Location

Schroeder Complex Room 112

Start Date

26-3-2010 11:45 AM

Document Type

Event

End Date

26-3-2010 12:15 PM

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: The objectives of the study are to (1) document the incidence of veterans who prematurely terminate physical therapy before medically indicated, and (2) identify reliable predictors of treatment retention and attrition. The potential benefit of this study is the identification of reliable variables that predict who is at risk for terminating physical therapy prematurely, which may lead to targeted interventions designed to increase treatment retention. RESEARCH DESIGN: This study will be a retrospective design involving a review of medical records of veterans receiving referral to physical therapy. METHODOLOGY: Multinomial logistic regression (MLR) will be used to examine the effects of patient variables (e.g,. demographics), illness variables (e.g., symptom severity, functional impairment), and treatment variables (e.g., length and frequency of sessions) on treatment retention status (i.e., successful completion, premature termination with good reason, or premature termination without good reason). Because this study involves a review of records, there is no clinic setting in which participants are recruited. However, patient cases to be reviewed involve those referred for physical therapy, regardless of on which inpatient unit they reside. Approximately 300-800 patient cases will be reviewed, to remain consistent with the literature on studies using MLR. Patient cases will be selected if they meet the following inclusion criteria (1) referred for physical therapy; (2) cognitively intact at time of referral (i.e., no indication of delirium or dementia); (3) able to make medical decisions (i.e., no activated DPOA); and not actively dying (i.e., no Karnofski Performance Scale score below 30). No a priori hypotheses are provided as this study is exploratory. Implications for research results will be discussed.

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Mar 26th, 11:45 AM Mar 26th, 12:15 PM

Predictors of Retention in Physical Therapy: Client-, Disease-, and Treatment-related Factors

Schroeder Complex Room 112

OBJECTIVES: The objectives of the study are to (1) document the incidence of veterans who prematurely terminate physical therapy before medically indicated, and (2) identify reliable predictors of treatment retention and attrition. The potential benefit of this study is the identification of reliable variables that predict who is at risk for terminating physical therapy prematurely, which may lead to targeted interventions designed to increase treatment retention. RESEARCH DESIGN: This study will be a retrospective design involving a review of medical records of veterans receiving referral to physical therapy. METHODOLOGY: Multinomial logistic regression (MLR) will be used to examine the effects of patient variables (e.g,. demographics), illness variables (e.g., symptom severity, functional impairment), and treatment variables (e.g., length and frequency of sessions) on treatment retention status (i.e., successful completion, premature termination with good reason, or premature termination without good reason). Because this study involves a review of records, there is no clinic setting in which participants are recruited. However, patient cases to be reviewed involve those referred for physical therapy, regardless of on which inpatient unit they reside. Approximately 300-800 patient cases will be reviewed, to remain consistent with the literature on studies using MLR. Patient cases will be selected if they meet the following inclusion criteria (1) referred for physical therapy; (2) cognitively intact at time of referral (i.e., no indication of delirium or dementia); (3) able to make medical decisions (i.e., no activated DPOA); and not actively dying (i.e., no Karnofski Performance Scale score below 30). No a priori hypotheses are provided as this study is exploratory. Implications for research results will be discussed.