Evidence Connection articles provide a clinical application of systematic reviews developed in conjunction with the American Occupational Therapy Association’s (AOTA’s) Evidence-Based Practice Program. In this Evidence Connection article, I describe a case report of a young child receiving early intervention services and outline the occupational therapy evaluation and intervention processes for supporting this child’s activities of daily living in the home and early childhood education setting. Findings from the systematic reviews on this topic were published in the March/April 2020 issue of the American Journal of Occupational Therapy and in AOTA’s Occupational Therapy Practice Guidelines for Early Childhood: Birth–5 Years. Each article in this series summarizes the evidence from the published reviews on a given topic and presents an application of the evidence to a related clinical case. Evidence Connection articles illustrate how the research evidence from the reviews can be used to inform and guide clinical decision making.

Importance: Informal caregivers often receive limited training and support, especially in providing assistance with toileting, a physically and emotionally demanding activity of daily living. This increases caregivers’ risk for physical injury and burnout and jeopardizes older adults’ ability to age in place. Objective: To assess the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of a toileting intervention using an automated bidet to reduce the amount of physical assistance required from caregivers. Design: Randomized wait-list control feasibility study. Setting: Caregiver’s home. Participants: Ten informal caregivers. Intervention: An occupational therapy intervention to educate and train caregiving dyads to use an automated bidet system. Outcomes and Measures: Feasibility was measured in terms of recruitment and retention, bidet installation, ability to operate the bidet, acceptability (a process evaluation), preliminary efficacy (physical barriers and impact on caregiver outcomes of performance, satisfaction, and self-efficacy), and adverse events. Results: All bidets were installed successfully. All caregivers reported that the intervention made toileting easier and increased their confidence. Physical barriers decreased for the treatment group. The bidet had a large effect on self-efficacy for the treatment group. Conclusions and Relevance: The results suggest that the automated bidet intervention is feasible and acceptable and can have a positive impact on caregiver outcomes when assisting with toileting. What This Article Adds: A toileting intervention using an automated bidet is feasible and acceptable for caregivers of older adults and can reduce the amount of physical assistance required from caregivers.

This case report describes the distinct value of occupational therapy services in the treatment of a pediatric patient with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children in an acute care setting. Practice-based evidence was used to design the treatment plan for this patient throughout the course of his hospital stay. Interventions addressed range of motion, strength, functional endurance, activities of daily living (ADLs), instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs), and functional cognition. Occupational therapy goals focused on the progression toward return to baseline functioning and participation in ADLs and IADLs.

Prolonged symptoms from the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), otherwise known as long COVID, postacute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC), or post-COVID syndrome, are affecting an increasingly high number of patients after severe, moderate, and mild acute COVID-19 infections. Using evidence-based practice strategies, this case report describes occupational therapy evaluation and treatment approaches, plan of care, and associated outcomes for one client experiencing long COVID symptoms in the outpatient setting.