A Year's Worth of Research

 

    

    Cue the confetti! I'm finally done with our Evidence-Based Practice class! A year and a half of constant research and breaking down articles, I present to you our group research: Sensory Interventions for Reducing Outbursting Behaviors Seen in Children with Autism Who Were Exposed to Drugs in Utero. 

    We started our EBP class in the Spring of 2023 doing research with our own PICO Question. My question being: Is swinging more effective than weighted vest in decreasing self- stimming behaviors in Autistic children who have been exposed to Acetaminophen in utero? 

    I wanted to dive deep into this topic due to my interest of Acetaminophen exposure in the utero. I am someone who turns heavily to over-the-counter drugs such as Tylenol for any pain I feel. And as a woman who plans to start a family in the future, I started to wonder-- does acetaminophen actually play a role in pregnant women? Does it affect the baby? I felt a personal connection with this topic and knew it would be interesting to look into. With the help of my EBP professor, I was exploring reasons on how this research could benefit OT's. I wanted to direct this research to the pediatric population and inform mothers regarding the pros and cons of taking acetaminophen during pregnancy as well as inform pediatric practitioners on the effects this drug might have on children diagnosed with autism. I had a pretty lengthy PICO question with a lot to unpack, but this was something I was ready to take on. 

     Our EBP class consisted of us finding articles about our PICO question and then what it would be like to hypothetically go through the process of publishing our work. As tedious as this class was, I definitely learned a lot. I became quick at citing work with APA and understanding the parts of research articles. Once we completed the process and finished our research paper, we were given the choice of getting with people who had similar questions as the one we had and combining our work to come up with one big poster presentation. I grouped up with two other classmates who looked at different parts of the question and opened my mind up to a different aspect of my own question. We went from comparing the interventions of swinging and weighted vests, two common interventions used in the pediatric field, and comparing two types of drugs affecting pregnant women, acetaminophen and SSRI. It was tough to come to terms with not having a definite answer to our question, but that's the reason we do research. To be able to come up with questions and have data to find credible answers to the population we are trying to reach. 

    The final part of our EBP course was creating a poster and presenting it in our plaza. We had all types of people come up to us asking about our posters. In the grand scheme of things, we actually knew a lot about our topic than we thought. I felt super proud knowing I was able to gather this data and create a poster for all to see. I am even proud to say we are given the opportunity to present our work at the upcoming TNOTA state conference in Nashville, TN this September! I'm super excited to be able to present on a topic I feel passionate about and feel like a real OT with the research experience. As nerdy as this sounds, I actually love conferences. I've always wanted to go to a TNOTA conference as a student because I feel like that's an opportunity I should take on while being in OT school. I can't wait for what's to come and take on the knowledge I learned from this class as well as the research I found, and be able to apply that within my practice!