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Background: When a child is diagnosed with autism, parents are faced with the task of choosing from many different intervention options. To find information about the options available, parents turn to a number of different sources. This study explores parents' (n = 23) intervention decisionmaking processes and information preferences following the diagnosis of ASD for their child. Methods: Qualitative thematic analysis of verbatim transcripts from interviews and focus groups involving parents of children with an autism diagnosis was undertaken. Results: Analysis of the results revealed that there are concurrent emotional and pragmatic intervention 'journeys' undertaken by parents post diagnosis, which encompass the primary themes of: (1) information sources used, (2) parents' information preferences and (3) factors influencing intervention decision making. Parents described a journey from the point of diagnosis that involved seeking information on ASD interventions from multiple sources, with the Internet being the primary source. They were overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information available, and their preferences for information varied according to their stage in the journey post diagnosis. Parents had a 'trial and error' approach to choosing ASD interventions, with confidence increasing as they became more familiar with their child's condition, and had opportunities to explore numerous information sources about their child's diagnosis. While confidence increased over time, consideration of the effectiveness or evidence supporting interventions remained largely absent throughout the journey. Conclusion: This study highlights the need for parents of children with ASD to be supported to make informed intervention decisions, particularly with consideration for research evidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objectives: The dietary self-management of CKD is challenging. Telehealth interventions may provide an effective delivery method to facilitate sustained dietary change., Design, Setting, Participants, & Measurements: This pilot, randomized, controlled trial evaluated secondary and exploratory outcomes after a dietitian-led telehealth coaching intervention to improve diet quality in people with stage 3-4 CKD. The intervention group received phone calls every 2 weeks for 3 months (with concurrent, tailored text messages for 3 months), followed by 3 months of tailored text messages without telephone coaching, to encourage a diet consistent with CKD guidelines. The control group received usual care for 3 months, followed by nontailored, educational text messages for 3 months., Results: Eighty participants (64% male), aged 62±12 years, were randomized to the intervention or control group. Telehealth coaching was safe, with no adverse events or changes to serum biochemistry at any time point. At 3 months, the telehealth intervention, compared with the control, had no detectable effect on overall diet quality on the Alternative Health Eating Index (3.2 points, 95% confidence interval, -1.3 to 7.7), nor at 6 months (0.5 points, 95% confidence interval, -4.6 to 5.5). There was no change in clinic BP at any time point in any group. There were significant improvements in several exploratory diet and clinical outcomes, including core food group consumption, vegetable servings, fiber intake, and body weight., Conclusions: Telehealth coaching was safe, but appeared to have no effect on the Alternative Healthy Eating Index or clinic BP. There were clinically significant changes in several exploratory diet and clinical outcomes, which require further investigation., Clinical Trial Registry Name and Registration Number: Evaluation of Individualized Telehealth Intensive Coaching to Promote Healthy Eating and Lifestyle in CKD (ENTICE-CKD), ACTRN12616001212448., (Copyright © 2020 by the American Society of Nephrology.)

