Practice style traits: do they help explain practice behaviours of stroke rehabilitation professionals?
BACKGROUND
The gap in knowledge translation from research to clinical practice is under scrutiny in stroke rehabilitation. One possible reason for this gap may be a poor understanding of clinicians' practice style traits and how they influence practice behaviours.


OBJECTIVE
To identify the prevalence of practice style traits in physical therapists and occupational therapists working in stroke rehabilitation and, to explore associations between these traits and practice behaviours, where practice behaviours are defined as the clinicians' reasons for choosing assessments and interventions used in practice. The influence of more traditional personal and organizational factors on practice behaviours was also explored.


METHODS
Cross-sectional survey of a representative random sample of 243 clinicians (117 occupational therapists and 126 physical therapists) working across the continuum of stroke care in Ontario, Canada.


METHODS
A telephone-administered validated clinical practice survey elicited information in 4 areas: practice style traits using the validated Practice Style Questionnaire, therapists' reasons for choosing assessments and interventions (practice behaviours), personal factors and organizational factors.


RESULTS
For both disciplines, the most prevalent trait was pragmatist and the least prevalent was seeker. Seekers were the most likely to use evidence-based reasons for choosing assessments, but this finding did not reach significance (chi2 = 5.430, df = 3; p = 0.14). The most typical reason for choosing an intervention was that the clinician had learned it during professional training, an interesting finding given that approximately half of clinicians had more than 10 years of experience. Of the 21 potential explanatory variables examined, few explained clinicians' reasons for choosing assessments or interventions.


CONCLUSIONS
While understanding practice traits is not going to be the single solution to closing the knowledge translation gap, it may help to guide best practice implementation strategies.
Korner-Bitensky
Nicol
N
Faculty of Medicine, School of Physical and Occupational Therapy, McGill University, 3630 Promenades Sir-William-Osler, Montreal, Quebec H3G 1Y5, Canada. nicol.korner-bitensky@mcgill.ca
Menon-Nair
Anita
A
Thomas
Aliki
A
Boutin
Elizabeth
E
Arafah
Alaa Mohammad
AM
D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004059:Diffusion of Innovation; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D009788:Occupational Therapy / Q000379:methods; D010346:Patient Care Management / Q000379:methods; D026741:Physical Therapy Modalities; D026761:Physical Therapy Specialty; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D000071939:Stroke Rehabilitation; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires