Attitudes Toward Adoption of Evidence-Based Practice Among Physical Therapists and Social Workers: A Lesson for Interprofessional Continuing Education.

INTRODUCTION: Professionals who embrace evidence-based practice (EBP) continually search for research evidence, appraise, and apply it, while interacting with each client in his/her situation. This dynamic learning process takes a substantial commitment from professionals and requires a positive attitude toward EBP. The main objective of this research was to explore the following: 1) distinct dimensions of attitudes toward adoption of EBP among physical therapists and social workers and 2) the relationship between these dimensions of attitudes and selected background characteristics of the compared professions. METHODS: Cross-sectional web-based surveys were conducted in 2012 and 2013 on a population-based sample from the Icelandic Physical Therapy Association and the Icelandic Association of Social Workers. The participants were 214 physical therapists (76.3% women) and 163 social workers (92.2% women). The Evidence-Based Practice Attitude Scale (EBPAS) and its four subscales were used to survey dimensions of attitudes toward EBP. Scores on the total EBPAS range from zero to five, with a higher score indicating a more positive attitude toward EBPs. Linear regression was used to explore the relationship between the EBPAS scales and selected background variables. RESULTS: The overall response rate was 39%. Both professions generally held positive attitudes toward adoption of EBP, with an average EBPAS total score of 3.06 (SD = 0.46). The professionals' background characteristics were independently related to at least one dimension of attitudes toward EBP. More positive attitudes were associated with being a physical therapist, a woman, in a younger age group, having a graduate degree, working with individual clients, and having at least five same-profession coworkers. DISCUSSION: The results may be useful to design continuing education focusing on EBP. Such inventions should be targeted to professional attitudes, background, and other contextual factors.

Family nursing hospital training and the outcome on job demands, control and support.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of a family systems nursing hospital training educational program (ETI program) on nurses' and midwives' perception of job demands, control, and/or support. Of the nurses and midwives who were working in the Women's and Children's Services Division at The National University Hospital in Iceland, 479 participated in the study on three time periods from 2009 to 2011. Scores for the characteristics of job demands and job control were created to categorize participants into four job types (Karasek and Theorell, 1990). These four job types are high strain (high demand, low control), passive (low demand, low control), low strain (low demand, high control), and active (high demand, high control). However, when the data were evaluated based on the proportion of job characteristics as reported by the nurses and the midwives, no significant difference was found over time (2009 to 2011) (χ(2)=5.203, p=.518). However, based on the results from the independent t-tests at time 1, a significant difference was found amongst the high strain job group regarding perceived support from administrators and colleagues among the nurses and midwives who had taken the ETI program compared to those who had not taken the program (χ(2)=2.218, p=.034). This indicates that the health care professionals who characterized their job to be of high demand but with low control evaluated the support from their administrators and colleagues to be significantly higher if they had taken the ETI program than did the nurses and midwives who did not take the ETI program. These findings are promising because they might, in the long run, increase the nurses' and midwives' autonomy and control over their own work.

A holistic view in psychiatric rehabilitation: the effects of structure in psychiatric institutions.

Achieving independence in society following hospitalization is difficult for people with mental illness. Using quantitative and qualitative research methods, this study examines rehabilitation procedures and identifies possible deficiencies. Patients (n = 150) and employees (n = 50) were invited to participate. The results show little coordination among professionals, patients, and programs. Employees generally believe rehabilitation is more beneficial than do users. Better results could possibly be achieved if the interactional model was used along with the medical model. The findings emphasize the validity of giving patients voices that can lead to better rehabilitation and quality of life.