Supporting and enhancing the implementation of outcome measures in Children and Young People’s Occupational Therapy.

Abstract

Executive summary

This project involved a partnership between NHS Borders Children and Young People’s (CYP) occupational therapy service and a Queen Margaret University (QMU) fourth year student (Appendix 1). NHS Borders CYP occupational therapy is a community-based team, providing services to CYP with a diverse range of difficulties aged from 0-18 years. They work with CYP who experience difficulties with the functional skills necessary for everyday life, aiming to ensure all CYP are physically, psychologically and socially as independent as possible (NHS Borders 2020). NHS Borders CYP lead occupational therapist identified the use of outcome measures as an area of their practice requiring further development1. The service required to gain a clearer understanding with regards to which outcome measures are currently used in practice and the impact of using them. The Royal College of Occupational Therapists (RCOT) (2020) acknowledge outcome measures as a fundamental aspect of occupational therapy practice. The use of outcome measures is recognised in the Scottish Government (2016) policy Ready to Act where Allied Health Professionals (AHP) are required to evidence the effectiveness of their interventions. The agreed aim of this project was to develop an electronic leaflet containing information about outcome measures used within CYP occupational therapy. This project was guided by service development. Service development involves implementing changes in order to advance practice. To develop the leaflet, information had to be gathered. A survey was selected as the most cost and time effective method of gathering information direct from CYP occupational therapists, regarding the use of 1 The project leader worked with the lead occupational therapist in NHS Borders CYP occupational therapy service, however the project was conducted for the benefit of the service as a whole.

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outcome measures in their practice. A qualitative survey was distributed online in order to gain a range of responses and opinions. The information gained was analysed and developed into an electronic leaflet. Three outcome measures commonly used with CYP emerged from the findings and were included in the leaflet. These included the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM), the Perceived Efficacy and Goal Setting (PEGS) and Talking Mats. There were three common benefits of using outcome measures in CYP occupational therapy highlighted in the findings. These included “creates evidence”, “provides motivation” and “provides focus”. Two common challenges of using outcome measures in CYP occupational therapy were established, including “children’s needs” and “time and workload”. The electronic leaflet developed provided NHS Borders CYP occupational therapy service with information about outcome measures they could use with CYP, as well as the benefits and challenges of using them. As a result, the service should be able to use the leaflet to consider the selection and implementation of outcome measures within their practice. Overall, this could improve their service delivery and ensure the needs of CYP are met. An abstract for the World Federation of Occupational Therapists (WFOT) upcoming conference ‘Occupational R-Evolution’ is presented in Appendix 2.