcomes (Table  S1 ). In addition, based on intervention description and ICF definitions, reviewers assigned an ICF domain to each intervention outcome sought by study authors (World Health Organisation, 2001 ). Where multiple SRs or RCTs existed, we noted when the older research was superseded by newer evidence. Interventions with the same name and/or similar core components, and that were administered to the same diagnostic populations, were grouped together. All data required to answer the study questions were published within the papers, so no contact with authors was necessary. All the supporting data are included with Table  S1 .

Quality of the evidence

Quality ratings were assigned by two independent raters for each publication using GRADE (Guyatt et al ., 2008 ), which is endorsed by the World Health Organization. Within GRADE randomised trials are initially rated high, observational studies low; and other levels of evidence very low. However, high quality evidence is downgraded if methodological flaws exist, and low quality evidence is upgraded when high rigor and large effect sizes exist ( Guyatt et al . ). Ultimately, a high score indicates ‘further research is unlikely to change our confidence in the estimate of effect’; moderate scores indicate ‘further research is likely to have an important impact on our confidence in the estimate of effect and may change the estimate’; low scores indicate ‘further research is very likely to have an important impact on our confidence in the estimate of effect and is likely to change the estimate’; and very low scores indicate ‘any estimate of effect is very uncertain’ ( Guyatt et al . ).

Strength of recommendation

Unlike SR frameworks, the GRADE framework does not solely examine effect size to determine efficacy of intervention. Instead, effect size makes up just one component when weighing up the benefits and harms of each intervention. In line with the GRADE framework, the following factors were considered by both independent raters when evaluating the body of evidence for the intervention and arriving at a strength of recommendation for each diagnostic group: (i) methodological quality regarding likely benefits vs. likely risks; (ii) inconvenience; (iii) importance of the outcome that the intervention prevents; (iv) magnitude of intervention effect (effect size); (v) precision of estimate of effect; (vi) burdens; (vii) costs; and (viii) varying clinician and family values (Guyatt et al ., 2008 ).

The Evidence Alert Traffic Light System (Novak & McIntyre, 2010 ) was then applied based on the strength of recommendations by both independent raters. The Evidence Alert Traffic Light System is a GRADE‐complementary knowledge translation tool designed to assist clinicians and families to obtain easily readable, clinically useful answers within minutes (Campbell, Novak, McIntyre & Lord, 2013 ), because the alert uses a simple, three‐level colour coding that recommends a course of action. Green signifies ‘go’ because high quality evidence indicates effectiveness; red signifies ‘stop’ because high quality evidence indicates harm or ineffectiveness; and yellow signifies ‘measure’ because insufficient evidence exists to be certain about whether the child will benefit. Yellow can be assigned in three scenarios: (i) promising evidence (weak positive), (ii) unknown effectiveness because no research exists, or (iii) evidence suggests possibly no effect (weak negative).

Ethics and data

The study did not involve contact with humans, so the need for ethical approval was waived by the Cerebral Palsy Alliance's National Health and Medical Council Human Research Ethics Committee. This SR was not registered.

3138 citations were identified using the search strategy, of which 129 articles met the inclusion criteria for review. Of the 129 included articles, 58% ( n  = 75/129) were SRs; 42% ( n  = 54/129) were RCTs. Note, more than 54 RCTs exist in the paediatric occupational therapy evidence base, but we treated any RCT that was cited within an included SR as a duplicate. Flow of information is presented in the PRISMA diagram (Fig.  1 ).

PRISMA Flow Diagram

The results are now presented using PICO question format headings.

P opulation (Participants)

Included studies were across the following childhood disability diagnoses: arthrogyposis; attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); autism spectrum disorder (ASD); behaviour disorders; brachial plexus injury; brain injury (BI); burns; cerebral palsy (CP); cancer; chronic pain; developmental coordination disorder (DCD); developmental disability (DD); Down syndrome; foetal alcohol spectrum disorder; learning disability (LD); mental health; intellectual disability (ID); obesity; preterm infants; physical disability; rheumatoid arthritis; and spina bifida. Some studies included samples from a variety of the aforementioned diagnoses. Consistent with childhood disability population incidence data, more research existed about ASD ( n  = 32/135; 24%), ADHD ( n  = 8/135; 6%), CP ( n  = 38/135; 28%) and DCD ( n  = 9/135; 7%), than other conditions.

Paediatric occupational therapy involves working with the child, the parent and the family unit: The child was the primary client for 87% ( n  = 45/52) of the interventions, i.e. therapy focussed on improving the child outcomes (e.g. an orthotic worn by the child to improve hand function), whereas the parent was the primary client for 13% ( n  = 7/52) for the interventions (e.g. parent education, aiming to improve knowledge, skills and confidence).

I nterventions

Included studies, researched the effectiveness of 52 occupational therapy intervention groups: (1) Acupuncture; (2) Assistive Devices; (3) Assistive Technology; (4) Behavioural Interventions including Applied Behavioural Analysis (ABA) and Positive Parenting Program (Triple P); (5) Bimanual Training; (6) Biofeedback; (7) Coaching; (8) Cognitive Interventions including CogFun, CogMed, (9) Cognitive Orientation to Occupational Performance (CO‐OP); (10) Conductive Education; (11) Constraint Induced Movement Therapy (CIMT); (12) CIMT &/or Bimanual; (13) Context Focused; (14) Ditto™ (hand held education & distraction device for burns patients); (15) Early Intervention, including a Developmental Approach, Neurodevelopmental Therapy (NDT) and Goals Activity and Motor Enrichment (GAME); (16) Electrical Stimulation (ES); (17) Family Centred Care; (18) Feeding Interventions; (19) Goal Directed Training, including Task Specific Training, Functional Training, Neuromotor Task Training (NTT) and Motor Imagery; (20) Handwriting Interventions; (21) Hippotherapy [Therapeutic Horse Riding]; (22) Home Programs; (23) Joint Attention; (24) Massage; (25) Meditation and/or Mindfulness; (26) Mental Health Interventions; (27) Neuro‐Developmental Therapy (NDT); (28) Occupational Therapy after BoNT; (29) Orthotics; (30) Pain Management; (31) Parent Counselling; (32) Parent Education/Parent Training; (33) Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS); (34) Play Therapy; (35) Positioning; (36) Pressure Care; (37) School Therapy; (38) Self‐Management; (39) Sensation Training; (40) Sensory Approach, including brushing, therapy balls, weighted vests, warm‐ups, sensory stimulation; (41) Sensory Integration, including sensory diets, swinging, brushing, therapy balls, weighted vests, body socks; (42) Skills Training via Mental Imagery; (43) Sleep Interventions; (44) Social Skills Training; (45) Stretching, including passive: self‐administered, therapist‐administered and device‐administered; (46) Treatment and Education of Autistic and Communication Handicapped Children (TEACCH); (47) Therapeutic Listening; (48) Treadmill Training; (49) Visual Motor Interventions; (50) Weight Loss; (51) Whole Body Vibration; and (52) Yoga.

Of the 12 included articles, authors measured the effectiveness of 52 occupational therapy interventions, across 22 diagnoses. From this, 136 intervention outcome indicators were identified, whereby an intervention, with an individual target outcome was administered to specific diagnostic groups. Insufficient data was available for analysis on one of these outcome indicators (number 74 in Table  S1 , where the SR authors found no publish data examining the effectiveness of hand orthotics in children with brain injury and therefore no recommendations could be made), (Jackman, Novak & Lannin, 2014 ) resulting in 135/136 intervention outcome indicators available for analysis.

