Abstract
Objective
To explore rehabilitation professionals' experiences and perspectives of barriers
and facilitators to implementing the Rehabilitation Treatment Specification System
(RTSS) in research, education, and clinical care.
Design
A cross-sectional survey with free text and binary responses was completed by rehabilitation
professionals. Survey data were analyzed with a deductive approach of directed content
analysis using 2 implementation science frameworks: Consolidated Framework for Implementation
Research (CFIR) and the Expert Recommendations for Implementing Change (ERIC).
Setting
Rehabilitation professionals across research, educational, and clinical settings.
Participants
One hundred and eleven rehabilitation professionals—including speech-language pathologists,
occupational therapists, physical therapists, physicians, psychologists, researchers,
and clinic directors—who explored possible uses or applications of the RTSS for clinical
care, education, or research (N=111).
Interventions
Not applicable.
Main Outcome Measures
Frequency of reported CFIR barriers and facilitators, as well as keywords related
to CFIR and ERIC constructs.
Results
The barriers and facilitating strategies differed according to the end-users’ intended
use, that is, research, education, or clinical. Overall, the 4 most frequently encountered
CFIR barriers were the RTSS's complexity, a lack of available RTSS resources, reduced
access to knowledge and information about the RTSS, and limited knowledge and beliefs
about the RTSS. The ERIC-CFIR matching tool identified 7 ERIC strategies to address
these barriers, which include conducting educational meetings, developing and distributing
educational materials, accessing new funding, capturing and sharing local knowledge,
identifying and preparing champions, and promoting adaptability.
Conclusions
When attempting to use the RTSS, rehabilitation professionals commonly encountered
barriers to understanding and skillfully using the framework. Theory-driven implementation
strategies have been identified that have potential for addressing the RTSS's complexity
and lack of educational and skill-building resources. Future work can develop the
identified implementation strategies and evaluate their effects on RTSS implementation.
Key words
List of abbreviations:
CFIR (Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research), ERIC (Expert Recommendations for Implementing Change), OT (occupational therapist), PT (physical therapist), RTSS (Rehabilitation Treatment Specification System), SLP (speech language pathologist)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: October 25, 2022
Accepted:
September 30,
2022
Received in revised form:
September 26,
2022
Received:
April 30,
2022
Publication stage
In Press Journal Pre-ProofFootnotes
This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders and the Office of the Director's Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research via Grant R21 DC016124 (PI: Dr Jarrad Van Stan). The article's contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH. The funders had no role in the preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript, or the decision to submit the manuscript for publication.
Disclosures: Jarrad Van Stan and John Whyte are 2 of 9 copyright holders for the Manual for Rehabilitation Treatment Specification. All other authors declare no competing interests. We certify that no party having a direct interest in the results of the research supporting this article has or will confer a benefit on us or on any organization with which we are associated AND we certify that all financial and material support for this research is clearly identified in the title page of the manuscript.
Identification
Copyright
© 2022 by the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine.
