Research in pediatric physical therapy: an analysis of trends in first fifteen years of publication.
OBJECTIVE
All articles published in Pediatric Physical Therapy (PPT) within the first 15 years of publication were reviewed to determine research trends.


METHODS
All articles published in PPT (n = 262) were categorized as research or nonresearch, classified as experimental or nonexperimental, and further categorized as examination/evaluation, intervention, prognosis, and economics. The data were divided into the following three groups: Volumes 1-5, Volumes 6-10, and Volumes 11-15.


RESULTS
During the 15-year period, 64% of all published articles were derived from original research (p = 0.01). Thirty-two articles (12% of the total number of articles) met the definition of experimental, and 136 articles (52% of the total number of articles) met the definition of nonexperimental. Four research articles disseminated results from randomized-control clinical trials. The number of articles reporting experimental research did not show a significant increase during the 15-year period.


CONCLUSIONS
Pediatric Physical Therapy is a major source of information, including evidence-based research, for pediatric physical therapists, meeting the demand of therapists to base clinical decisions on research.
Svien
Lana
L
Department of Physical Therapy, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, South Dakota, USA. lsvien@usd.edu
Anderson
Sonya
S
Long
Toby
T
D035843:Biomedical Research / Q000639:trends*; D002648:Child; D006801:Humans; D010506:Periodicals as Topic / Q000639:trends*; D026761:Physical Therapy Specialty; D014481:United States