Of the 135 intervention outcome indications: 30% ( n  = 40/135) were graded ‘do it’ (Green Go) (Arbesman, Bazyk & Nochajski, 2013 ; Bellows et al ., 2011 ; Bleyenheuft, Arnould, Brandao, Bleyenheuft & Gordon, 2015 ; Brown, Kimble, Rodger, Ware & Cuttle, 2014 ; Chang & Yu, 2014 ; Chen, Pope, Tyler & Warren, 2014c ; Chen et al ., 2014b ; Christmas, Sackley, Feltham & Cummins, 2018 ; Crompton et al ., 2007 ; Estes et al ., 2014 ; Fehlings et al ., 2010 ; Frolek Clark & Schlabach, 2013 ; Hechler et al ., 2014 ; Heinrichs, Kliem & Hahlweg, 2014 ; Hoare & Imms, 2004 ; Hoare, Imms, Carey & Wasiak, 2007 ; Hoare et al ., 2010 ; Hoy, Egan & Feder, 2011 ; Huang, Fetters, Hale & McBride, 2009 ; Inguaggiato, Sgandurra, Perazza, Guzzetta & Cioni, 2013 ; Kamps et al ., 2015 ; Kasari et al ., 2016 ; Kaya Kara et al ., 2015 ; Kurowski et al ., 2014 ; Lannin, Scheinberg & Clark, 2006 ; Lidman, Nachemson, Peny‐Dahlstrand & Himmelmann, 2015 ; Lin & Wuang, 2012 ; Madlinger‐Lewis et al ., 2014 ; Maeir et al ., 2014 ; Novak, 2014a ; Park, Maitra, Achon, Loyola & Rincón, 2014 ; Speth et al ., 2015 ; Spittle, Orton, Anderson, Boyd & Doyle, 2012 ; Spittle, Orton, Doyle & Boyd, 2007 ; Stavness, 2006 ; Stickles Goods, Ishijima, Chang & Kasari, 2013 ; Vroland‐Nordstrand, Eliasson, Jacobsson, Johansson & Krumlinde‐Sundholm, 2016 ; Zwaigenbaum et al ., 2015 ); 56% (75/135) were graded ‘probably do it’ (Yellow Measure) (Armstrong, 2012 ; Au et al ., 2014 ; Auld, Russo, Moseley & Johnston, 2014 ; Bialocerkowski, Kurlowicz, Vladusic & Grimmer, 2005 ; Bodison & Parham, 2018 ; Cameron et al ., 2017a , 2017b; Chacko et al ., 2014 ; Chantry & Dunford, 2010 ; Chen, Lee & Howard, 2014a ; Chiu, Ada & Lee, 2014 ; Cole, Harris, Eland & Mills, 1989 ; Copeland et al ., 2014 ; Dagenais et al ., 2009 ; De Vries, Beck, Stacey, Winslow & Meines, 2015 ; Duncan et al ., 2012 ; Fedewa, Davis & Ahn, 2015 ; Grynszpan, Weiss, Perez‐Diaz & Gal, 2014 ; Hahn‐Markowitz, Berger, Manor & Maeir, 2017 ; Hammond, Jones, Hill, Green & Male, 2014 ; Huang et al ., 2014 ; Jackman et al ., 2018 ; James, Ziviani, Ware & Boyd, 2015 ; Janeslätt, Kottorp & Granlund, 2014 ; Jones et al ., 2014 ; Krisanaprakornkit, Ngamjarus, Witoonchart & Piyavhatkul, 2010 ; Lannin, Novak & Cusick, 2007 ; Malow et al ., 2014 ; Maskell, Newcombe, Martin & Kimble, 2014 ; Mast et al ., 2014 ; Matute‐Llorente, González‐Agüero, Gómez‐Cabello, Vicente‐Rodríguez & Mallén, 2014 ; McLean et al ., 2017 ; Meany‐Walen, Bratton & Kottman, 2014 ; Miller‐Kuhaneck & Watling, 2018 ; Montero & Gómez‐Conesa, 2014 ; Morgan, Novak, Dale & Badawi, 2015 ; Morgan et al ., 2016a ; Morgan, Novak, Dale, Guzzetta & Badawi, 2016b ; Pfeiffer B & Arbesman, 2018 ; Polatajko & Cantin, 2010 ; Reeuwijk, van Schie, Becher & Kwakkel, 2006 ; Schaaf, Dumont, Arbesman & May‐Benson, 2018 ; Smith et al ., 2014 ; Snider, Majnemer & Darsaklis, 2010 ; Storebø et al ., 2011 ; Tatla et al ., 2013 ; Tatla, Sauve, Jarus, Virji‐Babul & Holsti, 2014 ; Vargas & Lucker, 2016 ; Westendorp et al ., 2014 ; Whalen & Case‐Smith, 2012 ; Xu, He, Mai, Yan & Chen, 2015 ; Zadnikar & Kastrin, 2011 ; Ziviani, Feeney, Rodger & Watter, 2010 ; Zwicker & Mayson, 2010 ); 10% ( n  = 14/130) were graded ‘probably don't do it’ (Yellow Measure) (Wallen & Gillies, 2006 ; Wells, Marquez & Wakely, 2018 ); and 4% ( n  = 6/135) were graded ‘don't do it’ (Red Stop) (Gringras et al ., 2014 ; Katalinic et al ., 2010 ).

The 40 green light ‘do it’ interventions indications included: (1) Behavioural Intervention using ABA for children with ASD; (2) Behavioural Intervention using Triple P for children behaviour disorders; (3) Behavioural Intervention using token economy contracts for children with a brain injury; (4) Bimanual Training for children with hemiplegic CP; (5) Coaching for parents of children at risk of disability to promote development; (6) Coaching for parents of children with ASD to promote function and behaviour; (7) CAPS cognitive intervention for children with brain injury to improve long term executive function; (8) Cog‐Fun intervention for children with attention deficit disorder to improve executive function; (9) CO‐OP for children with DCD for functional motor task performance; (10) CIMT for children with CP to improve hand function; (11) CIMT plus Bimanual for children with CP to improve hand function; (12) Context Focused intervention for children with CP for functional motor task performance; (13) Ditto hand held devices for children with burns to provide procedural distraction and self‐management education; (14) Early Intervention using ABA for children with ASD; (15) Early Intervention using Developmental Care for preterm infants; (16) Family Centred Care for children with brain injury or CP, to improve children's function; (17) Parent education feeding intervention for children with disability to improve feeding competency and growth; (18) Physiological feeding intervention for children with disability; (19) Goal Directed Training for children with CP, to improve functional task performance; (20) Goal Directed Training for children with DCD, to improve functional task performance; (21) Handwriting Task‐Specific Practice for children with DCD; (22) Home Programs for children with CP, to improve functional task performance; (23) Home Programs for children with ID, to improve functional task performance; (24) Joint Attention for children with ASD to improve social interactions; (25) Mental Health interventions for children with ASD; (26) Mental Health interventions for children with developmental delay; (27) Mental Health interventions for children with mental health disorders; (28) Occupational therapy after botulinum toxin injections for children with CP to promote hand function; (29) Kinesiotape for children with CP to improve hand function; (30) Pain Management for children with chronic pain secondary to physical disability and or chronic health conditions; (31) Parent Education using mindfulness for parents of children with ASD to reduce parental stress; (32) Parent Education using problem solving for parents of children with ASD to reduce parental stress; (33) Parent Education for children with disabilities to promote parenting confidence; (34) Parent Education for children with behaviour disorders to improve parent well‐being; (35) PECS for children with ASD to promote communication; (36) Positioning in NICU for preterm infants to promote normal movement development; (37) Pressure Care for children with CP using mattresses and cushions; (38) Social Skills Training mediated by peers for children with ASD; (39) Treadmill training for children with Down Syndrome to accelerate the onset of independent walking; (40) Weight loss using a family education and activity program called ‘Mighty Moves’ for children with obesity.

We assigned an ICF category to the primary and secondary intervention outcome of each intervention. Using the primary ICF level code, we mapped the profile of the paediatric OT evidence base to the ICF framework (Fig.  2 ). Green light effective interventions existed at the body structures and function ICF level ( n  = 14/74 indications (19%)), the activity level ( n  = 14/27 indications (52%)) and the environment level ( n  = 12/34 indications (35%)). When we compared the proportions of green light to yellow light to red light interventions by ICF levels, the activity level contained the largest number of green lights. At the activity level where there was 27 indications, green lights outweighed the number of yellow and red lights (Gree n  = 14/27; Yellow = 13/27; Red = 0/27), meaning the most common traffic code at the activity level was green, which we illustrated by green shading in Figure  2 . At the body structures and function ICF level, the most common traffic code was yellow, which we illustrated by yellow shading in Figure  2 . All the red lights within the evidence base existed at the body structures and function level. At the environmental level, the most common traffic code was also yellow, which we illustrated by yellow shading in Figure  2 . Two intervention's primary ICF code was at the participation level (Willis et al., 2010 ) and none at the personal level, indicating gaps in the occupational therapy evidence base, which we illustrated using grey shading in Figure  2 . The two participation codes were weak positive, but these were based on trials that used activity‐based interventions and assumed an upstream participation gain, which was not well‐supported.

Occupational Therapy Interventions and the International Classification of Function

C omparisons

In the included papers, consistent with conventional beliefs about it being unethical to withhold early intervention from children, rarely did researchers design studies where the control group received no intervention. In most studies, the controlled comparison was usual care. Some researchers carried out short duration studies using a wait‐list control design, where the control group received the experimental intervention after study completion.

CIMT for children with CP, was the only intervention comprehensively and empirically compared to other intervention options, using head‐to‐head RCT comparisons identified in our search strategy. CIMT was: (i) compared head‐to‐head with Bimanual Training showing no difference between the approaches (Sakzewski et al ., 2015 ; Tervahauta, Girolami & Øberg, 2017 ); and (ii) combined with Bimanual Training and/or Botulinum toxin A, showing no additive benefits occurred from a combined intervention approach (Hoare et al ., 2013 ). These researcher's concluded ‘intensity’ of practice was the key ingredient of these effective CP approaches ( Sakzewski et al . ; Tervahauta et al ., 2017 ).

A meta‐analysis of intervention options for children with DCD compared the relative effect of DCD motor interventions by calculating and comparing effect sizes (Smits‐Engelsman et al ., 2013 ). The authors calculated that ‘top‐down’ approaches (effect size = 0.89) were more effective than ‘bottom‐up’ approaches (effect size = 0.12).

To assist with comparative clinical decision‐making across the paediatric occupational therapy evidence base, we created bubble charts. We mapped the 52 identified paediatric occupational therapy interventions, across 22 diagnoses, spanning 135 intervention indications, which sought to provide analogous outcomes, by diagnosis, into separate bubbles. In the bubble charts, the size of the bubble indicated the volume of published evidence, which was calculated by counting the number of published studies on the topic. The location of the bubble on the y ‐axis of the graph corresponded to the GRADE system rating. The colour of the bubble denoted the Traffic Light Evidence Alert System rating (Fig.  3 ).

Bubble Charts Comparing the Effectiveness of Different Occupational Therapy Indications for Different Diagnoses

We set out to systematically summarise the current intervention options available to paediatric occupational therapists across different childhood disability populations. We found 40 interventions that received a ‘strong’ recommendation for use, indicating a high‐quality evidence base with more benefits than harms. These ‘green light’ interventions included: Behavioural Interventions (including ABA, Triple P and Token Economies); Bimanual; Coaching; Cognitive Cog‐Fun and CAPS; CO‐OP; CIMT; CIMT plus Bimanual; Context‐Focused; Ditto; Early Intervention (including ABA and Developmental Care); Family Centred Care; Feeding interventions (including coaching and physiologic); Goal Directed Training; Handwriting Task‐Specific Practice; Home Programs; Joint Attention; Mental Health Interventions; occupational therapy after BoNT; Kinesiotape; Pain Management; Parent Education; PECS; Positioning in NICU; Pressure Care; Social Skills Training Peer Mediated; Treadmill training and Weight loss ‘Mighty Moves’.

