An OT department studied the development of psychomotor skills for students. The aim of the study was to determine whether the introduction to opportunities to self-evaluate better prepared students for psychomotor performance during clinical fieldwork. A quantitative longitudinal design was utilized with a control group and an intervention group that were introduced to opportunities one-year prior to fieldwork. The results demonstrated that student's require deliberate opportunities with feedback to practice self-evaluation skills in the early years of study. The article states that these deliberate opportunities allow students to develop skills such as problem solving, reasoning and integration of information.
This supports the early supervision of students and clinical educators in order to develop and enhance skills learned throughout the didactic portion of their education.

The study was designed to investigate the relationship between intuition and emotional intelligence. A survey design with self-reported data was chosen to investigate the preference of Australian occupational therapists practicing in mental health for the use of intuition or emotional intelligence. Intuition was defined as knowledge that was immediate and accessed without a conscious awareness of reasoning intuition. This construct was measured by CSI (lower levels indicate a preference for an intuitive cognitive style of practice) and emotional intelligence was measured by SUEIT. There was no significant difference found for CSI scores for gender. Mean CSI scores differed significantly in regards to level of experience between novice and experienced therapists. SUEIT scores also showed significant differences between novice and experienced therapists. Also lower CSI scores were associated with higher overall SUEIT scores meaning higher EI is associated with an intuitive cognitive style. This study suggests that developing occupational therapists' abilities associated with EI, either individually or in supervision, could enhance practice by encouraging the effective use of intuition in clinical reasoning.

https://ajot.aota.org/article.aspx?articleid=1853025

A model develop by Borgetto et al. in 2007 was expanded and is presented in this research. The model is referred to as the Research Pyramid and its purpose it to better represent an evidence-based medicine and clinical reasoning in occupational therapy. In the original single hierarchy model the focus is on blinded, RCTs and meta-analyses of this information as the highest levels above qualitative research. The model redesigns the levels to equalize descriptive, experimental, outcome and qualitative research as equal with level 1 being meta-analyses or systematic reviews of each research design. The researchers state this design more aptly aligns with the clinical reasoning demands of occupational therapy, as there are many contexts involved in holistic, client-centered care. It is said that the three sides of the pyramid closely align with procedural reasoning, interactive reasoning and conditional reasoning. This model recognizes that certain questions in occupational therapy can only be answered by particular methods of design. The model proposes a more comprehensive "mega-synthesis" for the literature ultimately impacting evidence based practice, clinical reasoning, and research. The research pyramid is an alternative model of evidence that informs decision making in the field and shows promises to align more closely with the demands of the profession it seeks to inform.