Occupational therapists’ judgement of referral priorities: Expertise and training

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.The British government currently requires mental health services to be targeted at the most needy (Department of Health, 1999). For occupational therapy services, where service demand far exceeds service availability, skill in referral prioritisation is essential. The studies in this thesis describe how experienced occupational therapists’ referral prioritisation policies were used to successfully educate novices. 40 British occupational therapists’ referral prioritisation policies were modelled using judgement analysis. Individuals’ prioritisation decisions were regressed onto 90 referral scenarios to statistically model how referral information had been used. It was found that the reason for referral, history of violence and diagnosis were most important. The occupational therapists’ capacity for self-insight into their policies was also examined by comparing statistically modelled policies derived from their behaviour with their subjective view of their cue use. Self-insight was found to be moderate (mean r = 0.61). A Ward’s cluster analysis was used on the statistically modelled policies to identify if subgroups of therapists had differing referral prioritisation policies. Four clusters were found. They differed according to several factors including the percentage of role dedicated to specialist occupational therapy rather than generic work. The policies that led to more of an occupational therapy role were found to give particular importance to the reason for referral and the client’s diagnosis. The occupational therapy professional body supports this latter method of working as it has recommended that occupational therapists should use their specialist skills to ensure clients’ needs are met effectively. Therefore the policies that focussed on clients’ occupational functioning were used to train the novices. Thirty-seven students were asked to prioritise a set of referrals before and after being shown graphical and descriptive representations of the policies. Students gained statistically significant improvements in prioritisation. Students’ pre-training policies were found to be those of generic therapists; a method of working that has been found to be leading to reduced work satisfaction and burnout (Craik et al.1998b). The training is therefore needed to ensure undergraduate occupational therapy students develop effective referral prioritisation skills. This will help to ensure that clients’ needs are met most effectively and work stress is reduce

Framing the detection of elder financial abuse as bystander intervention: Decision cues, pathways to detection and barriers to action

This article is (c) Emerald Group Publishing and permission has been granted for this version to appear here (http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/8569). Emerald does not grant permission for this article to be further copied/distributed or hosted elsewhere without the express permission from Emerald Group Publishing Limited.This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the detection and prevention of elder financial abuse through the lens of a “professional bystander intervention model”. The authors were interested in the decision cues that raise suspicions of financial abuse, how such abuse comes to the attention of professionals who do not have a statutory responsibility for safeguarding older adults, and the barriers to intervention. Design/methodology/approach – In-depth interviews were conducted using the critical incident technique. Thematic analysis was carried out on transcribed interviews. In total, 20 banking and 20 health professionals were recruited. Participants were asked to discuss real cases which they had dealt with personally. Findings – The cases described indicated that a variety of cues were used in coming to a decision that financial abuse was very likely taking place. Common to these cases was a discrepancy between what is normal and expected and what is abnormal or unexpected. There was a marked difference in the type of abuse noticed by banking and health professionals, drawing attention to the ways in which context influences the likelihood that financial abuse will be detected. The study revealed that even if professionals suspect abuse, there are barriers which prevent them acting. Originality/value – The originality of this study lies in its use of the bystander intervention model to study the decision-making processes of professionals who are not explicitly charged with adult safeguarding. The study was also unique because real cases were under consideration. Hence, what the professionals actually do, rather than what they might do, was under investigation.Economic and Social Research Counci

Enhanced referral prioritisation for acute adult dietetic services: A randomised control trial to test a web-based decision training tool