The paediatric occupational therapy evidence base is under immense growth and expansion. The SRs and trials greater than 10 years old were predominantly about CP with one study about Brachial Plexus and DD. Almost always these older studies showed that the ‘bottom‐up’ interventions were ineffective with no difference between the experimental and control groups.

Clinical Implications

Occupational therapists working with children and their parents have several evidence based interventions to choose from. The strength of this paper is that it provides a systematic, clear and concise summary of all the available interventions by diagnosis with an easy to interpret summary of efficacy. There are some important learnings:

A. Parent partnership within occupational therapist intervention is effective and worthwhile

Occupational Therapists embrace the principles of family centred care (Hanna & Rodger, 2002 ) where the parent is the decision‐maker and the expert in knowing their child and the therapist is a technical resource to the family. We found that 13% of paediatric occupational therapy interventions are directed at the parent, so parents can deliver intervention at home within daily parenting. Evidence suggests that parent‐delivered intervention is equally effective to therapist‐delivered intervention (Baker et al ., 2012 ), which is not surprising given parent's knowledge of their children's preferences and engagement style, and the volume of caregiving they carryout (Smith, Cheater & Bekker, 2015 ). In the diagnoses studied (ADHD, ASD, At risk, Behavioural Disorders, BI, CP, DD, LD, obesity), it was very clear that parents respond well to parent education and training (Antonini et al ., 2014 ; Barlow, Smailagic, Huband, Roloff & Bennett, 2012 ; Case‐Smith & Arbesman, 2008 ; Dykens, Fisher, Taylor, Lambert & Miodrag, 2014 ; Feinberg et al ., 2014 ; Hanna & Rodger, 2002 ; Howe & Wang, 2013 ; Kuhaneck, Madonna, Novak & Pearson, 2015 ; Lawler, Taylor & Shields, 2013 ; Tanner, Hand, O'toole & Lane, 2015 ; Zwi, Jones, Thorgaard, York & Dennis, 2011 ), consistent with family centred philosophy about parents’ aspirations of parenting well, to help their children (Hanna & Rodger, 2002 ). Moreover, parents and children carry out intervention effectively at home, and therefore home programs (Novak & Berry, 2014b ; Novak et al ., 2013 ; Sakzewski, Ziviani & Boyd, 2013 ; Sakzewski et al ., 2015 ; Wuang, Ho & Su, 2013 ) and self‐management programs (Lindsay, Kingsnorth, Mcdougall & Keating, 2014 ; Moola, Faulkner, White & Kirsh, 2014 ) are an effective method for increasing the intensity of therapy.

When carrying out parent education, literature tells us that parents need and want: knowledge of the condition and intervention options; help accessing support services; and advice about coping strategies, via a collaborative partnership (Smith et al ., 2015 ). Even though family centred practice has existed since the 1990s, parents still experience some resistance to their input from health professionals ( Smith et al . ). Unclear expectations about roles further elevate parental stress (Coyne, 2015 ). Occupational therapists therefore need to be mindful of parent's experiences and aim to clearly communicate information and coach parents to guide care, to optimise family outcomes ( Coyne ).

B. Activities‐based, ‘top‐down’ interventions deliver bigger gains

Numerous occupational therapy interventions exist, aiming to improve motor, behavioural and functional outcomes (Fig.  3 ), affording a lot of choice to families and clinicians. The greatest number of effective green light interventions was at the activity level of the ICF, indicating that daily life skills training using a ‘top‐down’ approach is a strength of the occupational therapy profession. Examples include: Bimanual Training; CIMT; CO‐OP; GAME; Goal‐Directed Training; Handwriting Task Training; Home Programs using Goal‐Directed Training; Social Skills Training; and Task Training. Consistent with current knowledge about the conditions for inducing neuroplasticity (Kleim & Jones, 2008 ), the green light, ‘top‐down’, activity level interventions all have the following key ingredients in common: (i) begin with the child's goal, to optimise motivation and saliency of practice; (ii) practice of real‐life activities in natural environments to optimise the child's learning and the variability of the practice; (iii) intense repetitions to activate plasticity, including home‐based practice; and (iv) scaffolded practice to the ‘just right challenge’ to enable success under self‐generated problem‐solving conditions, to optimise enjoyment.

In contrast, some of the most established paediatric occupational therapy interventions NDT/Bobath and SI were originally developed as ‘bottom‐up’ interventions. NDT/Bobath and SI originated in an era of medicine when intervention aimed to remediate the child's body structural deficits, thinking function would emerge (Rodger et al ., 2005 ; Rodger et al ., 2006). However, over time the NDT/Bobath and SI approaches have been broadened to also accommodate use of ‘top‐down’ functional training approaches. Fidelity to the original NDT/Bobath and SI approach therefore varies greatly (Mayston, 2016 ), and as such, a leading Bobath expert has recently stated that Bobath ‘no longer stands for a valid universal therapy approach’ (Mayston, 2016 , p. 994). This means that interpreting the meaning of historical NDT/Bobath and SI research evidence about efficacy within the context of contemporaneous clinical practice is challenging. The efficacy of both NDT/Bobath and SI have been critiqued within SRs (Boyd & Hays, 2001 ; Brown & Burns, 2001 ; Case‐Smith & Arbesman, 2008 ; Case‐Smith, Clark & Schlabach, 2013 ; Case‐Smith, Weaver & Fristad, 2015 ; Lang et al ., 2012 ; May‐Benson & Koomar, 2010 ; Novak et al ., 2013 ; Sakzewski, Ziviani & Boyd, 2009 ; Sakzewski et al ., 2013 ; Steultjens et al ., 2004 ; Watling & Hauer, 2015 ; Weaver, 2015 ) and these data mostly relate to older trials. SR authors have concluded that NDT/Bobath and SI rarely confer motor gains superior to no intervention, but the RCTs contain so many methodological flaws that recommendations for use or discontinuation of use within practice cannot be made with certainty (Boyd & Hays, 2001 ; Brown & Burns, 2001 ; Case‐Smith & Arbesman, 2008 ; Case‐Smith et al ., 2013 ; Case‐Smith et al ., 2014; Lang et al ., 2012 ; May‐Benson & Koomar, 2010 ; Novak et al ., 2013 ; Sakzewski et al ., 2009 , 2013 ; Steultjens et al ., 2004 ; Watling & Hauer, 2015 ; Weaver, 2015 ). Some therapists have interpreted the uncertainty of the NDT/Bobath and SI systematic evidence as justification of continuance, whereas others in the profession recommend discontinuance because of the growing body of ‘top‐down’ evidence that offer effective alternatives (Rodger et al ., 2006). A Bobath expert has recommended that the common‐sense way forward for the profession is to choose interventions that promote activity and participation outcomes (Mayston, 2016 ) and to use consistent language to describe intervention options. For example, describing interventions by clear uniform terminology (i.e. ‘splitting’) might be more helpful than ‘clumping’ interventions into expanded NDT/Bobath umbrella terms.

We analysed the breakdown of the effectiveness of motor interventions, above and below the worth it line (Fig.  3 ), in terms of ‘bottom‐up’ vs. ‘top‐down’, and a trend favouring ‘top‐down’ emerged. Of the seven motor intervention indications below the ‘worth it line’, coded on GRADE as weak negative or strong negative (red), 7/7 (100%) were ‘bottom‐up’ approaches. Of the 22 motor intervention indications above the ‘worth it line’ eight were green and 14 were yellow: 8/8 (100%) green indications (strong positive) were ‘top‐down’. A similar trend emerged in the comparative effectiveness analysis of functional interventions. Of the seven functional intervention indications above the ‘worth it line’, coded on GRADE as strong positive (green), 4/4 (100%) were ‘top‐down’. There were a small number of studies using SI and the sensory approach to improve function coded on GRADE as weak positive, but the studies had a high risk of bias and SR authors recommended interpreting the positive results with caution (Case‐Smith et al ., 2014; Case‐Smith et al ., 2015 ; Watling & Hauer, 2015 ).

Research Implications

The following areas of the evidence‐base would benefit from more research: (i) Parent Education : None of the parent education approaches were ineffective. Thus, more research is worthwhile exploring parent's preferred learning styles and levels of support required to manage the stress of raising a child with a disability. There are potential financial gains to the health system by thoroughly understanding effective parent interventions, because parent‐delivered intervention is equally effective and less expensive; (ii) Head‐to‐head comparisons : Head‐to‐head comparisons of different interventions aiming to achieve the same outcomes, in well‐controlled trials with cost‐effectiveness data, would enable determinations about best practice to be made from good evidence, and thus inform parent and policy‐maker's decision‐making; (iii) ‘Dose’ comparison studies : ‘Dose’ comparison studies using well controlled intensity trials would enable occupational therapists to better inform parents about ‘how much’ intervention is enough; and (iv) Participation Interventions : There is a clear gap in the evidence‐base about interventions that directly improve a child's participation in life and should be the focus of future RCTs and other rigorous methodologies. CIMT, Bimanual and Home Program occupational therapy interventions were measured to confirm whether or not they conferred participation gains, and the clinical trials demonstrated no between group differences (Adair, Ullenhag, Keen, Granlund & Imms, 2015 ). These results indicate that there is a clear need to develop interventions that specifically target participation, rather than anticipating activities‐based interventions will confer upstream participation gains. Changes in participation are multifactorial and involve individual factors, contextual factors, the nature of the participation activity and the environment in which the activity is being performed (Imms et al ., 2017 ). Any new participation intervention invented, will need to address all of these factors to be successful.

