What is the evidence regarding occupational therapy interventions to improve handwriting in children aged 6-11 years old?

non-peer-reviewedIn our current age of technology, children are being primed towards computers and handwriting is becoming a lost art. Handwriting is a primary occupation of school aged children with up to 50% of the school day spent in pencil paper activities (Marr et al., 2003). Handwriting difficulties are the most common reason for referral to occupational therapy and as such there is a need to measure the effectiveness of occupational therapy interventions in remediation of these difficulties. This critically appraised topic (CAT) aims to examine the effectiveness of occupational therapy interventions regarding handwriting difficulties in six to eleven year old children. A comprehensive search of the allied health literature was conducted using the following seven databases: MEDLINE, CINAHL, COCHRANE DATABASE, EMBASE, AMED, ERIC, and PsychINFO . 299 articles were retrieved for consideration of which nine met the inclusion and exclusion criteria. These studies which comprised of one systematic review, six non-randomised control trials and two non-randomised control trials were assessed for methodological rigour using McMaster’s Critical Review for Quantitative Studies. Overall, the findings demonstrate inconclusive results due to the variety of interventions and varying assessment tools used to measure effectiveness. However, the findings highlight the need for the development of on occupation-based assessment tool to measure effectiveness of handwriting interventions in this age population. The implications for occupational therapy and areas for future research are identified