Economic Evidence in Occupational Therapy: A Rapid Review.

Only one database was searched, and only studies published from 2000 onwards in English or French were included, so relevant work may have been missed. Over 40% of the studies came from two countries and over 75% from seven industrialised countries, so the economic picture may not transfer to other health systems. In many studies the specific occupational therapy contribution was not described, and the condition was not specified in 23 (17.2%) studies, so the review cannot say which particular occupational therapy approaches save money. The review counts studies, not people, and does not pool participants, so it cannot tell you how many patients the evidence is based on. This review summarises the economic studies that exist; it does not test whether occupational therapy works. The quality scoring tool has no agreed cut-offs for interpreting scores, and two studies could not be scored at all.

The authors state they received no financial support for the research, authorship or publication of the article. The review was carried out as part of a capacity-building project with the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists; representatives of that association helped develop the data extraction template and identified home care and mental health as priority areas for the project.

Do not read this as proof that occupational therapy saves money. The findings across the included studies were highly variable, several found no cost difference or less favourable results, and in around 40% of the studies the specific occupational therapy contribution was not described, so any savings reported cannot be attributed to occupational therapy itself.