Limitations

Our review has several limitations. First, we only included SRs and RCTs because we aimed to analyse best‐available evidence, but means some intervention approaches will have been excluded and overlooked because no trials or reviews existed. Second, this was an analysis of secondary data sources and reporting bias and publication bias may be in operation, because positive findings have a higher chance of being published. This evidence may exist suggesting some interventions are ineffective which we were unable to review. Third, our search terms included ‘occupational therapy’ and thus will have excluded other effective interventions used by occupational therapists, but not invented or published by occupational therapists e.g. ‘Triple P’ for children with CP. Fourth, our paper was designed to provide an overview for clinicians indicating which interventions are effective, however, it does not provide enough detail about any one intervention to guide administration or training in any specific intervention. Clinicians need to refer directly to the cited article and more widely in the published literature for this information. Our findings must be interpreted within the context of our study limitations.

Conclusions

This review provides a high‐level summary of effective paediatric occupational therapy interventions. Thirty‐nine effective intervention indications exist, offering both families and clinicians many choices to match their preferences and expertise. The paediatric occupational therapy evidence base suggests a growing trend towards activities‐level, ‘top‐down’ approaches and parent education, over and above ‘bottom‐up’ approaches. There are important ethical implications of translating these effective evidence‐based occupational therapy intervention options into clinical practice to give children the best chance at achieving their goals.

Key points for occupational therapy

• Collaboration with parents is effective and worthwhile.
• Activities‐based, top‐down interventions confer larger clinical gains, than bottom‐up approaches, when aiming to improve a child's function.

All authors declare that this is original work and that they meet the criteria for authorship. Iona Novak designed the study, extracted the data, conducted the analyses and wrote the manuscript. Ingrid Honan conducted the analyses and wrote the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

The study was unfunded and there are no competing financial disclosures.

Conflict of interest

The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Supporting information

Table S1. Main results table.

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61 Best Occupational Therapy Research Topics

Occupational therapists help people of all ages to recover and improve their physical, sensory, and cognitive activities. More than half of occupational therapists work in hospitals, while others work in nursing homes, educational facilities, and homes. But what does it take to be an occupational therapist? It would be best to study occupational therapy primarily up to the master’s level . Students are assigned projects as part of their course work through the studies. That is why we have selected the best occupational therapy research topics for your next assignment.

In occupational therapy, students always have trouble handling research projects. If you study occupational therapy and feel like you need help selecting a research topic, do not hesitate to contact us. Our writers go the extra mile and assist you in writing a top-notch research paper.

Do You Need Help in Selecting an Occupational Therapy Research Topic?

When you search “occupational therapy research topics, “it is not easy to trust platforms that offer academic consultation services. However, we offer expert writing services and professional research tips to keep your data confidential when you order from us.

Need help doing your assignment?

Often, occupational therapy students have a large workload which prevents them from doing every task on time. And when you have limited time, it becomes challenging to select a research topic.

We hope the tips below help you in your subsequent research:

1. Select a topic that interests you

When you select a topic that interests you, the research process becomes fun and engaging.  

2. Narrow your topic

If your topic is too broad, it loses focus. Therefore, you should narrow down your scope to cover all the relevant information on the topic.

3. Review your research guidelines

Make sure that the research topic meets the requirements. If some of the guidelines are unclear, you should consult your professor or HelpForHomework to explain . 

4. Read your class notes  and do background research

Reading your notes helps in doing background checks on a topic. Knowing more about your research topic helps you develop a compelling argument for your paper.

5. Consider your audience

You should select a topic that is understandable to your audience. The research depends on your level of education as more comprehensive reports are high in the educational spectrum. Further, by identifying your audience, you can arrange details, tone, and supporting information in an appropriate presentation . 

6. Create questions to evaluate your research topic

After finding a research topic, create questions to evaluate it. For example:

• Is the research feasible?
• How attractive is the research topic?
• What has been researched?
• What is the problem to be solved?
• What is the solution to the problem?
• How is your solution a good one?
• Who is the audience?

Qualities of an Excellent Occasional Therapy Research Topic

As we have recommended, always narrow down to a topic that interests you. After selecting a topic, you should check if it has the following qualities:

Clarity: Your occupational therapy research topic should be straightforward and understandable to your audience.

Complex: Your project topics should not be answerable by yes or no. The topic should be arguable and analytical.

Focused : Once you select a topic, check if it is narrow and focused and answer it thoroughly.

Your final research grade depends on how effective your topic selection is. It would be best if you prepared for your research early. However, if you need help, do not hesitate to contact us. But first, go through the occupational therapy research topics below and tell us what you think.

Hot Occupational Therapy Research Topics

Hot occupational therapy research topics should help you in creating a unique project. Before selecting a topic, you should examine the aspects that are preferable to you and what interests you the most. But it would be best if you did not worry as we have a list of top recommendations to save you .

• Discuss the progress made in a decade in occupational therapy for adults
• Ethics in occupational therapy
• Explain the role of occupational therapy for patients with stroke
• How do diabetic patients benefit from occupational therapy?
• How does culture affect occupational therapy?
• How is occupational therapy important in controlling dementia?
• How is occupational therapy necessary in pain management?
• Is occupational therapy truly occupational?
• Occupational therapy for breast cancer patients
• Occupational therapy in disease prevention
• Role of occupational therapy in disaster preparedness and management
• Role of occupational therapy in functional literacy
• Role of occupational therapy in the management of depression
• Role of occupational therapy in the management of eating disorders
• What is the role of occupational therapy in schools?

Good research topics for occupational therapy

An excellent occupational therapy research topic should be comprehensive and enjoyable to read. When formulating a research topic, you should ensure that you are original, specific, and concrete. We hope you find the best research topic from the list below:

• Benefits of occupational therapy for adult mental health patients
• Between bottom-up and top-down approaches, which method is effective for patients suffering from a stroke?
• Coexistence between teachers and occupational therapists in a school setting
• Discuss the stereotypes in occupational therapy practice
• Evaluate occupational therapy for patients with a brain tumor
• How can occupational therapy be used to prevent human trafficking?
• Interventions used by occupational therapists when treating spinal cord injuries
• Occupational therapy for cancer patients with metastatic disease
• Occupational therapy for inpatient
• Occupational therapy for terminally ill patients
• Occupational therapy in mental health management
• Role of occupational therapy in symptoms control
• The role of occupational therapy for prisoners
• The use of apps in occupational therapy treatment
• What are the therapeutic outcomes of occupational therapy?

Occupational therapy student research topics

It may seem challenging to select the best occupational therapy research topic, so the trick is to narrow down and select one that fascinates you. Always take your time, research a list of topics, and choose the one you can support. Here are some of the topics to consider:

• Critical historical analysis of occupational therapy
• Does occupational therapy affect politics
• Foundations of occupational therapy practice
• Impact of the gender of providing occupational therapy services
• Importance of occupational therapy in school mental health
• Leadership in occupational therapy
• Occupational therapy for children with autism
• Occupational therapy for people who have hip replacement
• Occupational therapy models for families
• Role of occupational therapy for children with sensory modulation disorder
• Role of occupational therapy in managing sleep
• Role of occupational therapy in psychiatry
• Scope of occupational therapy
• Students perception of occupational therapy
• Teacher’s perception towards occupational therapy
• The perspective of sensory integration approach in occupational therapy

Pediatric occupational therapy research topics

Pediatric occupational therapists seek to understand children’s motor skills, cognitive abilities, and social development. The therapists also check factors that may hinder children’s growth or ability to perform certain tasks at a specific age.

While studying pediatric occupational therapy, students go through a hassle in selecting a research topic. That is why HelpForHomework compiled the best 15 Pediatric occupational therapy research topics for you.

• A profile of your country pediatric occupational therapy
• Competency of a pediatric occupational therapist in the USA
• Correlation between obesity and academic achievement
• Discuss how religion and culture affect decision making in pediatric occupational therapy
• Effects of COVID-19 to outpatient occupational therapy
• How effective are the weighted vests in pediatric occupational therapy?
• How effective is the standing frame to children with cerebral palsy?
• Policies governing pediatric occupational therapy
• Risk factors correlating with musculoskeletal complaints from children
• The role of pediatric occupational therapy to children with osteosarcoma
• Treatment methods of lower limb spasticity in children with cerebral palsy
• Treatment of neonatal jaundice
• Use of video occupational therapy modeling for children
• What is the role of pediatric occupational therapy?
• What is your perspective on occupational-based pediatric therapy?

Need Help With Occupational Therapy Research?

Now that you have an occupational therapy research topic, do you need help in writing? Our support department is on standby to help you get top-quality expert papers. Further, if you need more clarification on project topics, do not hesitate to contact us. We assure you of personalized and professional help whenever you consult us for your assignments. Also check out Physical Therapy Research Topics .

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Top 10 priorities for occupational therapy research in the UK

Setting the research agenda for occupational therapy and addressing the unanswered questions that matter most to people accessing and delivering occupational therapy services.

The top 10 priorities for occupational therapy research in the UK have now been identified. Read the full report here

• How does occupational therapy make a difference and have impact on everyday lives?
• How can occupational therapists ensure that person-centred practice is central to how they work?
• How can occupational therapists work more effectively with the family and carers of people who access services?
• What are the long-term benefits of occupational therapy intervention?
• What are the benefits or impact of occupational therapy in primary care settings? (e.g. services delivered by your local general practice surgery, community pharmacy, dental and optometry (eye health) services)
• How can occupational therapy services be more inclusive of both mental and physical health?
• What is the role of occupational therapy in supporting self-management? (e.g. helping people with illness to manage their health on a day-to-day basis)
• What is the role or impact of occupational therapy in reducing hospital admissions?
• How can occupational therapists work most effectively with other professionals to improve outcomes for people who access services? (e.g. multi-disciplinary teams, commissioners, community agencies)
• What is the cost-effectiveness of occupational therapy services?

Download the top 10 and more information about the research priorities.

• Top 10 priorities for occupational therapy in the UK (PDF, 132.96KB)

Watch Dr Jo Watson, RCOT Assistant Director – Education and Research, talk about why these priorities are so important for setting the future direction of research for occupational therapy in the UK.

