EBP in psychiatric OT should be strengthened.

475 Evidence-based practice recently has been an important theme in health care services. Literature in the area of psychiatry has proliferated. Beginning with the January issue of Psychiatric Services in 2001, a regular column has run on evidence-based practices in different aspects of psychiatry. Themes of the column have been severe mental illness (Torrey et al., 2001), routine mental health services (Drake et al., 2001), and adolescent mental health services (Hoagwood, Burns, Kiser, Ringeisen, & Schoenwald, 2001). In its simplest version, evidence-based practice means the implementation of interventions that research has shown to be effective (Bond et al., 2001). Although research recently has been given more and more emphasis in the occupational therapy profession, research output and related literature seem to be not evenly distributed among different fields in our profession. An initial survey of articles, including features, case reports, and brief reports, published in The American Journal of Occupational Therapy (AJOT) in 2001 pointed to the same impression (see Table 1). Research articles clustered in the fields of physical disabilities and children. I fully understand that the number of articles appearing in the journal may not represent the number of submissions. It may depend on other factors such as the quality of submissions, the strategic direction of the editorial board, and reader interest. Similarly, the number of submissions does not necessarily reflect the quantity and quality of research activities in the field. It may depend on the culture of the professional communities, whether they are willing and ready for submitting quality manuscripts to prestigious journals. Any way, the lack of research literature should be brought to the attention of occupational therapists working in the field of psychiatry. I am an occupational therapy professor with teaching and research activities based in Hong Kong. Similar to people in other professions, I keep myself international and up to date by reading and collaborating with researchers around the world. As a researcher in mental health practice, I am impressed by recent advances in American psychiatric rehabilitation, such as supported employment, social skills training, and assertive community treatment. I performed research and published related articles about how occupational therapists in China could implement evidencebased practices based on previous research efforts in the United States (e.g., Tsang & Chan, 2002; Tsang & Pearson, 2000). However, I found that research reports in psychiatric occupational therapy are extremely scarce. Using the same example as that shown in Table 1, only two original articles (McNulty & Fisher, 2001; Rebeiro, Day, Semeniuk, O’Brien, & Wilson, 2001) on occupational therapy in mental health were published in AJOT in 2001. Occupational therapists have a long history in working with persons with mental illness. However, the role may not be fully recognized by other professionals because of the lack of evidence-based literature. Occupational therapists practicing in the field or having an interest in psychiatry, including myself, need to rethink their role in the new millennium, where evidence-based practices dominate the philosophy of the multidisciplinary team in psychiatry. Although we can continue to claim that we have a role in innovative treatment modalities, such as supported employment, such claim is insufficient in the era of evidence-based practice. We need to demonstrate our competencies to our non–occupational therapy colleagues through research activities. Hector W. H. Tsang, PhD Department of Rehabilitation Sciences The Hong Kong Polytechnic University References