Improving Outcomes in Research Use by OTA Students

Mary Beth Craig-Oatley, EdM, OT/LRachel Owens, MD, MLIS

Daytona State College

Who are we?

• Mary Beth Craig-Oatley– Professor and Program

Manager, Occupational Therapy Assistant (OTA) Program

– 35 years as an OT practitioner; 23 years as an allied health educator

– Currently interested in signature pedagogies and best practices for OTA education

• Rachel Owens– Associate Professor and

Faculty Services Librarian– M.D., residency in internal

medicine, M.S. in cardiac rehabilitation

– 11 years as library liaison to allied health programs at DSC

– Currently interested in development of information literacy skills in BSN students

Our Institution

• Established in 1957 (as were we!)• Has progressed from vocational training

program to state community college offering a variety of degrees, including Bachelor’s

• Six campuses covering two counties in East Central Florida – socioeconomic status one of the lowest in Florida

• OTA program operating since 1994• Two full-time faculty and several adjunct

instructors

RESEARCH QUESTION

Will a targeted collaboration between OTA faculty and librarians improve OTA students’ understanding and use of evidence-based literature?

Why research knowledge is needed

• The 2011 ACOTE Accreditation Standards require OTA students to know how to use evidence in practice.

• Daytona State College includes information and technical literacy in its college-wide student learning outcomes.

• OTA students’ competency in obtaining and evaluating relevant evidence is not consistently established.

Review of the Literature: Occupational Therapy

• Boruff and Thomas (2011): Collaboration between faculty and librarian to promote EBP skills– Lecture, workshop and assignment in first year of

bachelor’s OT program– Evaluated with search assignment; 101/104

students scored ≥ 8/10– No follow-up to determine long-term retention of

information literacy skills

Review of the Literature: Occupational Therapy

• Gaspard and Prentice (2014): library instruction program integrated into OT, PT, and RT curricula– OT program is master’s level– Two hands-on instruction sessions: one in first

year, one in second year– Faculty involved highly recommend that librarians

come to teach with them

Review of the Literature: Occupational Therapy

• Kipnis and Frisby (2006): Survey of undergraduate OT students (bachelor’s)– Students seek information from classmates and

friends first; only 20% would consult a librarian– Most had not had library instruction– Recommend collaboration between OT faculty and

librarians so students will be comfortable asking librarian for research help

Review of the Literature: Occupational Therapy

• Powell and Case-Smith (2003): surveyed OT graduates (bachelor’s) re: information seeking– Had received one-shot library instruction in school– 79% used colleagues, 69% used the Internet, 26% used

Medline or CINAHL• Powell and Case-Smith (2010): similar survey of OT

master’s graduates– Twice as likely to use Medline or CINAHL– Why? Greater emphasis placed on research in MOT

curriculum

Review of the Literature: Occupational Therapy

• Vogel (2012): Librarians and OT faculty (master’s level) collaborated on EBP instruction in four courses across program– Students suggested more time, practice, repetition

would improve their skill and confidence in searching literature

– Student contact with librarians correlated with greater use of quality information sources

Community College OTA Programs

• No mention in literature• Different population of students (Leeder,

2013)– Open access– 40% are first-generation in college– Older on average– More family, other concerns to attend to– More need for remedial coursework

Review of the Literature: Information Literacy

• Latham and Gross (2013): IL skills of first-year community college students– Low proficiency, high confidence (Dunning-Kruger

Effect)– No emphasis on quality– Prefer Internet and people as sources of

information: comfort, trust, convenience– Do not identify IL as a skill set; unfamiliar with “IL”– Less motivation to complete imposed tasks

Recommendations for IL Instruction in Community Colleges

• Latham and Gross (2013):– Incorporate demonstration and hands-on practice• Hold class in computer lab

– Allow students to work in pairs or threes– Provide feedback while students are working on

learning activities– Allow students to generate topics of interest to them• Motivation higher with self-generated information

seeking tasks– Integrate into course content

http://www.extraordinarydogs.org/2014/12/what-is-animal-assisted-therapy.html

Methods• Librarians guest-lectured on research skills to a

cohort in two courses, providing discipline-specific resources and informing students of librarians’ availability for consultation

• Students completed a survey at three points in the curriculum to assess their utilization of library resources

• Grades on first- and second-year assignments in three courses in OTA program curriculum were reviewed and compared to prior years’ cohorts

Discipline-specific resources• Allied health literature databases – CINAHL,

Medline, ERIC, Health and Wellness Resource Center, Cochrane Systematic Reviews

• Program-specific research guide: http://researchguides.daytonastate.edu/occupationaltherapy

• APA formatting and citation guidelines• Credible online sources (NIH, CDC, AOTA)

Post-lecture consultation

• One on one or group• By appointment• Major issue with OTA student research: search

terms• Available throughout entire program,

including fieldwork

Survey development process

• First question: what did the students learn from initial library instruction?

• Second question: what did they retain until second library instruction?

• Third question: what information literacy skills did they retain to allow them to successfully retrieve evidence?

• Fourth question: how did students obtain and communicate evidence in a fieldwork setting?

• Fifth question: how did library instruction influence grades?