Making a difference

These priorities will set the research agenda for occupational therapy in the future and help us focus on addressing the unanswered questions that matter the most to people who access and deliver occupational therapy services.

Our focus now is to encourage and support members to undertake and contribute to research that helps to answer the questions set out in the priorities. Funding available through the RCOT Research Foundation will be focused on supporting research that addresses the top 10. We will also be working to influence the opening up of external research funding opportunities.

Having this clear agenda for research takes RCOT a step closer to achieving its vision for research which is to have, within the next decade, a UK-wide culture that embraces engaging in and with research as every occupational therapist’s business embedded within the profession.

Research builds the evidence base underpinning occupational therapy and improves the experiences and outcomes for people accessing our services.

The Priority Setting Partnership

Throughout the project, RCOT’s focus has been to ensure that people who access occupational therapy, their carers, occupational therapists and other health and care professionals have been involved in every step. We were able to achieve this by partnering with the James Lind Alliance (JLA) in a Priority Setting Partnership (PSP) to follow the JLA’s well-respected and inclusive process.

The first stage of the process was to find out what unanswered questions people had about occupational therapy that research could answer. After checking that they truly were unanswered questions, people were then asked to prioritise these questions, first through shortlisting in a nationwide survey and finally through reaching agreement in a final prioritisation workshop.

Each priority is an overarching summary question within which there may be several questions to be answered by research. You can download the raw data behind each priority below and from the JLA website .

Key documents

These key documents provide background information underpinning the top 10, including the questions that were submitted in the first survey and used to create the 66 summary questions in the second survey.​

• JLA Occupational Therapy PSP - Workshop outcome - All prioritised questions from workshop (05-Aug-20) (PDF, 227.97KB)
• Data management spreadsheet – workshop questions (PDF, 269.93KB)
• Data management spreadsheet – all questions (PDF, 500.49KB)
• PSP engagement summary
• Question verification form

Thank you to everyone who has helped us to identify the UK’s top 10 occupational therapy research priorities. Our particular thanks go to people who access occupational therapy services and their carers, as well as all our members and other health and care professionals who took part in our surveys and workshop.

Our PSP was overseen by a Steering Group and we would like to thank the group members and Katherine Cowan, Senior JLA Adviser, who chaired the Steering Group, for all their hard work and support throughout the project. We are very grateful to the James Lind Alliance (JLA) for partnering with us on this important work.

Thank you also to all our project partners and supporters who promoted our PSP to their networks and helped us hear from a broad range of people who access occupational therapy services.

You can find out more about our Steering Group and project partners and supporters below.

The process

Below is a brief overview of the process we undertook in identifying the top 10 research priorities for occupational therapy in the UK. You can find out more about the process on the JLA website .

1. We've created a steering group.

Made up of people who have accessed occupational therapy, their carers and occupational therapists, this group agrees the scope of the project, the plan of action and takes responsibility for the PSP.

• Membership of the steering group is listed at the bottom of this page.

2. We ran a survey.

We created a survey and asked people who access occupational therapy services, their carers, occupational therapists and others with an interest in occupational therapy to respond by posing questions they would like research to answer.

3. We summarised the responses.

With oversight from the steering group, our Information Specialist sorted all the responses and created summary questions, which form the longlist of questions.

4. We checked the evidence.

The longlist of summary questions was checked against existing research evidence to ensure they haven’t already been answered. Questions that have already been answered by research were removed.

5. We ran a second survey.

We asked people who access occupational therapy services, their carers, occupational therapists and others with an interest in occupational therapy to prioritise the questions in an interim priority setting survey. We are analysing the responses to create a shortlist of summary questions which will be discussed at a workshop on 27 July 2020.

6. We ran a workshop.

The prioritised summary questions from the interim priority setting survey will be discussed in an online one-day workshop on Monday 27 July 2020. People who access occupational therapy services, carers and occupational therapists will together agree the top 10 list of priorities. The workshop will be facilitated by advisers from the James Lind Alliance.

7. We published and are now promoting the top 10 research priorities.

The top 10 will be announced and published on the RCOT and JLA websites, promoted to researchers and research funders. The PSP will work with researchers and research funders to further develop the priorities into specific research questions.

Next steps for the Top10 research priorities 

Identification of the Top 10 research priorities for occupational therapy in the UK is just the start of ongoing work.

What RCOT are doing to take the Top 10 research priorities forward?

• Distributing the full report widely, including to key research funders in health and social care, publication in a peer-reviewed journal, ongoing promotion via social media, the RCOT website and its newsletters and bulletins, conference and other presentations and workshops.
• Linking the Top 10 priorities to funding available to members through the RCOT Research Foundation.
• Expanding the range of resources and opportunities offered to develop members’ research-related confidence and skills.
• Lobbying for greater access to and uptake of practice-based research-related career pathways.
• Working with members of RCOT’s Specialist Sections to support them to identify research questions relevant to their own particular areas of specialist practice that help to address the Top 10.
• Supporting our Specialist Sections to engage meaningfully with people with lived experience, including those from under-represented and marginalised groups within society, to ensure they are involved the process of developing specific practice based research questions.
• Sharing questions submitted in the initial consultation survey related to influencing government policy and service provision but out of scope of the OTPSP with the RCOT Professional Practice team to help inform their policy and public affairs work and other campaign and promotional work.
• Sharing other out of scope questions submitted in the initial consultation survey and related to education of the public or occupational therapists themselves, career promotion, diversification of the workforce and raising the profile of the profession, with RCOT departments leading ongoing strands of work in those areas.
• Using the priorities to try to influence funding calls issued by external research funders in the health and social care environment.
• Monitoring the impact of the Top 10 through, for example, identifying funded research linked to the Top 10, its findings and impact on practice.

Getting involved in addressing the Top 10 research priorities.

The top 10 research priorities are broad summary questions. They were identified from a total of 66 summary questions derived from the 2000+ questions that were submitted to the PSP’s initial survey. Each of the top 10 questions provides an opportunity for several focused research questions to be generated across a range of service delivery contexts and areas of practice, across the lifespan and in relation to a whole range of different groups and communities.

• All occupational therapists regardless of their role or context of employment have a contribution to make to address the Top 10 priorities. Contributing to the development of the evidence base can support individual therapists to thrive and develop their careers, and a growing, robust evidence base will raise the profile of the profession.
• Departmental leads and service managers are encouraged to recognise and emphasise the inseparable relationship between engaging in and with research and the delivery of high-quality cost-effective practice. Building mutually advantageous partnerships with universities is a valuable approach that will not only help to answer those questions, but will also provide an opportunity to help build research capability and capacity within your team.
• Occupational therapists who are working towards developing their research-related skills and confidence are encouraged to contribute to identifying practice-related research questions that address the Top 10. It might be possible to work in partnership with those with more research experience and expertise to address those questions, and to help shape and inform study designs in partnership with those who access services. Seeking opportunities in a way that supports individual development and simultaneously supports a study to progress, for example through contributing to a literature review, helping to recruit participants or collecting data will contribute to addressing the top 10.
• Pre- and post-registration learners are encouraged to consider how the Top 10 might help to shape their individual research projects. Students and apprentices themselves can consider how their research project might make a small contribution. Maybe, over time, that idea might grow into a whole programme of research directed by one of the profession’s research leaders of the future.
• Occupational therapy academics are encouraged to incorporate reference to the Top 10 within pre- and post-registration education to help inspire and build the research-related knowledge, skills and confidence of the next generation of practitioners and researchers.
• Established researchers, whether employed in practice or academia, are encouraged to develop future programmes of research that actively address specific elements of the Top 10. Using the Top 10 priorities can support bids to highlight the value and importance of the research to funders. Building in opportunities for the research-related up-skilling of other occupational therapists will benefit the profession and professional practice.

We all have a role in contributing towards addressing the Top 10 priorities. The RCOT Research and Development Strategy (2019) highlights that doing so helps ensure that the individuals, groups and communities we work with receive the best possible input from the profession and that services are developed and delivered in the most cost-effective way. Your contribution to taking the Top 10 priorities forward can make a difference.

What is the James Lind Alliance and why has RCOT partnered with them on this project?

The James Lind Alliance  is a non-profit making initiative established in 2004. Its infrastructure is funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). It brings patients, carers and clinicians together in Priority Setting Partnerships (PSPs) to identify and prioritise the top 10 unanswered questions or evidence uncertainties that they agree are the most important.

RCOT decided to work with the James Lind Alliance to make use of its high-profile, credible and well-established methodology which ensures that people with lived experience and people with professional expertise work in partnership to identify and agree the priorities that emerge from the process. RCOT’s Occupational Therapy Priority Setting Partnership project was launched in March 2019.

How were the members of the Steering Group selected?

An open call for expressions of interest to join the Steering Group was shared in OTnews , on the RCOT website, through RCOT newsletters and social media and via direct communications with a range of networks. RCOT used its existing connections with external organisations focused on Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) to publicise the open call for expressions of interest to people with experience of accessing occupational therapy and their carers/families.

32 expressions of interest were received from people with professional expertise and seven were received from people with experience of accessing occupational therapy and their carers/families. 13 people with professional expertise were invited to join the Steering Group, based on their area of expertise, the sector they work in, level of experience and their geographical location. Five people with experience of accessing occupational therapy services and their families/carers were invited to join the Steering Group based on a similar set of criteria.

The membership of the Steering Group is available further down this webpage.

What efforts were made to hear from a diverse range of people, including those from BAME backgrounds and other minority or marginalised groups, people with learning difficulties and older people?

Throughout the project we aimed to engage as wide an audience as possible, which also included reflecting the population across the UK as recorded in the 2011 UK Census.

