Clinical reasoning in occupational therapy. A literature review

Abstract

Introduction: Clinical reasoning regulates the processing of information obtained during assessment, facilitating decision-making to implement treatment plans. This area is increasingly relevant to the training of Occupational Therapy students and professionals. Objective: To analyze the literature on clinical reasoning in Occupational Therapy published between 2009 and 2018. Materials and methods: A literature review was conducted on databases, institutional repositories, monographs and related grey literature. Selection criteria were established to obtain documents that were analyzed subsequently, establishing a set of variables that allowed analyzing the literature. Results: Literature on clinical reasoning in the period studied included 99 publications, which represented more than half of what had been published in the previous 33 years. Clinical reasoning in the teaching field has the greatest impact (41.4%); 52.5% were publications that improved practice with their contributions, reinforcing the development of professional skills and the quality of interventions. Conclusions: The increase of research on clinical reasoning in Occupational Therapy provides this area with knowledge and rigor, thus improving the effectiveness of occupational therapists.