100 Most Influential OT Research Articles

Learn how we review the most influential occupational therapy research. And, see our 2024 list of the most influential OT-related journal articles.

OT research articles reviewed in the ot potential club

How OT Potential helps you keep up with new research

Approximately 1,000 research articles containing OT are published EACH YEAR. That means roughly 5,000 articles have come out over the past five years!

As busy clinicians, we obviously don’t have time to keep up on all of the evidence. But, we do owe it to our patients to stay on top of the most influential research. 

In our membership community, The OT Potential Club, we find and review the most influential research for you. In our two week rotation, we first share a written review of the research and give you space to discuss it. Then the follow week, we release an episode of the OT Potential Podcast, where we invite an expert guest to help us pull out actionable takeaways. These episodes are AOTA approved courses.

See the process in the video below. You can also sign up for a free trial to see our platform!

See sample journal article reviews and take 2 free CEU courses
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How we select OT research to review

Each year to determine the most influential research for us to review we generated a list the 100 most influential OT-related journal articles from the past 5 yeras.

We team up with a research librarian to make this happen. 

For our 2024 list, we searched the Scopus database for articles published from 2019-2023 that had “occupational therapy” included in either the title, abstract, or keywords. (By the way, Elsevier’s Scopus is the largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature.) Then, we ranked the list by the number of times the articles had been cited in other journal articles.

The articles with green check marks have already been discussed in the OT Potential Club, and we will continue to work through this list throughout 2024.

To see research we’ve reviewed from past years’ lists check our article, research in the OT Potential Club.