Throughout the project, RCOT used the INVOLVE Guidelines to inform the way we work with people who access occupational therapy services and their carers/families. We enabled people’s participation by recompensing them for their time in preparing for and attending meetings, compensated them for their travel and any associated costs for personal assistants. Outside the core project team, 25% of the PSP Steering Group were people representing those who access services and their carers. Amongst them were the Deputy Chair of the National Co-Production Advisory Group and the Chair of the Think Local Act Personal Board.

We recognised that an online survey would not be accessible to everyone, so alternative ways of sharing and responding to the surveys were provided, including:

• An easy-read version of the first survey which was available to download from our website or offered as a hard copy on request.
• Downloadable resources on our website such as posters and flyers and hard copies of the survey (in Word and PDF). The project team was also able to send hard copies of survey materials along with a stamped addressed envelope.
• Welsh versions of both surveys were available online and to download (in Word and PDF).
• Communicate2U was a partner on the project and facilitated a discussion with their audience to ensure that people with learning disabilities had the opportunity to respond to the first survey.
• For the second survey, the project team ran an online facilitated discussion, in partnership with the National Co-production Advisory Group at Think Local Act Personal, to facilitate engagement with people with experience of accessing occupational therapy services and carers.
• A Steering Group member also conducted one-to-one discussions with seven men from ethnic minority populations to capture their responses to the second survey.
• A presentation by the project lead to occupational therapy students at the University of Cardiff in October 2019 to support and encourage students to respond to the first survey.

To help us connect with as wide an audience as possible, we developed a network of around 100 supporters to the project, including 50 partner organisations. These included individuals, charities and networks of people affected by particular conditions and those working with particular minority ethnic groups. The Race Equality Foundation and Sporting Equals UK are two examples of organisations that we asked to share the survey with their networks.

To monitor the diversity of respondents to the two surveys, we asked people to provide additional information on a voluntary basis. This included where in the UK people lived (for example, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England), age range, how people would describe their gender, ethnicity and whether they identified as disabled. The diversity of respondents was monitored throughout. Where it was identified that we wanted to hear from more individuals from a particular population, we sought the advice of our Steering Group members and approached individuals from relevant organisations and networks to try to help us increase awareness of and engagement with the surveys.

927 people responded to the first survey of which 2.48% of responses came from people who identified as Asian/Asian British, 0.76% of responses came from people who identified as Black/Black British, 0.32% of responses came from people who identified as Chinese or another ethnic group and 2.3% identified as mixed/multiple ethnicities.

Of the 1,140 responses to the second survey, the proportion of responses from the BAME community was similar to the first survey, with approximately 2% of responses from people who identified as Asian/Asian British, 2% who identified as Black/Black British and 1% who identified as mixed/multiple ethnicities.

The proportion of the UK population that identify as Asian/Asian British is 7.5%, Black/Black British 3.3% and Chinese or other ethnic group is 1%.

The final stage of the project was the final prioritisation workshop, where we specifically invited applications from people who:

• Have accessed occupational therapy
• Are aged over 65
• Are young adults (aged 16-24)
• Are family and carers of people who have accessed occupational therapy
• Are from Black and minority ethnic groups
• Are from a variety of social backgrounds
• Are occupational therapists working in frontline practice or leading and managing frontline services

Invitations were extended to ensure that the participants would represent the four nations of the UK, a range of practice areas and contexts, a range of professional experience, and a range of perspectives across the lifespan and in relation to a range of lived experiences of the impact of physical and mental health challenges.

What did RCOT learn from the experience of engaging with this wider audience, which included people with experience of accessing occupational therapy services and their carers/families?

We learnt that it is a challenge to build strong relationships with other organisations in a short period of time for a very specific objective. We need to build trust with these organisations and their communities, and this takes time. In discussion with the Race Equality Foundation, we learnt that the response from members of the communities they serve was likely to be low without face-to-face contact. We continually monitored the responses to the surveys to identify any gaps and developed our networks reactively through personal introductions to try to optimise the diversity of people responding to both surveys and expressing an interest in participating in the final prioritisation workshop.

We also learned that effectively engaging with people with the diversity of experience and backgrounds that reflects the diversity of individuals who access and deliver occupational therapy services can be challenging. Additionally, a commitment is needed to work with trusted individuals who are already working with particular communities.

How were the participants in the final prioritisation workshop selected?

An open call for expressions of interest to participate in the final prioritisation workshop was publicised in OTnews , on the RCOT website, through RCOT newsletters and social media and via direct communications with a range of networks. It was also promoted to and through external organisations focused on Patient and Public Involvement (PPI), such as the People in Research website, to raise awareness of the opportunity among people who access occupational therapy and their carers/families.

RCOT received 79 expressions of interest: 25 from people with experience of accessing occupational therapy services and their carers/families and 54 from occupational therapists. From these, 10 people with lived experience and 10 professionals were invited to participate in the final prioritisation workshop. Invitations were extended to ensure that the participants would represent the four nations of the UK, a range of practice areas and contexts, a range of professional experience, and a range of perspectives across the lifespan and in relation to a range of lived experiences of the impact of physical and mental health challenges.

How did COVID-19 affect the project?

The second initial prioritisation survey opened on 26 February 2020 and was due to close on 14 April 2020, ahead of a final prioritisation workshop that was initially planned for 1 June 2020. The implications of the global pandemic required that we postpone the final workshop until 27 July 2020. The project team and the Steering Group took the opportunity to extend the window for responses to the second survey until 20 May 2020.  

The final prioritisation workshop was held virtually. This approach ensured that a wide range of people were able to safely participate and share their views in the facilitated discussions, despite the ongoing impact of the pandemic.

Is the top 10 still relevant in the context of COVID-19?

The top 10 research priorities remain relevant in the context of COVID-19. Each of the research priorities is broad and the focused research questions that will emerge from many of them can be applied to the impact of COVID-19 on society across the four nations of the UK. Whilst COVID-19 is a new disease, there are many healthcare challenges which remain constant and will continue to require the skills and experience of occupational therapists.

Why doesn’t the list of priorities include questions related to specific conditions, symptoms, interventions and so on?

The Occupational Therapy Priority Setting Partnership followed the James Lind Alliance methodology. We had a first survey, open from 5 August to 5 November 2019, to gather questions, which was widely publicised and open to everyone to complete. People were invited to submit their questions about occupational therapy, these questions were then checked to see if they were already answered and refined into 66 questions. The Steering Group worked to ensure that the final 66 questions were in scope, considered fairly and stayed true to the respondents’ questions.

The 66 questions were then shared online in a second survey, open from 26 February to 20 May 2020, and people were asked to identify up to ten that they considered most important for research to answer.

The ranking of the 66 questions by people with lived experience and of professionals was scrutinised by the Steering Group. The decision was made that the top ten from each group (people with lived experience and people with professional expertise) were to be taken to the final prioritisation workshop, two questions were selected by both groups, resulting in a shortlist of 18 questions. The workshop was held on 27 July 2020, where 20 participants (10 people with professional expertise and 10 people with lived experience) spent a day in facilitated discussions to agree the final top 10.

Full details of the JLA methodology are set out on the JLA website .

The new top 10 priorities provide us with a means of focusing the efforts of the profession on research that matters most to the people accessing and delivering occupational therapy services. In the context of a profession with such a broad scope of practice, the nature of the priorities is to our advantage. Each of the top 10 priorities can be considered as a summary question, reflecting the individual questions submitted during the initial survey. There will be several, more focused research  questions that will need to be answered to address each of the priorities. This means that the priorities can be applied to a wide range of conditions, symptoms, interventions, areas and contexts of practice, and so on, and  across the lifespan and with particular communities amongst the population in mind. In due course, the data that informed each summary question will be available to view on the JLA website.

What happens to the questions that are not included in the top 10?

The longlist of 66 questions will be published on this webpage and on the JLA website  and will be available to researchers and research funders to view. Other PSPs , such as the Palliative and End of Life Care PSP, have seen a number of questions from their longlists receive funding for research.

What happens next to the research priorities?

Identifying the top 10 research priorities is just the start of the process; the next task is to work on them. RCOT will use the priorities to set the agenda for funding available to members through the RCOT Research Foundation, which will help to focus efforts on addressing the top 10. RCOT will also seek to influence the funding opportunities available from other health and care related research funders.

Will there be any publications where I can read more on the project?

RCOT will produce a final project report and will submit an academic paper for consideration for publication. We hope the final report will be available in winter 2020/21.

In the meantime, if you would like to read more about the project and methodology, you will find more information on this webpage or the JLA website .

Why do the research priorities apply to the UK and not internationally?

The Royal College of Occupational Therapists is the professional body for occupational therapists in the UK and funded the project to agree the top 10 priorities for occupational therapy research in the UK. The World Federation of Occupational Therapists (WFOT) has previously undertaken work to identify the research priorities for the profession from a global perspective. These are available on the WFOT website .

Video, podcast and articles

Watch our psp video​.

Listen to our research priorities podcast

In this podcast we follow one research priority, from its setting right through to its clinical application.

Listen to this podcast on  Soundcloud , Apple Podcasts ,  Stitcher ,  Spotify .

Read blogs and articles about the research priorities

• Creating a new research agenda for occupational therapists (OT News article) (PDF, 606.13KB)

Our project partners

Our project partners and supporters represent people who have experience of accessing occupational therapy services, their carers/families and health and care professionals.

Our project partners and supporters

Steering Group members

Anne addison.

Anne currently works at Great Ormond Street Hospital as Joint Head of the Occupational Therapy service and as a Clinical Specialist Occupational Therapist in Neurodisability. She is also a member of the National Executive Committee for the Children, Young People and Families Specialist Section of the Royal College of Occupational Therapy.

Dr Maria Avantaggiato-Quinn

Dr Maria Avantaggiato-Quinn is Associate Allied Health Professional Director for Specialist Children’s Services at NTW FT and Principal Occupational Therapist. Previously an RCOT Council Member for England and Leadership Fellow of the Health Foundation, Maria represents service managers on the National Council for AHP Research and is also a carer.

