2. What are Educational Interventions?
Education and Training are “types of interventions” in the OTPF-4 (AOTA,
2020)
Education: “Imparting of knowledge and information about occupation,
health, well-being, and participation to enable the client to acquire helpful
behaviors, habits, and routines” (p. 61)
Training: “Facilitation of the acquisition of concrete skills for meeting
specific goals in a real-life, applied situation. In this case, skills refers to
measurable components of function that enable mastery. Training is
differentiated from education by its goal of enhanced performance as
opposed to enhanced understanding, although these goals often go hand
in hand” (p. 61)
3. Let’s Look a Little Closer…
Education: “Imparting of knowledge and information about
occupation, health, well-being, and participation to enable the
client to acquire helpful behaviors, habits, and routines” (p. 61)
Training: “Facilitation of the acquisition of concrete skills for
meeting specific goals in a real-life, applied situation. In this case,
skills refers to measurable components of function that enable
mastery. Training is differentiated from education by its goal of
enhanced performance as opposed to enhanced understanding,
although these goals often go hand in hand” (p. 61)
Cognitive & Affective
Domains
Psychomotor Domain
4. First, Let’s Talk about Outcomes
(Worral & Sopczyk, 2020, p. 654)
Outcome evaluation measures “the changes that result from
teaching and learning”
Some guiding questions:
● “Did the patient who learned a skill before discharge use
that skill correctly once home?
● Did the health professional student who acquired a new
skill…or the health professional staff member who
learned a new skill…demonstrate the ability to
independently perform that skill accurately in practice?”
5. What Outcomes Can We Expect from
Education/Training in OT?
“Helpful behaviors, habits, and routines” (AOTA, 2020, p. 61)
“Enhanced performance” (AOTA, 2020, p. 61)
In other words…
Performance Patterns (AOTA, 2020)
Occupational Performance (AOTA, 2020)
6. What Does Impact Have to Do with
Outcomes?
Impact evaluation determines “the relative effects of education
on the institution or the community” (Worral & Sopczyk, 2020, p.
656)
A primary purpose is to determine cost-worthiness of the
educational intervention
Focused on the goal of teaching/learning
Goes beyond outcome evaluation to measure the effect or worth
of those outcomes
7. What are Some Possible Impacts of
Educational Interventions in OT?
Consider OTPF-4, Table 14: Outcomes (AOTA, 2020, p. 65):
● Occupational performance (long-term)
● Prevention
● Health and wellness
● Quality of life
● Participation
● Role competence
● Well-being
● Occupational justice
8. How Can You Measure Impact?
Some OT/other assessments measure these:
● COPM
● Quality of Life scales
● Role Checklist
Sometimes you need to collect data in other ways:
● Electronic medical records/Documentation review
● Surveys or questionnaires (quantitative or qualitative)
● Focus groups or interviews
● Observation
9. What Do You Need to Measure
Impact? (Worral & Sopczyk, 2020, pp. 656-657)
“Reliable and valid instruments
Trained data collectors
Personnel with research and statistical expertise
Equipment and materials for data collection and analysis
Access to populations who may be culturally and
geographically diverse”
10. Why Measure Impact?
Provides evidence of
positive impact of education -
so that it is
“recognized, valued, and funded”
(Worral & Sopczyk, 2020, p. 657)
11. What are Some Other Benefits of
Impact Evaluation?
Offers information to improve the educational intervention
Understand learner barriers to achieving goals
Determine gaps or errors in design or delivery
methods
Offers information to improve the practitioner’s teaching
skills
Provides a means to advocate for OT
12. What are Some Barriers to Impact
Evaluation?
It is “rarely inexpensive and never quick” (Worral & Sopczyk,
2020, p. 656)
Takes time, money, and research expertise
Impact can seem evident or intuitively beneficial - therefore
difficult to justify evaluating impacts
13. How Can I Evaluate My Educational
Interventions if I Can’t Measure Their
Impact?
Consider total program evaluation or process evaluation
Total program evaluation - likely already happening
Process evaluation - easily available, cheaper, less time-
consuming
Utilize other resources or opportunities
Can learners/users offer feedback?
Can subject matter experts offer feedback?
15. References
American Occupational Therapy Association. (2020).
Occupational therapy practice framework: Domain and
process (4th ed.). American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 72
( Suppl. 2), 1-87.
Worral, P. S. & Sopczyk, D. L. (2020). Evaluation in healthcare
education In S. B. Bastable, P. R. Gramet, D. L. Sopczyk, K.
Jacobs, & M. M. Braungart (Eds.), Health professional as educator:
Principles of teaching and learning (2nd ed., pp. 643-684). Jones &
Bartlett Learning.