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Dietitians in acute adult services need to prioritise dietetic referrals in order to manage their daily workload and ensure effective treatment of patients. Newly qualified dietitians do not usually receive specific training on prioritisation and could be helped with an evidence-based, effective, decision-training tool that is based on the practice of experienced dietitians. We developed an internationally available web-based decision-training tool designed to improve novice dietitians' ability to make dietetic prioritisation decisions. The training tool comprised of a pre-training task, a post-training task and training materials. The aim of this study was to test the effectiveness of the training tool on novices' ability for dietetic prioritisation. METHODS: Pre-registration dietitians and recent graduates (one-year) from across the UK were invited to participate in this randomised controlled trial (RCT). Each participant made prioritisation decisions on a set of dietetic referral scenarios: 53 scenarios at pre-training and 27 at post-training. After pre-training the intervention group was presented with the training materials, whereas the control group was told to carry on with the post-training task. Participants did not know which group they had been randomly allocated to. We calculated i) level of agreement between decisions made by each novice and experts' consensus using Pearson correlation, intra-class correlation (ICC(2,1)); ii) intra-rater consistency using ICC(1,1) and iii) intra-group consistency using ICC (2,1). We compared group means at pre-training and post-training; estimated effect size using the degree of change from pre- to post-training, and 2-factor mixed ANOVA to assess overall effect of the training across the groups and time-points. RESULTS: 151 participants (69 in control and 82 in intervention) completed the trial. The groups did not differ in demographic characteristics. Both Pearson and ICC(2,1) correlations increased with training intervention; a moderate effect of training was found for both metrics, d = 0.69 (r = 0.32) for the former and d = 0.54 (r = 0.26) for the latter. Intra-rater consistency improved with training but with a small effect size, d = 0.32 (r = 0.16). The intra-group consistency also improved with training: ICC = 0.48 pre-training to 0.61 post-training. CONCLUSIONS: The training tool was found to be effective in improving the novice dietitian's ability to prioritise referrals in the acute adult setting. The training tool is freely available at www.dietitianreferral.org for use by all student or early career dietitians internationally

Specialist palliative medicine physicians and nurses accuracy at predicting imminent death (within 72 hours) : a short report

Research suggests that clinicians are not very accurate at prognosticating in palliative care. The 'horizon effect' suggests that accuracy ought to be better when the survival of patients is shorter. The aim of this study was to determine the accuracy of specialist palliative care clinicians at identifying which patients are likely to die within 72 hours. In a secondary data analysis of a prospective observational study, specialist palliative care doctors and nurses (in a hospice and a hospital palliative care team) provided survival predictions (yes/no/uncertain) about which patients would die within 72 hours. Survival predictions were obtained for 49 patients. A prediction from a nurse was obtained for 37/49 patients. A prediction from a doctor was obtained for 46/49 patients. In total, 23 (47%)/49 patients actually died within 72 hours of assessment. Nurses accurately predicted the outcome in 27 (73%)/37 cases. Doctors accurately predicted the outcome in 30 (65%)/46 cases. When comparing predictions given on the same patients (27 [55%]/49), nurses were slightly better at recognising imminent death than doctors (positive predictive value (the proportion of patients who died when the clinician predicted death)=79% vs 60%, respectively). The difference in c-statistics (nurses 0.82 vs doctors 0.63) was not significant (p=0.13). Even when patients are in the terminal phase and close to death, clinicians are not very good at predicting how much longer they will survive. Further research is warranted to improve prognostication in this population. [Abstract copyright: © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2020. Re-use permitted under CC BY. Published by BMJ.

A randomised controlled trial to test the effectiveness of decision training on assessors' ability to determine optimal fitness-to-drive recommendations for older or disabled drivers.