The 100 most cited OT articles from the past five years

✅ = Already reviewed in the OT Potential Club and featured as CEU course on the OT Potential Podcast
  1. ✅ Diagnosis and Treatment of Parkinson Disease: A Review (2020) JAMA – Journal of the American Medical Association
  2. ✅ State of the Evidence Traffic Lights 2019: Systematic Review of Interventions for Preventing and Treating Children with Cerebral Palsy (2020) Current Neurology and Neuroscience Reports
  3. ✅ In the Clinic®: Rheumatoid Arthritis (2019) Annals of Internal Medicine
  4. ✅ American College of Rheumatology/National Psoriasis Foundation Guideline for the Treatment of Psoriatic Arthritis (2019) Arthritis and Rheumatology
  5. Spinocerebellar ataxia (2019) Nature Reviews Disease Primers
  6. Considering the potential for an increase in chronic pain after the COVID-19 pandemic (2020) Pain
  7.  Occupational Therapy Practice Framework: Domain and Process-Fourth Edition (2020) American Journal of Occupational Therapy
  8.  American College of Rheumatology/Arthritis Foundation Guideline for the Treatment of Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (2019) Arthritis Care and Research
  9. Outpatient Physical, Occupational, and Speech Therapy Synchronous Telemedicine; A Survey Study of Patient Satisfaction with Virtual Visits during the COVID-19 Pandemic (2020) American Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
  10. Secondary Fracture Prevention: Consensus Clinical Recommendations from a Multistakeholder Coalition (2020) Journal of Bone and Mineral Research
  11. Long-Term Effects of Breast Cancer Surgery, Treatment, and Survivor Care (2019) Journal of Midwifery and Women’s Health
  12. Cerebral palsy in children: A clinical overview (2020) Translational Pediatrics
  13. ✅ Depression in neurodegenerative diseases: Common mechanisms and current treatment options (2019) Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews
  14. ✅ Effectiveness of paediatric occupational therapy for children with disabilities: A systematic review (2019) Australian Occupational Therapy Journal
  15. Pediatric Teleheath: Opportunities Created by the COVID-19 and Suggestions to Sustain Its Use to Support Families of Children with Disabilities (2021) Physical and Occupational Therapy in Pediatrics
  16. ✅ Effect of Specific Over Nonspecific VR-Based Rehabilitation on Poststroke Motor Recovery: A Systematic Meta-analysis (2019) Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair
  17. Benefits of pulmonary rehabilitation in covid-19 – a prospective observational cohort study (2021) ERJ Open Res
  18. Emerging health challenges for children with physical disabilities and their parents during the COVID-19 pandemic: The ECHO French survey (2021) Annals of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine
  19. Cerebral palsy: An overview (2020) American Family Physician
  20. Complex regional pain syndrome: a narrative review for the practising clinician (2019) British Journal of Anaesthesia
  21. Social Isolation – The Other COVID-19 Threat in Nursing Homes (2020) JAMA – Journal of the American Medical Association
  22. ✅ Constraint-induced movement therapy in children with unilateral cerebral palsy (2019) Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
  23. Assessment of Emergency Department and Inpatient Use and Costs in Adult and Pediatric Functional Neurological Disorders (2021) JAMA Neurology
  24. Canadian guideline for Parkinson disease (2019) CMAJ
  25. A systematic review of ayres sensory integration intervention for children with autism (2019) Autism Research
  26. Professional identity: A concept analysis (2020) Nursing Forum
  27. Sepsis-associated encephalopathy and septic encephalitis (2021) Expert Review of Anti-Infective Therapy
  28. Diagnosis and management of functional neurological disorder (2022) BMJ
  29. ✅ Non-pharmacological interventions for spasticity in adults: An overview of systematic reviews (2019) Annals of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine
  30. Elements virtual rehabilitation improves motor, cognitive, and functional outcomes in adult stroke (2019) Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation
  31. Clinical Neurorestorative Therapeutic Guidelines for Spinal Cord Injury (2020) Journal of Orthopaedic Translation
  32. Immersive Virtual Reality Mirror Therapy for Upper Limb Recovery after Stroke: A Pilot Study (2019) American Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
  33. Best-evidence for the rehabilitation of chronic pain part 1: Pediatric pain (2019) Journal of Clinical Medicine
  34. Developmental delay: Identification and management at primary care level (2019) Singapore Medical Journal
  35. ✅Occupational therapy consensus recommendations for functional neurological disorder (2020) Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry
  36. One year in review 2019: Systemic sclerosis (2019) Clinical and Experimental Rheumatology
  37. Personalized medicine for patients with COPD: Where are we? (2019) International Journal of COPD
  38. Association of Geriatric Comanagement and 90-Day Postoperative Mortality among Patients Aged 75 Years and Older with Cancer (2020) JAMA Network Open
  39. Immersive Virtual Reality for the Management of Pain in Community-Dwelling Older Adults (2019) OTJR Occupation, Participation and Health
  40. Nonpharmacological Interventions to Improve Depression, Anxiety, and Quality of Life (QoL) in People With Dementia (2020) Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry and Neurology
  41. Occupational therapy for people with dementia and their family carers provided at home (2019) BMJ Open
  42. Decade of progress in motor functional neurological disorder: Continuing the momentum (2021) Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry
  43. Management of Osteogenesis Imperfecta (2020) Frontiers in Endocrinology
  44. Multiple sclerosis management during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020) Multiple Sclerosis Journal
  45. Parent perspectives of an occupational therapy telehealth intervention (2019) International Journal of Telerehabilitation
  46. Breast cancer in adolescent and young adult women under the age of 40 years (2021) JCO oncology practice
  47. Effects of telerehabilitation in occupational therapy practice: A systematic review (2019) Hong Kong Journal of Occupational Therapy
  48. Awareness and current knowledge of Parkinson’s disease: a neurodegenerative disorder (2019) International Journal of Neuroscience
  49. Cognitive reserve and age predict cognitive recovery after mild to severe traumatic brain injury (2019) Journal of Neurotrauma
  50. Cognitive training for people with mild to moderate dementia (2019) Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
  51. Physical Rehabilitation in Critically Ill Children: A Multicenter Point Prevalence Study in the United States (2020) Critical Care Medicine
  52. Quality of life and its related factors for adults with autism spectrum disorder (2019) Disability and Rehabilitation