Procedures• First survey: Intro to OT (prerequisite course)

– Pre- and post-instruction• Second survey: Conditions in OT (first semester course)

– Pre-instruction and post-research project• Third survey: Developmental Issues (third semester course)

– No instruction– Given post-presentation

• Online discussion: OT Seminar (final semester) concurrent with Level II fieldwork– Students instructed to identify use of evidence in clinical setting

and obtain an appropriate resource

Survey: Intro to OT1. Have you had a library orientation session in the

past? If so, how long ago? (choices given)2. Do you feel that you can find information easily

on the library website?3. Do you know what a peer-reviewed journal is?4. Do you know how to incorporate evidence-based

research into occupational therapy service?5. Have you ever visited the library to meet one-on-

one with a librarian?

Survey: Conditions in OT

1. Have you had a library orientation session in the past? If so, how long ago? (choices given)

2. Do you feel that you can find information easily on the library website?

3. Do you know what a peer-reviewed journal is?4. Do you know how to incorporate evidence-based

research into occupational therapy service?5. Have you ever visited the library to meet one-on-

one with a librarian?

Survey: Developmental Issues

1. How many library orientations have you had in the past? (1, 2, >2)

2. How long ago was your last library orientation? (choices given)

3. Do you feel that you can find information easily on the library website?

4. Do you know what a peer-reviewed journal is?5. Do you know where to find resources that would be

considered evidence for practice?6. Have you ever visited the library to meet one-on-one with a

librarian?7. Do you know how to access the OTA research guide?

Grade collection

• OTA program chair utilized D2L grading system for each course

• Gathered grades for evidence-based assignments for all students in cohort

• Comparisons made across cohorts– Only one final cohort was used

• Statistics used: Descriptive statistics

Results

• Intro to OT: N = 53 (survey); N = 28 (grades)• Conditions: N = 28 (survey); N = 28 (grades)• Developmental: N = 21 (grades)• OT Seminar: N = 20 (grades)

Surveys Table: Intro to OT

Pre-instruction Post-instruction

Past library orientation?

43% yes(44% past year)

Met 1 on 1 with librarian?

14% yes

Find info on library website?

51% 98%

Know what peer-review is?

48% 98%

Understand use of research for EBP?

33% 98%

Surveys Table: Conditions

Pre-instruction Post-instruction

Past library orientation?

88% yes(72% past year)

Met 1 on 1 with librarian?

4% yes

Find info on library website?

52% 88%

Know what peer-review is?

100% 100%

Understand use of research for EBP?

76% 88%

Use of evidence on field work

• Content of online discussion assignment was scored based on two questions:

1. Did the student incorporate any evidence-based practice on Level II fieldwork, as self-reported? Yes: 85%, No: 15%

2. Did the student obtain an appropriate evidence-based resource?

Yes: 70%, No: 30%

Grades Table

Grad 2014 Cohort

Number in class

Assignment grade average

Assignment grade range

Standard Deviation

OTH1001: 2012 28 95.14 50-100 12.71

OTH2410: 2012 28 95.3 88-99 3.2

OTH2520: 2013 21 96.19 5-100 5.44

OTH2933: 2014 20 100 N/A N/A

Grades showed a non-normal distribution due to high initial grades (>90%) so minimal room for improvement

Conclusions

• No retention of ability to find information on library website over one year (after one instruction) – the most complex of the learning tasks surveyed

• Knowledge of peer-reviewed definition and using EBP did improve after one instruction

• Grades were inconclusive for this cohort

Limitations of Study

• One cohort at one school• Only one year of data available so far• Different librarians leading library instruction

and consultations at times• Different instructors in OTA courses• Variation in student composition (first time in

college, ESL)

Future Implications• Need to gather data on additional cohorts• Demonstrates need for faculty to refer students to

librarians• Suggests using same process with different programs

(supports lack of strength of one-shot library instruction)• Replicate process in other OTA programs or OT programs• Follow-up surveys with program graduates to see if they

use evidence in practice• Usefulness to support choice of degree level for OTA?• Students can identify IL as a distinct competency on their

résumé

References

• Boruff, J.T., & Thomas, A. (2011). Integrating evidence-based practice and information literacy skills in teaching physical and occupational

therapy students. Health Information and Libraries Journal, 28, 264-272. doi:10.1111/j.1471-1842.2011.00953.x

• Gaspard, C.S., & Prentice, K.A. (2014). Focused library instruction for occupational therapy, physical therapy, and respiratory care students and

faculty: Library instruction in allied health. Medical Reference Services Quarterly, 33(3), 335-342. doi:10.1080/02763869.2014.925713

• Kipnis, D.G., & Frisby, A.J. (2006). Information literacy and library attitudes of occupational therapy students. Medical Reference Services

Quarterly, 25(4), 11-20. doi:10.1300/J115v25n04_02• Latham, D., & Gross, M. (2013). Instructional preferences of first-year

college students with below-proficient information literacy skills: A focus group study. College and Research Libraries, 74(5), 430-449.

Retrieved from http://ebscohost.com/

References

• Leeder, K. (2013). It takes a community. Journal of Library Administration, 53, 189-198. doi:10.1080/01930826.2013.853502

• Powell, C.A., & Case-Smith, J. (2003). Information literacy skills of occupational therapy graduates: A survey of learning

outcomes. Journal of the Medical Library Association, 91(4), 468-477. Retrieved from http://ebscohost.com/

• Powell, C.A., & Case-Smith, J. (2010). Information literacy skills of occupational therapy graduates: Promoting evidence-based practice in

the MOT curriculum. Medical Reference Services Quarterly, 29(4), 363- 380. doi:10.1080/02763869.2010.518923

• Vogel, K.A. (2012). Librarians and occupational therapy faculty: A collaboration for teaching evidence-based practice. Journal of Allied Health, 41(1), e15-e20. Retrieved from http://ingentaconnect.com/