Research Program

Research Project 3: Support for Evidence-Based Practice (EBP)

Overview

In this project, we will evaluate recently published reports of rehabilitation interventions relevant to TBI. Three meta-analyses of intervention studies will also be performed. The idea is to summarize information on the quality, interventions used and outcomes of these TBI-focused studies, with the aim of broad dissemination to reach health practitioners, as a means for facilitating their practice of evidence-based care of people with TBI living in the community.

Goal

• Strengthen the practice of rehabilitation service providers (e.g., physicians, psychologists, physical therapists, occupational therapists) who serve individuals with TBI, by helping them engage in evidence-based practice.

Evidence-based practice refers to professionals selecting interventions and treatments based upon a strong body of research evidence — in contrast to solely relying upon what they learned in school or hear from colleagues or impressions they form as to what works within their own practice. Support for evidence-based practice is being accomplished in R3 through summarizing and evaluating research evidence and by conveying the results in ways useful to providers. The RRTC is, first, applying accepted criteria to evaluate the quality of 800-1,000 recently published TBI rehabilitation intervention studies. The type of interventions used and the nature of the outcome measure(s) are also being documented. This information will be placed into a Web-based resource for easy access by providers. Second, three systematic reviews of studies using a particular intervention or focusing on one type of outcome will be undertaken, in collaboration with interested TBI rehabilitation practitioners across the country. Third, a major element of R3 is knowledge translation: that is, sharing with practitioners the database, products of the reviews and other information supportive of evidence-based practice — in ways that promote their use. For example, newsletters and Web-based tutorials will be used to educate practitioners in accessing and using the database as a support for incorporating research evidence into their approach to services.