Occupational therapists' practice patterns for clients with cognitive impairment following acquired brain injury: development of a questionnaire

Clients with cognitive impairment following acquired brain injury (CIABI) are a common group to receive occupational therapy services. Research has shown that occupational therapy has a positive effect on occupational performance for these clients, but the exact nature of the interventions is not clearly described and needs to be better understood and defined. The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate an empirically derived questionnaire for the purpose of surveying occupational therapists' (OTs') practice patterns in relation to CIABI. The questionnaire was developed from the results of a former qualitative study. It was evaluated for content validity by a group of six OT researchers with experience in CIABI, using the content validity index (CVI). Reliability was evaluated by a test-retest design with a group of 51 OTs. Data were analysed by non-parametric statistical methods. Initially the questionnaire consisted of 90 items dealing with OT practice and nine demographic questions. After the reliability and content validity process the OT practice items were reduced to 44. The revised questionnaire will be used to survey and explicitly describe occupational therapy practice for clients with CIABI.