BACKGROUND: Driving licensing jurisdictions require detailed assessments of fitness-to-drive from occupational therapy driver assessors (OTDAs). We developed decision training based on the recommendations of expert OTDAs, to enhance novices' capacity to make optimal fitness-to-drive decisions. The aim of this research was to determine effectiveness of training on novice occupational therapists' ability to make fitness-to-drive decisions. METHODS: A double blind, parallel, randomised controlled trial was conducted to test the effectiveness of decision training on novices' fitness-to-drive recommendations. Both groups made recommendations on a series of 64 case scenarios with the intervention group receiving training after reviewing two thirds of the cases; the control group, at this same point, just received a message of encouragement to continue. Participants were occupational therapy students on UK and Australian pre-registration programmes who individually took part online, following the website instructions. The main outcome of training was the reduction in mean difference between novice and expert recommendations on the cases. RESULTS: Two hundred eighty-nine novices were randomised into intervention; 166 completed the trial (70 in intervention; 96 in control). No statistical differences in scores were found pre-training. Post training, the control group showed no significant change in recommendations compared to the experts (t(96) = -.69; p = .5), whereas the intervention group exhibited a significant change (t(69) = 6.89; p < 0.001). For the intervention group, the mean difference compared with the experts' recommendations reduced with 95% CI from -.13 to .09. Effect size calculated at the post-training demonstrated a moderate effect (d = .69, r = .32). CONCLUSIONS: Novices who received the decision training were able to change their recommendations whereas those who did not receive training did not. Those receiving training became more able to identify drivers who were not fit-to-drive, as measured against experts' decisions on the same cases. This research demonstrated that novice occupational therapists can be trained to make decisions more aligned to those of expert OTDAs. The decision training and cases have been launched as a free training resource at www.fitnesstodrive.com . This can be used by novice driver assessors to increase their skill to identify drivers who are, and are not fit-to-drive, potentially increasing international workforce capacity in this growing field of practice

Enhanced clarity and holism: The outcome of implementing the ICF with an acute stroke multidisciplinary team in England

This article is made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.Purpose: Although it is recommended that the ICF (International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health) should be implemented to aid communication within multidisciplinary stroke services, there is no empirical evidence to demonstrate the outcomes of such implementation. Working with one stroke service, this project aimed to address this gap and sought to evaluate the outcomes of implementing an ICF-based clinical tool into practice. Method: Using an action research framework with mixed methods, data were collected from individual interviews, a focus group, questionnaires, email communications, minutes from relevant meetings and field notes. Thematic analysis was undertaken, using immersion and crystallisation, to define overall themes. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse quantitative data. Data from both sources were combined to create key findings. Results: Three findings were determined from the data analysis. The ICF (1) fosters communication within and beyond the multidisciplinary stroke team; (2) promotes holistic thinking; and (3) helps to clarify team roles. Conclusions: The ICF enhanced clarity of communication and team roles within the acute stroke multidisciplinary team as well as with other clinicians, patients and their relatives. In addition, the ICF challenged stroke clinicians to think holistically, thereby appropriately extending their domain of concern beyond their traditional remit. Implications for Rehabilitation: (1) The ICF is a globally accepted framework to describe functioning and is in use in a variety of clinical settings. Yet, the outcomes of using it in clinical practice have yet to be fully explored. (2) This study found that the ICF enhanced clarity of communication and team roles within an acute stroke multidisciplinary team and to others beyond the team, including clinicians, patients and their relatives. (3) Using the ICF also challenged clinicians to think holistically about patient needs following a stroke.The Elizabeth Casson Trus

A comparison of two-coloured filter systems for treating visual reading difficulties

Copyright @ 2013 Informa UK Ltd.Purpose: Visual disturbances that make it difficult to read text are often termed “visual stress”. Coloured filters in spectacles may help some children overcome reading problems that are often caused by visual stress. It has been suggested that for optimal effect each child requires an individually prescribed colour for each eye, as determined in systems such as the “Harris Foundation” coloured filters. Alternatively, it has been argued that only blue or yellow filters, as used in the “Dyslexia Research Trust” (DRT) filter system, are necessary to affect the underlying physiology. Method: A randomised, double blind trial with 73 delayed readers, was undertaken to compare changes in reading and spelling as well as irregular and non-word reading skills after 3 months of wearing either the Harris or the DRT filters. Results: Reading improved significantly after wearing either type of filter (t = −8.4, p < 0.01), with 40% of the children improving their reading age by 6 months or more during the 3 month trial. However, spelling ability (t = 2.1, p = 0.05) and non-word reading (f = 4.7, p < 0.05) improved significantly more with the DRT than with the Harris filters. Conclusion: Education and rehabilitation professionals should therefore, consider coloured filters as an effective intervention for delayed readers experiencing visual stress