  53. Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Is a Team Sport: Institutional Survival Benefits of a Formalized ECMO Team (2019) Journal of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Anesthesia
  54. ✅Motor learning in neurological rehabilitation (2021) Disability and rehabilitation
  55. Guidelines on the diagnosis and management of the progressive ataxias (2019) Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases
  56. Construct validity, test-retest reliability, and the ability to detect change of the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure in a spinal cord injury population (2019) Spinal cord series and cases
  57. Telerehabilitation During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Outpatient Rehabilitation Settings (2021) Physical Therapy
  58. Loss in services precedes high school exit for teens with autism spectrum disorder (2019) Autism Research
  59. Construct validity of a revised version of the Occupational Balance Questionnaire (2020) Scandinavian Journal of Occupational Therapy
  60. Telehealth for the provision of occupational therapy: Reflections on experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020) International Journal of Telerehabilitation
  61. Treatment patterns in children with autism in the United States (2019) Autism Research
  62. Stroke self-management and the role of self-efficacy (2021) Disability and rehabilitation
  63. Occupational therapy in the promotion of health and well-being (2020) The American Journal of Occupational Therapy
  64. Toward a theory-based specification of non-pharmacological treatments in aging and dementia (2020) Alzheimer’s & Dementia
  65. Efficacy of Virtual Reality Combined With Real Instrument Training for Patients With Stroke: A Randomized Controlled Trial (2019) Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
  66. Relationships between job satisfaction, burnout, professional identity and meaningfulness of work activities for occupational therapists working in mental health (2019) Australian Occupational Therapy Journal
  67. Potential benefits of music playing in stroke upper limb motor rehabilitation (2020) Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews
  68. Evaluation of pelvis postural systems in spinal cord injury patients: Outcome research (2020) Journal of Spinal Cord Medicine
  69. A review of interprofessional training wards: Enhancing student learning and patient outcomes (2019) Medical Teacher
  70. Effects of virtual reality-based planar motion exercises on upper extremity function, range of motion, and health-related quality of life (2019) Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitation
  71. What is the threshold dose of upper limb training for children with cerebral palsy to improve function? A systematic review (2020) Australian occupational therapy journal
  72. ✅ Cognitive outcomes and positional plagiocephaly (2019) Pediatrics
  73. COVID-19 and Cerebrovascular Diseases: A Systematic Review and Perspectives for Stroke Management (2020) Frontiers in Neurology
  74. The use of augmented reality for rehabilitation after stroke: a narrative review (2020) Disability and rehabilitation. Assistive technology
  75. ✅ The Distributed Nociceptive System: A Framework for Understanding Pain (2020) Trends in Neurosciences
  76. Flexor tendon rehabilitation in the 21st century: A systematic review (2019) Journal of Hand Therapy
  77. An intervention to reduce neuropsychiatric symptoms and caregiver burden in dementia: Preliminary results from a randomized trial of the tailored activity program–outpatient version (2019) International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry
  78. Pharmacological and non-pharmacological therapeutic strategies in difficult-to-treat rheumatoid arthritis: A systematic literature review informing the EULAR recommendations for the management of difficult-to-treat rheumatoid arthritis (2021) RMD open
  79. Patient satisfaction with telehealth in rural settings: A systematic review (2020) International journal of telerehabilitation
  80. Physical, occupational, and speech therapy for children with cerebral palsy (2020) Developmental medicine and child neurology
  81. Enhanced recovery after surgery trends in adult spine surgery: A systematic review (2020) International journal of spine surgery
  82. Impact of Sarcopenia on Adverse Outcomes after Allogeneic Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation (2019) Journal of the National Cancer Institute
  83. Optimal Terminology for Services in the United States That Incorporate Horses to Benefit People: A Consensus Document (2021) Journal of alternative and complementary medicine
  84. Improving the quality of life of people with advanced respiratory disease and severe breathlessness (2019) Breathe
  85. Comparative efficacy of interventions for reducing symptoms of depression in people with dementia: Systematic review and network meta-analysis (2021) BMJ (Clinical research ed.)
  86. ✅ Profiles and Predictors of Smart Home Technology Adoption by Older Adults (2019) OTJR Occupation, Participation and Health
  87. Contributing to social transformation through occupation: Experiences from a think tank (2019) Journal of Occupational Science
  88. Moving from cultural competence to cultural humility in occupational therapy: A paradigm shift (2020) The American journal of occupational therapy
  89. Virtual reality in neurorehabilitation: An umbrella review of meta-analyses (2021) Journal of clinical medicine
  90. Recommendations for the Nonpharmacological Treatment of Apathy in Brain Disorders (2020) The American journal of geriatric psychiatry
  91. Evidence-based practice implementation in stroke rehabilitation: A scoping review of barriers and facilitators (2020) The American journal of occupational therapy
  92. Treatment of neuropathic pain after peripheral nerve and brachial plexus traumatic injury (2019) Neurology India
  93. Cultural competency and the reproduction of White supremacy in occupational therapy education (2020) Health Education Journal
  94. Rural-urban disparities in health care costs and health service utilization following pediatric mild traumatic brain injury (2019) Health services research
  95. ✅ Complex Regional Pain Syndrome: Practical Diagnostic and Treatment Guidelines, 5th Edition (2022) Pain medicine
  96. Interventions to improve upper limb function for children with bilateral cerebral palsy: a systematic review (2019) Developmental medicine and child neurology
  97. ✅ Re-imagining occupational therapy clients as communities: Presenting the community-centred practice framework (2019) Scandinavian journal of occupational therapy
  98. Occupational therapy, everyday life and the fabric of life: Theoretical-conceptual contributions for the construction of critical and emancipatory perspectives (2020) Cadernos Brasileiros de Terapia Ocupacional
  99. Hyperphosphatemic Tumoral Calcinosis: Pathogenesis, Clinical Presentation, and Challenges in Management (2020) Frontiers in Endocrinology
  100. Early versus delayed mobilization for in-hospital mortality and health-related quality of life among critically ill patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis (2019) Journal of intensive care

