The OT Journal Club

-Journal Club (JC) host- Jamie Grant - Specialist Neurological Occupational Therapist, UK. Provides outpatient rehabilitation, integrating neuro-technology with traditional therapy, to maximise meaningful outcomes.

-Research title- A comprehensive review of rehabilitation approaches for traumatic brain injury: efficacy and outcomes.

-Research authors- Shen, Y., Jiang, L., Lai, J., Hu, J., Liang, F., Zhang, X. and Ma, F.

-Research method- Structured literature search - PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science databases

Discuss clinical applicability of research - to enhance your evidence-based practice and continuing professional development (CPD)!

-What is a journal club?-

A journal club (JC) is a group of individuals who meet regularly to critically discuss the clinical applicability of articles in current research journals. They are usually facilitated by a host/facilitator, who chooses a relevant article and prepares learning points for discussion.

Running for over a century, JCs have acted as a powerful education tool. They evolved in healthcare to encourage scholarly activity and research awareness, through reading and discussion of journal articles. In the medical field (medicine, radiology, nursing, etc), they have been going for some time. In general, only regional occupational therapy JCs have been active...

-Why participate - and in this JC?-

With pressures of modern life, keeping abreast of rapidly-growing medical literature can be difficult. However...

Barriers to running more traditional, 'in-person' JCs can include:

• Challenges organising hosts and participants to meet at set times

• Difficulty recruiting regional experts

• Effort and time spent having a limited, local impact

But with today's technology, online education can open up learning possibilities - without geographical or time constraints. With the privilege of a global community, the Hub is pleased to bring you a FREE and open-access journal club!

-How does it work?-

1. An open-access journal article is selected periodically by a Hub Member, who takes the role of JC host, over a few months.

2. A summary and review of the article is posted in The OT Journal Club section of OT Circles, by the host.

3. The JC is then open for online discussion and critique, providing shared learning and professional development.

4. Participants can then print the JC page, with their input, as a record for their CPD/CEU file!

-Interested in being a JC host?-

To understand how the JC is structured, check out a previous one. For example:

• Rehabilitation Approaches for TBI (Autumn 2025)

• Sensory Integration and Autism  (Summer 2019)

To get started, please consider:

• what topic or theme you would like to discuss

• if you have a specific journal article in mind (must be open-access)

Then get in touch with the Hub Team, via either of the following:

• Email - hubteam@theOThub.com

• Online form - Connect with the Hub

We will assist you through the full process. This would start with you summarising and critiquing your chosen article - sending us a draft in email or Word format.

The Hub Team looks forward to your participation and to growing this collective knowledge base!

Hi. I'm new here and I have observed that few articles are 2-5 years old. Is there new articles available to read in?

Thank you

The following article is published in Occupational therapy international:

Sleeping difficulties are common in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Meeting children with difficulties with emotional regulation and/or families experiencing struggles in their night-time routines and maladaptive activities connected to sleep is common in pediatric occupational therapy practice.

A sleep intervention with weighted blankets was designed to increase current understanding of using weighted blankets to target children’s individual needs in connection with sleep and daytime functioning. We have recently published an article that is available on the subject in Occupational Therapy International.

An explorative qualitative design in which 26 children with ADHD and sleeping difficulties were included, 6-15 years old, were interviewed about participating in a sleep intervention with weighted blankets.