Spooren A, Vanheel I, Geysels R, Eyckmans I The Belgian government stresses the importance of evidence based practice in occupational therapy (OT) and the need to make the evidence more demonstrable. Furthermore, the use of the ICF as a common tool within different disciplines is emphasized. Therefore, an innovative digital tool was developed that facilitates clinical reasoning in OT and facilitate evidence based practice. The Hasselt Occupational Performance Profile (H-OPP) which is currently transformed to OT-PPRO is based on the ICF and allows to register and describe the different aspects of the clients' functioning, setting goals and elaborating an intervention plan. It augments involvement of the client system. Format: demonstration of H-OPP; followed by use and application of clinical cases within small groups Participants learn how to 1)use these tools for educational purposes; 2)use the tool in clinical practice; 3)combine ICF terminology with OT terminology Description participants (max 40): OT in clinical and/or educational field
Background A client-centred task-oriented approach has advantages towards motivation and adherence to therapy in neurorehabilitation, but it is costly to integrate in practice. An intelligent Activity-based Client-centred Training (i-ACT), a low-cost Kinect-based system, was developed which integrates a client-centred and task-oriented approach. The objectives were (1) to investigate the effect of additional i-ACT training on functioning. And (2) to assess whether training with i-ACT resulted in more goal oriented training. Methods A single-blind randomised controlled trial was performed in 4 Belgian rehabilitation centres with persons with central nervous system deficits. Participants were randomly allocated through an independent website-based code generator using blocked randomisation (n = 4) to an intervention or control group. The intervention group received conventional care and additional training with i-ACT for 3 x 45 min/week during 6 weeks. The control group received solely conventional care. Functional ability and performance, quality of life (QoL), fatigue, trunk movement, and shoulder active range of motion (AROM) were assessed at baseline, after 3 weeks and 6 weeks of training, and 6 weeks after cessation of training. Data were analysed using non-parametric within and between group analysis. Results 47 persons were randomised and 45 analysed. Both intervention (n = 25) and control (n = 22) group improved over time on functional ability and performance as measured by the Wolf Motor Function Test, Manual Ability Measure-36, and Canadian Occupational Performance Measure, but no major differences were found between the groups on these primary outcome measures. Regarding QoL, fatigue, trunk movement, and shoulder AROM, no significant between group differences were found. High adherence for i-ACT training was found (i.e. 97.92%) and no adverse events, linked to i-ACT, were reported. In the intervention group the amount of trained personal goals (88%) was much higher than in the control group (46%). Conclusions Although additional use of i-ACT did not have a statistically significant added value regarding functional outcome over conventional therapy, additional i-ACT training provides more individualised client-centred therapy, and adherence towards i-ACT training is high. A higher intensity of i-ACT training may increase therapy effects, and should be investigated in future research. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier NCT02982811. Registered 29 November 2016. ; This study, as part of the i2-CoRT project (www.i2-CoRT.eu), has been cofnanced with a grant from the Interreg V-A Euregio Meuse-Rhine (EMR) programme, as well as funding from Provincie Limburg (Belgium) and Vlaams Agentschap Innoveren en Ondernemen (Belgium). The Interreg EMR program has invested almost EUR 100 million in the development of the Interregregion until 2020. With the investment of EU funds in Interreg projects, the European Union directly invests in the economic development, innovation, territorial development and social inclusion and education of this region. The authors want to thank all participants of this study, persons with defcits as well as therapists. They also thank Wout Smeets, Ilse Lamers, Olga Gromova, Rayhana Hilami, Axelle Housen, Bjorn Le Roy, Eef Merken, Alexander Oweibo, Céline Peeters, Andrea Prezzi, Stéphanie Stroobants, and Lies Vanweerts for their contribution.
Since 1989-1990, Vlibank is the Flemish AT information database managed by the Flemish government and aims to have a complete overview of AT devices in Flanders. The growing AT market increases the need for unbiased information on AT. However, maintaining and keeping a database up-to-date is a very challenging task. Because of recent changes in policy, the Flemish government needs to be able to reimburse a bigger group of AT devices, but also the changing needs of a larger group of people, regardless of their age. Because the crucial role of an AT information database in the selection of AT devices and the effectiveness of the service delivery, a functional analysis of an online information database is made. This paper describes the qualitative part of the study, in particular the focus groups that were held to gather views of three groups of stakeholders. Preliminary results indicate that there is consensus on the information needs next to product information and on the use of generic questions as a selection tool for AT devices. The biggest issue raised is the difficulty of keeping an information database up-to-date, especially for individualized devices. All participants, except one, are very wary of the use of user ratings and reviews.
