Attitude and Knowledge of Occupational Therapists and Physiotherapists Towards the Use of Research-Based Methods in Children with Cerebral Palsy

Abstract

Background. More and more alternative treatments and therapies are emerging, so it is very important for professionals not only not to get lost in their abundance, but also to choose the right methods.

Aim. To find out the attitude of occupational therapists and physiotherapists towards the evidence-based therapeutic methods in rehabilitation for children with cerebral palsy.

Methods. 73 rehabilitation specialists participated in this study, 30 of them were occupational therapists and 43 were physiotherapists and filled in the questionnaire. Respondents answered about the attitude and knowledge towards the evidence-based therapeutic methods in rehabilitation for children with cerebral palsy.

Results. 97.3% respondents answered that they use evidence-based practice methods in their work. The number of scientific articles read per month in the range from 0 to 5 articles was chosen by 71.2% respondents, from 6 and more articles – 28,8% respondents. The interface between the number of articles read per month by occupational therapists was directly and moderately strongly related to work experience (r=0.555; p=0.001). The education of occupational therapists and physiotherapists was weakly related to the frequency with which they used evidence-based methods in their work (r=0.374; p=0.042; r=0.476; p=0.001).

Conclusions. The study revealed that rehabilitation specialists apply evidence-based practice methods in their work. It can be argued that the higher the level of education a rehabilitation specialist has, the more they value evidence-based practices and apply them in their work.

Keywords: cerebral palsy, methods of children rehabilitation, evidence-based practise.