Using Journal Clubs to Promote Skills for Evidence-Based Practice

Abstract

Occupational therapy students in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, participated in a 9-week journal club experience within an evidence-based practice course. Working in groups of seven, students were provided with an overall framework to develop and conduct weekly journal club sessions. They determined the focus and direction for their journal club section, decided on the number, type, and focus of research articles that were discussed each week, created methods for evaluating individual and group performance, and determined the effect of the journal club experience on their knowledge and professional behavior. Students completed a weekly reflective journal and at the conclusion of the course, results were uniformly positive. Review of the reflexive journals indicated substantive changes in the students' professional development, commitment to evidence-based practice, and perceived responsibility to demonstrate leadership in this area.

An International Systematic Mapping Review of Educational Approaches and Teaching Methods in Occupational Therapy

“…Indeed, an assortment of eclectic methods, defined as methods that were represented in three or fewer papers, constituted the largest group of teaching methods addressed. Examples included: mentoring (Milner and Bossers 2005), studentsteaching-students (Gallew 2005), classroom-as-clinic (Peloquin and Osborne 2003), feedback (Benson and Hansen 2007), games (Bennett 2001), humour (Southam and Schwartz 2004), universal design for learning , community members as teachers, debate (Griswold 2000), art and stories (Schuster et al 2003), simulation (Stewart 2001), role plays (Mogensen et al 2002), and journal clubs (Stern 2008), among others. Beyond these eclectic methods, PBL was the most commonly addressed teaching method.…”

Evidence-Based Practice in Occupational Therapy Curricula

“…The positive influence of the use of case stories such as in this example may be repeated by including these in EBP coursework if they are not present in a program. Similarly, the benefits of the use of journal clubs for EBP was shown by Stern (2008) who explained that students became more dedicated in the use of evidence in practice after a nine week experience with journal clubs. Adding these to EBP coursework if they are not already part of the curriculum may yield similar positive results.…”

What Actually Informs Practice: Occupational Therapists' Views of Evidence

“…These include promotion of a culture of evidence-based practice (EBP) (Reid et al 2008); use of journal clubs (McQueen et al 2006, Stern 2008; internships (Sabus 2008); group education (Hammond and Klompenhouwer 2005) and employing a clinical research team leader role to facilitate the process (Horner et al 2007). As indicated in the above literature, the most effective approach appears to be the development of a culture within an organisation that fosters positive responses to policies that support EBP, rather than any particular learning opportunity.…”