Need help accessing these articles?

As you can see, each of the articles in our list is hyperlinked for your convenience—and I’m always surprised by how many research articles are free! However, if you find one that is not free, you can also see if it’s available via your AOTA membership in AJOT or via ProQuest with your NBCOT membership. You can read more about these options in our blog post on where to find OT research.

All that being said, some articles you may simply have to purchase. 

Resources derived from our OT research list

As we spend time exploring this research, we’ll continue to systematically pull information that is helpful for OTs. Check out these other blog posts, which incorporate information we find in our research:

Conclusion

We hope this list fills you with excitement for occupational therapy—and the research that is driving it. And, we hope you consider joining us in our favorite corner of the internet…the OT Potential Club. 🙂

Join the OT Potential Club

13 replies on “100 Most Influential OT Research Articles”

Sarah,

Thanks for taking the time to research and share these articles, I live by and truly believe that Team Work Makes a Dream Work!
I look forward to our club and please count me in 🙂
One way that I would keep up with the latest and greatest was having mini lunch time discussions with my therapy pals. We would switch off who was responsible to bring in an article and share what we learned but most importantly how we can apply it. I think if more DOR could get behind these groups this would make big impacts in our daily practices.
Look forward to your next blog! Aloha
<3

Hey Monica!!

I am so excited to hangout with you in the OT Potential Club, and talk about ways to apply new research! I agree that lunch time journal clubs are such a great tool for departments. Hopefully the OT Potential Club will make preparing content for these even easier!

Thank you so much for all your support! (And please send some of your warm weather to those of us in the Midwest!)

  • Sarah

Hi Sarah,

As a future OT student, I’m curious if you have any insight into the following question. As I read about advancements in childhood development research, it strikes me that OT’s are often not included in these discussions. For instance, I went to a Brookings Institution panel on "A prescription for play" (https://www.brookings.edu/blog/education-plus-development/2018/08/21/a-prescription-for-play/) and it would have been great to have an OT on the panel since they work "on the ground" with children. As neuroscience continues to break ground on new issues related to childhood development (i.e. the brain and trauma), why aren’t OT’s being included in these discussions? Is it because they are considered practitioners and not researchers?

  • Laura

Hi Laura, You’ve stumbled onto a huge problem here, and it isn’t specific to OT. One often cited study showed that it takes about 17 YEARS for new medical knowledge to be adopted into practice (and even then only a fraction of best practices actually get adopted.) There is clearly a disconnect between academia and practitioners on the ground. To solve the complex challenges of today and the future, we certainly need new tools and bridge builders to help us shorten this gap!

Thanks – this is helpful to know. And I’m glad it’s just a problem with OT, because it had me wondering what the issue was.

Hi Laura. As Sarah stated, you’ve stumbled upon a huge problem, that I think IS specific to occupational therapy. The medical and research communities (and general community for that matter) remain under-educated about the existence and value of the occupational therapy profession. We very rarely have a seat at the table, as you recognized. Occupational therapy, though being around for over 100 years, continues to be quite insulated. Although this is changing! In my opinion, AOTA has never done an excellent job of marketing us OUTSIDE the occupational therapy community, and thus hasn’t had the skillset to teach us how to market ourselves. This is a challenge I continue to struggle with but am working solidly towards addressing.

A few strategies I use are to always identify myself as an "occupational therapist," instead of an "OT" and I work in the field of "occupational therapy". I also don’t refer to PT in my definition of what occupational therapy is. A third way I do this is to have an elevator pitch of what occupational therapy is ready at all times.

Hope this helps answer your question 🙂

Ahhh! Thank you! I am consistently inspired by the OT community and can’t wait to hang out with OT practitioners in the OT Potential Club!

I wish there were more exert articles about OT in Mental Health, such a great need for mental health supports now-a-days!

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