Katherine Berg
PhD PT
Katherine Berg graduated with a BScPT degree from McGill University and practised clinically for over 12 years before completing an MSc degree in Rehabilitation Science and a PhD degree in Epidemiology and Biostatistics at McGill University. Her doctoral research focused on the development and validation of a functional measure of balance. This scale, often cited as Berg Balance Scale or BBS, is widely used in clinical practice and research and has been translated into multiple languages. Following a post-doctoral experience at the Centre for Gerontology and Health Care Research at Brown University, she joined the faculty as Assistant Professor (Research). After 8 years in the US, she moved back to McGill as Associate Professor and Physical Therapy Program Director. In 2004, Dr. Berg became Chair, Department of Physical Therapy at the University of Toronto. Over the next 10 years she also served as Rehabilitation Sector Chair and Chair of the Graduate Department of Rehabilitation Science (now renamed Rehabilitation Sciences Sector). Dr. Berg has had an active research career focused on measurement of outcomes and improving patient care through improved health information. She is a fellow of interRAI (www.interrai.org) and within this organization is a member of the Instrument and System Development Committee and leads the post-acute/rehabilitation working group.
Research & Scholarly Activities
Dr. Berg’s research continues to focus generally on improving outcomes with better use of health information. Research questions relate to changes over time or across settings such as home care, post-acute, complex care and long-term care as each of these settings uses assessments that have common elements. Recent publications have examined the effect of covid on instrumental activities of daily living among home care clients and on continence predictors and outcomes in complex continuing care.
Appointments
- Professor Emerita
Publications
- Quality Changes after Implementation of an Episode of Care Model with Strict Criteria for Physical Therapy in Ontario's Long-Term Care Homes. McArthur C, Hirdes J, Chaurasia A, Berg K, Giangregorio L. Health Serv Res. 2018 Dec;53(6):4863-4885. doi: 10.1111/1475-6773.13020. Epub 2018 Aug 9. PMID: 30091461 Free PMC article.
- Resident-Level Factors Associated with Hospitalization Rates for Newly Admitted Long-Term Care Residents in Canada: A Retrospective Cohort Study. McArthur C, Rostami M, Saarela O, Suria MO, Feng C, Berg K. Can J Aging. 2019 Dec;38(4):441-448. doi: 10.1017/S0714980818000715. PMID: 30761965
- Colombian Physiotherapists’ Use of Functional Outcome Measures in Their Practice Cristian Renteria, Katherine Berg. Physiother Can. 2019 Summer; 71(3): 239–249. doi: 10.3138/ptc.2018-31. PMCID: PMC6830421
- Examining the Effect of the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Home Care Recipients' Instrumental Activities of Daily Living Capacity. McArthur C, Faller-Saunders A, Turcotte LA, Joanna Sinn CL, Berg K, Morris JN, Hirdes JP. J Am Med Dir Assoc. 2022 Jun 27:S1525-8610(22)00473-X. doi: 10.1016/j.jamda.2022.06.015. Online ahead of print. PMID: 35843290 Free PMC article.
- Social Engagement and Distress Among Home Care Recipients During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Ontario, Canada: A Retrospective Cohort Study. McArthur C, Turcotte LA, Sinn CJ, Berg K, Morris JN, Hirdes JP. J Am Med Dir Assoc. 2022 Jul;23(7):1101-1108. doi: 10.1016/j.jamda.2022.04.005. Epub 2022 Apr 18. PMID: 35577010 Free PMC article.
- Changes in Urinary Continence After Admission to a Complex Care Setting: A Multistate Transition Model. Northwood M, Turcotte LA, McArthur C, Egbujie BA, Berg K, Boscart VM, Heckman GA, Hirdes JP, Wagg AS. J Am Med Dir Assoc. 2022 Jul 20:S1525-8610(22)00477-7. doi: 10.1016/j.jamda.2022.06.019. Online ahead of print. PMID: 35870485
- Examining the Effect of the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Home Care Recipients' Instrumental Activities of Daily Living Capacity. McArthur C, Faller-Saunders A, Turcotte LA, Chi-Ling J S, Berg K, Morris JN, Hirdes JP. J Am Med Dir Assoc. 2022 Jun 27:S1525-8610(22)00473-X. doi: 10.1016/j.jamda.2022.06.015. Online ahead of print. PMID: 35843290 Free PMC article.