Research

The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Occupational Therapy Program is pleased to publish these Critically Appraised Topics (CATS). They were written by the students of the class of 2011 as an assignment in the Evidence Based Practice Course. CATS are structured around a clinical question that asks, “what is the effectiveness of (a particular intervention) compared with (a comparison intervention) to increase/decrease (specific outcome) in people with (a particular condition).” Each paper lays out the clinical question, provides theoretical, scientific, and medical background, details the search strategy used, summarizes the articles selected, analyzes one article in detail, and synthesizes the results of the articles to answer the clinical question posed.

Please Note:
These CATS are a synthesis of 3 articles on the use of a specific intervention with a specific client problem. The articles were selected because they were the newest and/or strongest evidence available but the entire body of literature available on these interventions was not reviewed for these papers. The conclusions drawn about the effectiveness of the intervention are based on just the three articles selected: a more comprehensive review of all of the research on an intervention might yield a different conclusion. These papers were reviewed by the course instructor and peer reviewed by other students in the course.

We hope that you will find the information in these CATS useful and spark your interest to learn more about the interventions.

Peggy Denton, PhD, OTR, FAOTA
Director, Occupational Therapy Program

Handouts accompanying the 2011 CATS projects

2011 CATS Handouts

Attention Deficit Training

Attention Process Training (Ashley Ovaska)

Bi-manual Training (HABIT)

HABIT Training for Children with Cerebral Palsy (Nicole Bujnowski)

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

CBT and Anxiety in Children with ASD (Lacey Alders)

Constraint Induced Movement Therapy (CIMT)

CIMT Adult (Acute Stroke) (Alyssa Maurer)