Abstract
Importance: Occupational therapy (OT) practitioners often address complex occupational performance needs of diverse consumers. Professional reasoning, theory, and trial and error interventions can be demonstrated in case studies. Case studies are usually relegated to the lowest level in evidence hierarchies. Yet they have a long tradition in health care literature, and may particularly document the holism, inclusivity, uniqueness, and complexity of OT practice.
Objective: To determine how case studies make a distinct contribution to professional knowledge, using a new model for categorizing them.
Evidence Review: 103 case studies published in AJOT from 1990-2023 were rated by the authors “1” or “2” on features derived from 3 axes: (1) frequency such a case would be encountered in current professional practice (rare = 2), (2) complexity of the causes of the client’s occupational challenges (complex = 2), and (3) complexity of the OT intervention (multidimensional = 2).
Findings: 93.2% of case studies had some feature of novelty or complexity: 35.9% portrayed a rare/novel diagnosis, 63.1% displayed complex problem causes, and 83.5% involved multi-dimensional OT interventions. In 55.3% of the articles both the causes and the interventions were complex.
Conclusions and Relevance: The predominance of novelty/complexity among the articles supports the claim that case studies mostly describe professional decisions and outcomes in those therapy situations that are less amenable to group experimental studies (infrequent/novel, complex causes, complex interventions). The value of the 3-axis model of case studies was supported. Case studies are a distinct source of evidence supporting inclusive, client-centered practice.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.32873/unmc.dc.tso.2.1.03
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Recommended Citation
Tomlin, G. S., Riley, B., Piller, A., McHugh Conlin, J., Cardin, A. D., Serwe, K. M., & Dougherty, D. A. (2025). Value of Case Studies for Translating Evidence in Occupational Therapy: A New 3-Dimensional Model. Translational Science in Occupation, 2(1). https://doi.org/10.32873/unmc.dc.tso.2.1.03
PRISMA for Case Study Selection
Value ofCaseStudiesPlainLangSummary7Feb25.docx (12 kB)
Plain language summary