Dr Mary Birken

Mary is an occupational therapist and has worked clinically in community and inpatient mental health services prior to moving to research. Her research interests are in community mental health occupational therapy.

Currently she is a Research Fellow and coordinator for the UKRI Loneliness and Social Isolation in Mental Health Research Network at University College London.

Dr Michael Clark

Michael is Associate Professorial Research Fellow in the PSSRU at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He is also Research Programme Manager of the NIHR School for Social Care Research. He is editor of the Journal of Long-term Care, was a member of the steering group for the Adult Social Work Research Priorities Setting Partnership, and was on the RCOT UKOTRF commissioning panel.

Katherine Cowan

Katherine is Senior Adviser to the James Lind Alliance (JLA) and is chair of the Occupational Therapy Priority Setting Partnership (PSP) Steering Group. She has been a key contributor to the development of the JLA method since 2008 and has chaired and advised almost 40 PSPs internationally.

Dr Edward Duncan

Edward is an Associate Professor in applied health research. He has worked clinically as an occupational therapist in a variety of mental health settings. Edward is the editor of two international occupational therapy textbooks. His current research focuses on the design, delivery, and testing of complex interventions in pre-hospital emergency care, in both the UK and sub-Saharan Africa.

Clenton Farquharson

Clenton Farquharson MBE has extensive knowledge of health and social care, and other social policy areas, particularly in relation to equality, diversity and co-production. Clenton is Chair of the Think Local Act Personal Board, a member of the Coalition for Collaborative Care Co-production Group and a Trustee of In Control. He is Director of the disabled people’s user led organisation, Community Navigator Services CIC, and acts as a Skills for Care Ambassador. Clenton is passionate about how we influence services to work together and to listen to the people who use the services.

Dr Naomi Gallant

Naomi is an occupational therapist with a specialist interest in dementia care and frailty. She is currently completing her doctoral research into improving mealtimes for people with dementia in the acute hospital setting. Naomi has worked in a variety of older persons care settings as an Occupational Therapist. Her current role is an Occupational Therapy Team Lead in a frailty rehabilitation unit for older people. This role includes improving the dementia pathway and research capacity within the service.

Amy Mary Rose Herring

Diagnosed during her teenage years with Asperger’s and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Amy has focussed her work on prevention and shortening the health and social inequalities gap.

Aged 21, Amy was recognised as one of the top 15 leaders within Work and Education on the UK’s inaugural Autism and Learning Disability Leaders list 2018.

She has a number of roles across the NHS in Sussex, NHS England and Chairs the Parliamentary Inquiry Panel of Children and Young People’s Rights in Mental Health.

Dr Jane Horne

Dr Jane Horne is an applied health and social care researcher with an interest in rehabilitation, primarily, older people and stroke. She has worked in research for 10 years with leading senior academics who are occupational therapists by profession. She is the Research and Development lead for the RCOT Specialist Section for Neurological Practice and worked clinically in the NHS prior to joining the University of Nottingham in 2009. 

Dr Anne Johnson

Dr Anne Johnson is a Consultant Occupational Therapist for the NHS and Macmillan Professional, Joint Clinical Lead of the Bath Centre for Fatigue Services and a Senior Lecturer, University of the West of England, Bristol. Specialising in long-term conditions management with a particular interest in ensuring ‘patient voice’ is represented in services provided.

Jenny Mac Donnell

Jenny Mac Donnell is the Project Lead on the Occupational Therapy Priority Setting Partnership. She has extensive experience of working in professional membership organisations on multi-disciplinary and collaborative research projects.

Dr Sarah Markham

Sarah is a mental health service user and a keen supporter of the value of occupational therapy and of RCOT. She is also a Visiting Researcher in the Department of Biostatistics and Health Informatics, IoPPN, King's College London. Her academic background is in pure mathematics. She has also published research papers regarding clinical trials, computer science and psychiatry.

Vonnie McWilliams

Vonnie McWilliams is manager of the Design Innovation and Assisted Living Centre in Northern Ireland and is the chair of RCOT’s Northern Ireland Regional Group.

Vonnie has expert knowledge and experience in the fields of catastrophic injury, neurology, physical disability, learning disability, oncology, chronic fatigue syndrome and ME, respiratory, dementia, respiratory, orthopaedics, and general medical conditions. She works with individuals and their carers across education, the NHS, care management companies, medico-legal companies, solicitors firms and voluntary agencies. Vonnie has also been a Cognitive Behavioural Therapist for the last 10 years.

Dr Sally Payne

Dr Sally Payne is an occupational therapist and Professional Adviser at the Royal College of Occupational Therapists. She has worked in the NHS with children and young people for many years and has a range of clinical, research and management interests. Sally’s PhD explored the lived experience of teenagers with developmental coordination disorder/dyspraxia.

Stephanie Platt

Stephanie Platt is the Occupational Therapy Lead for Inpatient Mental Health Services in Stafford. She has worked in a wide variety of mental health settings over her career currently specialising in psychiatric intensive care.

Stephanie has recently completed a clinical academic internship through the NIHR and has commenced her MRes in Clinical Health Research. She is passionate about improving quality of life and outcomes for individuals experiencing mental health problems.

Dr Jenny Preston

Dr Jenny Preston MBE is a highly experienced Consultant Occupational Therapist and non-medical Clinical Lead for Neurological Rehabilitation. Jenny combines clinical practice, research, education and strategic leadership within her role. She is an applied health researcher with an interest in neurology and the impact on everyday life.

In Scotland, Jenny is a key member of the neurological community contributing to the Healthcare Improvement standards for Neurological Care and Support (2019) and is a member of the Government’s National Advisory Committee for Neurology Conditions.

Isaac Samuels

Isaac is a committed, community-minded individual who has worked within the third sector for many years, including local and national Government, with charities and the Think Local Act Personal initiative.

His primary focus lies in supporting a systematic approach to improving services for those who need them, ensuring communities' voices are embedded at every level through co-production.

Isaac has achieved considerable influence and success in reducing barriers faced by people with impairments and other seldom-heard groups, by exploring these issues in an open, honest, reflective and supportive way.

Alexander Smith

Alex is a Stroke Association Postgraduate Fellow based at the Division of Population Medicine, Cardiff University. He graduated as an occupational therapist from Cardiff University in 2011.

His research ranges across many aspects of post-stroke care, treatment and rehabilitation and is focused on how to understand the outcomes of care or treatment from a service user’s perspective. Within his fellowship role, he is investigating standardised patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) and is trialling a method of making PROMs easier to complete for stroke survivors.

Michael Turner

Michael Turner is a disabled person and has spent most of his career working the disability field. This has included many research and development projects, with a particular emphasis on user involvement and co-production. He helped set up the Shaping Our Lives national network of service users and disabled people and spent eight years working on co-production at the Social Care Institute for Excellence.

Ruth Unstead-Joss

Ruth is the Project Coordinator of the Occupational Therapy Priority Setting Partnership. Ruth’s background is in managing projects in the international development sector. She has extensive experience of managing volunteers. She also volunteers in a personal capacity, as a lay representative for other health initiatives in the UK.

Dr Gill Ward

Dr Gillian Ward is the Research and Development Manager at the Royal College of Occupational Therapists. As an experienced researcher she has published in the area of enabling and assistive technologies for older adults.

Dr Jo Watson

As the Assistant Director – Education and Research at the Royal College of Occupational Therapists, Dr Jo Watson is responsible for leading and shaping the occupational therapy profession in the UK in terms of pre-registration education, continuing professional development, and the building of research capability and capacity to help expand the evidence-base underpinning professional practice. Jo is the strategic lead for the RCOT/JLA Priority Setting Partnership.

Dr Phillip Whitehead

Phillip Whitehead is Associate Professor of Occupational Therapy at Northumbria University at Newcastle. Phillip’s expertise lies in the field of community occupational therapy spanning health and social care domains; his practice background is in adult social care services. He is particularly interested in the development and evaluation of interventions to promote wellbeing and prevent or delay the use of other health and social care services. His current research focusses on housing adaptations, double-handed homecare and intermediate care.

• Steering Group - Terms of Reference - Occupational Therapy Priority Setting Partnership (May 2019) (PDF, 640.2KB)
• Protocol - Occupational Therapy Priority Setting Partnership (May 2019) (PDF, 845.67KB)

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Your Librarian

Critically appraised topics (CATs) are very brief reviews which summarize current best evidence on an intervention or diagnosis.

The main limitation of CATs is their brief scope, which makes them more prone to selection bias than a systematic review or a rapid review.  But they have an important role to play in supporting evidence based practice – identifying gaps in the knowledge, quickly scoping the literature and informing policy.

CATs have been used since the 1990s, mainly in the fields of veterinary science, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, dermatology, urology, radiology, nursing, business management and education.

• UND's collection of OT Critically Appraised Topics

Parts of a CAT

Like a systematic review, a certain methodology should be followed. Even though CATs are quick, compared to other reviews, they should still follow these steps:

• Define a clear, concise and focused question – use a search framework such as PICO to help you with this.
• Develop a search strategy – identify search terms, work out how to combine them and select a limited number of appropriate databases.
• Identify the relevant studies that help answer your question.
• Critically appraise the located evidence – describe and appraise the included studies. (Often the appraisal is limited to the methodological appropriateness of each study).
• Summarize your findings – what’s the “bottom line” suggested by the evidence?