Educating novice practitioners to detect elder financial abuse: A randomised controlled trial

© 2014 Harries et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited.This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.Background - Health and social care professionals are well positioned to identify and intervene in cases of elder financial abuse. An evidence-based educational intervention was developed to advance practitioners’ decision-making in this domain. The objective was to test the effectiveness of a decision-training educational intervention on novices’ ability to detect elder financial abuse. The research was funded by an E.S.R.C. grant reference RES-189-25-0334. Methods - A parallel-group, randomised controlled trial was conducted using a judgement analysis approach. Each participant used the World Wide Web to judge case sets at pre-test and post-test. The intervention group was provided with training after pre-test testing, whereas the control group were purely given instructions to continue with the task. 154 pre-registration health and social care practitioners were randomly allocated to intervention (n78) or control (n76). The intervention comprised of written and graphical descriptions of an expert consensus standard explaining how case information should be used to identify elder financial abuse. Participants’ ratings of certainty of abuse occurring (detection) were correlated with the experts’ ratings of the same cases at both stages of testing. Results - At pre-test, no differences were found between control and intervention on rating capacity. Comparison of mean scores for the control and intervention group at pre-test compared to immediate post-test, showed a statistically significant result. The intervention was shown to have had a positive moderate effect; at immediate post-test, the intervention group’s ratings had become more similar to those of the experts, whereas the control’s capacity did not improve. The results of this study indicate that the decision-training intervention had a positive effect on detection ability. Conclusions - This freely available, web-based decision-training aid is an effective evidence-based educational resource. Health and social care professionals can use the resource to enhance their ability to detect elder financial abuse. It has been embedded in a web resource at http://www.elderfinancialabuse.co.uk.ESR

Predicting fitness-to-drive following stroke using the Occupational Therapy – Driver Off Road Assessment Battery

Introduction: It is difficult to determine if, or when, individuals with stroke are ready to undergo on-road fitness-to-drive assessment. The Occupational Therapy - Driver Off Road Assessment Battery was developed to determine client suitability to resume driving. The predictive validity of the Battery needs to be verified for people with stroke. Aim: Examine the predictive validity of the Occupational Therapy - Driver Off Road Assessment Battery for on-road performance among people with stroke. Method: Off-road data were collected from 148 people post stroke on the Battery and the outcome of their on-road assessment was recorded as: fit-to-drive or not fit-to-drive. Results: The majority of participants (76%) were able to resume driving. A classification and regression tree (CART) analysis using four subtests (three cognitive and one physical) from the Battery demonstrated an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.8311. Using a threshold of 0.5, the model correctly predicted 98/112 fit-to-drive (87.5%) and 26/36 people not fit-to-drive (72.2%). Conclusion: The three cognitive subtests from the Occupational Therapy - Driver Off Road Assessment Battery and potentially one of the physical tests have good predictive validity for client fitness-to-drive. These tests can be used to screen client suitability for proceeding to an on-road test following stroke. Implications for Rehabilitation: Following stroke, drivers should be counseled (including consideration of local legislation) concerning return to driving. The Occupational Therapy - Driver Off Road Assessment Battery can be used in the clinic to screen people for suitability to undertake on road assessment. Scores on four of the Occupational Therapy - Driver Off Road Assessment Battery subtests are predictive of resumption of driving following stroke

Factors used in the detection of elder financial abuse: A judgement and decision-making study of social workers and their managers

This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final published article is available from the link below. Copyright @ 2011 Sage Publications Ltd.Factors social workers use in practice to detect elder financial abuse are currently unknown. A critical incident technique was applied within a judgement analysis approach to elicit cue use. Only three factors were key to decision-making: who raises concern, the elder’s mental capacity and the nature of the financial anomaly occurring.Economic and Social Research Counci