Objective: People with chronic kidney disease (CKD) contend with complex dietary recommendations. The challenge in practice is for clinicians to provide individualized support with the frequency and consistency required to sustain dietary changes. This study aimed to describe the experiences of patients with managing dietary recommendations, including their perspectives on the potential to use telehealth to support dietary management in CKD., Design: Focus group study., Subjects: Twenty-one adult patients with CKD (nondialysis) and 3 caregivers (total N = 24) purposively sampled to achieve diverse demographic and clinical characteristics, from two nephrology units in Queensland, Australia., Methods: Five focus groups were conducted, audio recorded, and transcribed. Transcripts were analyzed using thematic analysis drawing on the principles of grounded theory., Main Outcome Measure: Themes aligned with the research question., Results: We identified five themes: exasperating stagnancy (patronized by redundant advice, confused and unprepared for dietary change, inevitability of failure, and barriers to accessing dietetic services); supporting and sustaining change (receiving regular feedback, incremental and comprehendible modification, practical guidance on food, flexibility in monitoring schedule, and valuing peer advice); fostering ownership (seeking kidney diet information, enacting behavior change, making reminders, and tracking progress against targets); motivators and positive learning instruction (relying on reassurance, positive reinforcement, focusing on allowable foods, and involving family); threats and ambiguities of risk (sugar as the culprit, ubiquity of salt, illegible food labeling, avoiding processed foods, and questioning credibility of sources)., Conclusions: Patients with CKD desire a preventative approach to CKD progression and maintaining their health, however, are stymied by dietary restrictions and a lack of reliable dietetic advice. Easy-to-use telehealth options have the potential to overcome the shortcomings in current health service delivery which may be limiting factors to providing these approaches. They provide patients with pragmatic tools, comprehensible and consistent information which fosters ownership and self-monitoring., (Copyright © 2017 National Kidney Foundation, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objective: We sought to identify and describe the number, topics, and publishing trends of systematic reviews relevant to occupational therapy indexed in the OTseeker database., Method: We performed a cross-sectional survey of the systematic reviews contained in OTseeker in December 2011., Results: Of the 1,940 systematic reviews indexed in OTseeker, only 53 (2.7%) were published in occupational therapy journals. The most common diagnostic categories were stroke (n = 195, 10.1%) and affective disorders (n = 204, 10.5%). The most common intervention categories were consumer education (n = 644, 33.2%) and psychosocial techniques (n = 571, 29.4%). Only 390 (20.1%) of the 1,940 systematic reviews specifically involved occupational therapy., Conclusion: Occupational therapists need to search broadly to locate relevant systematic reviews or, alternatively, to use databases such as OTseeker. Clarity about the involvement of occupational therapy in reports of future research will improve the ability to identify occupational therapy research for all stakeholders. Finally, occupational therapy practitioners need to read systematic reviews critically to determine whether review conclusions are justified., (Copyright © 2013 by the American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.)

Background/aim:   Networking, together with knowledge acquisition and resource sharing, are key components of occupational therapists' professional development. To enhance the connectedness and clinical support available to occupational therapists, OT AUSTRALIA Queensland developed an online community of practice (CoP). No research regarding the use of online CoPs by occupational therapists has been conducted. This study aimed to explore occupational therapists' perceptions of the benefits of, barriers to, and reasons for using or not using the online CoP., Methods:   Two focus groups were conducted, one with therapists who had used the CoP (n = 5) and the other with therapists who had not used it (n = 9). Participant responses to focus group questions informed the development of a survey asking therapists about their use of the CoP, its benefits and reasons for using/not using it, which was sent via email to all OT AUSTRALIA Queensland members., Results: Motivation to use the CoP, technology, workload management impacts, potential benefits and time considerations emerged as themes from the focus groups. Of the 55 survey respondents, 58.2% were aware of the CoP but only 32.7% had accessed it. Potential benefits of the CoP identified by participants included time efficiency, structural flexibility, networking capabilities and mentoring opportunities. Reasons for not accessing and/or participating in the CoP included access difficulties, usability difficulties, personal communication preferences and perceived irrelevance of available information., Conclusion: The findings of this study suggest that the CoP is still in the early stages of development; however, it has the potential to be further embraced by therapists if further promotion, training and minor usability modifications are undertaken., (© 2011 The Authors. Australian Occupational Therapy Journal © 2011 Occupational Therapy Australia.)