* this list based on info from the libguide "Systematic and Systematic-like Reviews", Charles Sturt University, https://libguides.csu.edu.au/systematicreviews/cats

Examples of CATs

Because CATs are so brief, they are an ideal form of publication for students, and several universities have adopted them as core project within their Masters and Doctorate of Occupational Therapy programs:

• Children's Mercy Hospital Kansas City Critically appraised Topics
• UND School of Medicine and Health Sciences Occupational Therapy Program Critically Appraised Topics
• UNE Physical Therapy Program Critically Appraised Topics
• Stony Brook University Renaissance School of Medicine Pediatric Residency Critically Appraised Topics
• WSU School of Medicine St. Louis Occupational Therapy Program Critically Appraised Topics
• Center for Evidence-Based Management CEBMa guideline for critically appraised topics in management and organizations.
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The IHP Interview: Becca Willman on Occupational Therapy as a Tool for Eating Disorder Treatment

Rebecca Willman, OTD '23, published her research paper " The potential role of occupational therapy in the treatment of avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder " earlier this year. Willman’s research on how occupational therapy could help patients with avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) was the culmination of her yearlong independent study with  Dr. Jennifer Thomas , the co-director of the  Eating Disorders Clinical and Research Program at Massachusetts General Hospital. 

A new lab instructor for the  Occupational Therapy in Mental Health course,  Willman recently won the OT Department's Alumni Professional Achievement Award for her work at  The Home for Little Wanderers and McLean Hospital, where she has taken a role as the first dedicated occupational therapist treating patients at McLean’s  Klarman Eating Disorders Center . In this month's IHP Interview, Strategic Communications Intern Sophie Hauck spoke with Willman about how occupational therapists play a unique role in eating disorder treatment, and why treating ARFID could be a gateway for OTs to work with people with eating disorders.

Why did you decide to specialize in eating disorder treatment as an occupational therapist?

I studied psychology and minored in nutrition in undergrad, and I saw this gap in how these two disciplines approach eating disorders. That's what occupational therapy is — the bridge between all the different aspects of eating disorder treatment. From then on, I became committed to research and advocacy for eating disorder treatment.

When you have an eating disorder, a lot of times, you're one circle, and the eating disorder is another, and you're overlapped. A lot of treatment is about separating yourself from the eating disorder, and then working through it with cognitive coping skills and different types of psychotherapy and psychoeducation. Occupational therapy is uniquely positioned to work through applying those skills in realistic context for patients in their daily life.

I take a lifestyle redesign approach, which is a framework that we use in occupational therapy where we go through every part of your day in a systematic way, and we determine, where are the problems? What are the challenges? What are some habits that are not aligned with what you want for recovery? Then we collaboratively problem-solve those things.

You spent a year conducting research with Dr. Jennifer Thomas at Mass General Hospital about how occupational therapy could help patients with avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID). What is ARFID, and what were your findings?

Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) is a newer diagnosis in the DSM-5, characterized by a disturbance in eating or feeding that is not driven by body image concerns. There are three subtypes including a lack of interest in eating or food, avoidance based on the sensory characteristics of food, and fear of aversive consequences of eating — all of which have unique clinical presentations and functional implications. 

I didn't know much about ARFID before I started my research. I've always been drawn to more well-known eating disorders, like anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, or binge eating disorder. Dr. Jennifer Thomas specializes in ARFID, so she pitched the idea to me to learn more about what occupational therapy can do in ARFID treatment. 

In the paper, I write about how OT has a long history of being involved in pediatric feeding disorders and feeding disorders in general. Oral motor differences often cause functional differences and physical impairments in eating and feeding. These experiences can impact someone's relationship with food psychologically or cognitively, which is where ARFID is maintained. ARFID can then persist even if those physical oral motor differences are remediated. 

With OT intervention to address oral motor differences early, an individual may have less aversive experiences with food and therefore a lower risk of developing ARFID. OTs can help prevent those issues through rehab of the muscles, and we have different tools that can promote more effective use of the mouth in eating and feeding, as well as and oral sensory function. 

There's also the sensory approach, where you can do whole-body sensory input to get somebody into a space where they're able to access higher levels of cognition. If their fight-or-flight response is on all the time because they have experienced trauma related to eating or feeding, and that's a perpetuator of their ARFID, then using those whole-body sensory inputs can help them regulate and come into a less distressed state, so they can try foods and have an appetite.  

Then there’s the component of overall occupational balance. A lot of times, when you have ARFID, it can isolate you, or your treatment might interfere with your social participation or your leisure. You can't do the things that you want to do all the time, and OT can help reshape those routines and roles and habits to promote recovery from ARFID.

Content creators are raising ARFID awareness through social media. Have you seen public knowledge of this eating disorder increase since you began researching it?

ARFID is a newer DSM diagnosis. Once there’s a diagnosis, more people are bound to receive that diagnosis, and with more people receiving a diagnosis, more people will naturally know about ARFID.

I did a guest lecture for the Occupational Therapy in Mental Health course at the IHP in June, and when I was a student here, ARFID wasn't even mentioned. I added it into my presentation, and I asked, ‘Has anyone heard of ARFID?’ and almost everyone raised their hands. I was very shocked to see that progression because I know that none of my friends in grad school knew about it, but almost everybody knew about it in the current cohort in the OT program. That was cool.  

How did your background in research shape your clinical experience at the MGH Institute, as well as the client-facing work you do now?

Throughout grad school, all my field work and clinical experiences were such foundational components because I was drawn more to analysis, research, and theory.

I still want to be doing research, so I'm actively applying to PhD programs to try to teach eventually. Clinical experience is so important to have as a researcher and as a professor because, especially with clinical research, you can understand the barriers to implementing research in clinical practice, and you can understand what clinical practice needs. 

I gain a lot of perspective from working with my clients and hearing their stories, and it keeps you out of that, one-size-fits-all, monotonous, robotic approach because you have to individualize to make a difference in the daily life of a person, versus just taking a protocol and applying it to their case.  

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• Research topics related to

50 Research topics related to Occupational Therapy

• November 28, 2022
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Are you looking for research topics related to Occupational Therapy? this page might help you come up with ideas. Research topics are subjects or issues researchers are interested in when conducting research. A well-defined research topic is the starting point of every successful research project. Choosing a topic is an ongoing process by which researchers explore, define, and refine their ideas.

Occupational Therapy is a profession that focuses on helping individuals achieve independence and improved quality of life through various forms of therapy and treatment. Occupational Therapy is an interesting program that helps people who have disabilities or difficulties in various areas of their life, such as physical, mental, or cognitive problems, to be as independent as possible and stay healthy.

Occupational Therapists teach patients skills , provide motivation, make changes to their environment, use technology and other resources to help them, and use physical treatments . The reason for researching topics related to Occupational Therapy is to find answers, support theories, find solutions to issues, and to increase overall understanding of the field.

Research topics related to Occupational Therapy are areas of study that aim to enhance the understanding of the field and its practices. These topics can range from the effectiveness of different treatment methods to the impact of Occupational Therapy on the lives of those receiving it. By exploring these research topics, the goal is to advance the field of Occupational Therapy and provide even better outcomes for patients.

There are many research topics related to Occupational Therapy, depending on your specialization and interests. The topics below are only for guides. We do not encourage writing on any of them because thousands of people visit this page also to get an idea of what topics to write on.

• A psychophysiology study of sensory processing in meditators
• Absence of child support and its impact on child care in [location]
• Air pollution, brain health, and well-being in [location]
• An assessment and outcome measure for children’s wheelchair basketball
• Analyzing the feeling of depression and the stigma about it.
• Assessment of injury risk factors and mechanisms in elite netball
• Benefits of occupational therapy for adult mental health patients
• Between bottom-up and top-down approaches, which method is effective for patients suffering from a stroke?
• Breathing muscle strength in healthy children
• Childhood maltreatment: emotional consequences and potential intervention
• Coexistence between teachers and occupational therapists in a school setting
• Creating digital stories to understand living with multimorbidity
• Decision-making in Gaelic football
• Developmental coordination disorder
• Discuss the stereotypes in occupational therapy practice
• Does homelessness create to influence the psychology of people?
• Effect of clinical depression on adolescent children.
• Evaluate occupational therapy for patients with a brain tumor
• Frequent incidents of displacement and its aggressive effect on street children.
• Functional trajectories of people with chronic critical illness
• Gender differences in multitasking
• Gestalt grouping and perceptual averaging to boost memory capacity
• Healthy living and lifestyle promotion amongst teenage girls
• How can occupational therapy be used to prevent human trafficking?
• Improving motor function in children with cerebral palsy
• Inclination towards committing suicide- Method to deal with the issue.
• Interventions used by occupational therapists when treating spinal cord injuries
• Is there a need for society to question the mental sickness stigma?
• Knowledge translation in children’s occupational therapy
• Managing the intrinsic PTSD in the lives of medical veterans.
• Occupational therapy for cancer patients with metastatic disease
• Occupational therapy for inpatient
• Occupational therapy for terminally ill patients
• Occupational therapy in mental health management
• Parenting across cultures in contemporary England
• Physical activity and McArdle disease
• Promoting social connections using happy-to-chat badges
• Protect mental health COVID-19 study
• Recovering a sense of smell and taste
• Rehabilitation using virtual gaming
• Rehabilitation via home-based gaming
• Respiratory physiology, human performance, and health
• Risk factors for cognitive decline in LGBT+ older people
• Road cycling behavior of young adults
• Role of occupational therapy in symptoms control
• The effects of sonification on motor imagery ability
• The impact of task complexity, cognitive load, and anxiety on driving
• The influence of continuous mobility in the lives of orphan toddlers.
• The role of occupational therapy for prisoners
• The significance of group therapy at foster homes.
• The social displacement of Autistic children.
• The use of apps in occupational therapy treatment
• Using mindfulness to reduce schizophrenia vulnerability
• Virtual reality for NHS staff wellbeing
• Visual and emotional processing in early Parkinson’s disease
• What are disability and the stigma enveloping it?
• What are the therapeutic outcomes of occupational therapy?
• When reading misfires: the case for letter confusability
• Writing in the digital age: Keyboard versus pen in adolescents

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