Purpose: To evaluate the effectiveness of a semester-long multi-professional university course teaching evidence-based practice principles to allied health students in terms of changes in attitudes, confidence, and perceived and actual knowledge regarding evidence-based practice., Methods: This was a pre-post study of allied health students who completed a multi-professional university course that taught evidence-based practice skills and concepts. The course was run over a 13-week period (2 hours per week) and utilized didactic lectures, tutorial and workshop formats, and a hands-on database searching session. Participants completed a questionnaire which assessed their attitudes, confidence, and perceived and actual knowledge regarding evidence-based practice on the first and last day of the course., Results: Ninety-one students participated in the study; however, complete data sets were available for only 59 participants. Attitudes towards evidence-based practice did not significantly improve; however, attitudes were already positive prior to undertaking the course. There was a statistically significant improvement in confidence with a mean increase of 9.02 [score range 6-30, 95% confidence interval (CI) 8.21, 9.82]. Perceived knowledge improved with a statistically significant mean increase of 14.15 (score range 5-25, 95% CI 12.55, 15.75) and there was a statistically significant mean increase in actual knowledge of 3.56 (score range 0-10, 95% CI 2.83, 4.29)., Conclusions: Teaching evidence-based practice skills and concepts to allied health students within a multi-professional university curriculum improved confidence and perceived and actual knowledge regarding evidence-based practice. Further research is needed to determine if these changes result in long-term behaviour change once students graduate, and to consider optimal methods for multi- and interprofessional delivery of evidence-based practice training., (© 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.)

The ability to measure activities of daily living (ADL) and hand function for people with Parkinson's disease via an Internet-based telerehabilitation system would have a significant impact on the equity, accessibility, and management of the condition for patients who live in rural and remote communities. A low-bandwidth computer-based telerehabilitation system, which incorporates videoconferencing with calibrated assessment tools, has been recently developed at the University of Queensland. This study aimed to determine the validity, intra- and inter-rater reliability of the telerehabilitation system in measuring ADL and hand function in 12 people with Parkinson's disease. ADL status was assessed using the motor component of the Functional Independence Measure (FIM) and selected items from the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS). The Nine Hole Peg Test, Jamar dynamometer and Preston pinch gauge were also used to assess hand function. For half of the participants, an assessor administered assessments in the traditional face-to-face manner while another assessor simultaneously scored the same assessments via the telerehabilitation system. For the remaining participants, the telerehabilitation assessor administered the assessments via the telerehabilitation system while a face-to-face assessor simultaneously scored the assessments. The telerehabilitation system was found to be a valid measure of ADL status and hand function in people with Parkinson's disease and to have a high level of intra- and inter-rater reliability (all ICCs > 0.80). These results suggest that therapists can confidently use a low-bandwidth telerehabilitation system to assess ADL status and hand function in people with Parkinson's disease.

Background: The ideal method of providing stroke patients with information has not been established., Objectives: To evaluate the effectiveness of providing stroke patients with computer-generated tailored written information., Design: Randomised controlled trial with blinded assessor., Setting: Acute stroke unit., Participants: 138 stroke patients., Methods: Patients were randomised to receive either computer-generated tailored written information about stroke or generic written information while in hospital. Three months following discharge, a blinded assessor evaluated the outcomes of knowledge about stroke, self-efficacy (Self-Efficacy to Perform Self-Management Behaviours Scale), anxiety and depression (Hospital Anxiety and Depression (HAD) Scale), perceived health status (COOP charts), satisfaction with content and presentation of the written information received (separate 10-point visual analogue scale for content and presentation), and desire for additional information., Results: Complete data were obtained for 133 (96.4%) patients. Patients in the intervention group were significantly more satisfied with the content (difference on a 10-point visual analogue scale was 1, 95% confidence interval 0.4 to 1.7, P = 0.003) and presentation (difference on a 10-point visual analogue scale was 1.2, 95% confidence interval 0.6 to 1.9, P < 0.001). Significantly, fewer patients in the intervention group desired additional information about stroke at follow-up than patients in the control group (4.5% versus 32.8%; P < 0.001). Anxiety change scores improved slightly more in favour of the control group (1.4 difference on the HAD subscale, 95% confidence interval 0.2 to 2.8, P = 0.03). No significant differences between the groups were observed for any of the other outcome measures., Interpretation: Providing stroke patients with computer-generated tailored written information improved satisfaction with the information that was received and was more effective in meeting patients' informational needs than non-tailored information, but had no effect on knowledge about stroke, self-efficacy, depression, or perceived health status.