Occupational Therapy Journals Research Articles

An international study of diversity in occupational therapy research- A bibliographic review of English research literature.

The cornerstone of a strong profession is the research that supports its knowledge base and practice. However, little is known about the range of international occupational therapy research. To explore the range and diversity of the international occupational therapy research from published peer reviewed literature in English during the year 2018. Limited to 2018, a review was conducted of sources from i) health-related search engines using search terms associated with occupational therapy practice, and ii) content pages of occupational therapy publications. Articles were excluded if they i) had no occupational therapy author, ii) were not peer reviewed, iii) not in English, and iv) did not include primary data collection (e.g., opinion pieces, position statements, study protocols). Of articles selected for analysis, data were extracted and synthesized according to the study's origin country, publishing research journal, the characteristics of the represented research, and its alignment with World Federation of Occupational Therapists research priorities. A total of 4,169 articles were retrieved from the search (i.e., 3,459 from health-related search engines and 710 through a manual search of occupational therapy journals). After exclusions, 2,345 articles were included for analysis. The review identified English published research was predominantly conducted in economically privileged countries. In addition, it revealed several research priorities that need further development such as evaluating the effectiveness of occupational therapy interventions.

Problematization of knowledge and practices in Brazilian occupational therapy: the construction of critical thinking between 1979 and 1996

: This article proposes to present, in a descriptive and analytical way, the historical constitution of critical thinking in Brazilian occupational therapy between 1979 and 1996. It is a theoretical and historical research, which took as its object some key discussions on historical-epistemological foundations of occupational therapy through a reflective and critical reading of texts. The study made use of the previous research database on the national occupational therapy literature from 1956 to 2017 through a scoping review. Books, master's dissertations, abstracts from scientific event annals and articles from national occupational therapy journals were used. The descriptive and analytical presentation of the results is organized into three distinct periods: (i) emergence of the first counter-hegemonic records at the end of the 1970s, published in event annals; (ii) production of critical studies in historical-epistemological foundations, published in master's dissertations and books from 1987 to 1990 and; (iii) critical elaborations on the hegemonic biomedical thought, the institutionalizaton of people and the technical-procedural model, published in occupational therapy journals from 1990 to 1993/6. The historical period between 1979 and 1996 marks the emergence of critical thinking in Brazilian occupational therapy. These elaborations contributed to make visible a certain ethical-political position that would serve as a foundation for the emancipatory practices that would happen in the following decade.

Occupational Concepts: An Underutilized Resource to Further Disabled People and Others Being Occupied: A Scoping Review

Background: Being occupied is an important factor in human well-being and ranges from paid and unpaid work to activities of daily living. Various occupational concepts that do not contain health in the phrase such as “occupational justice” are employed to engage with the social barriers people experience in being occupied. The aim of this study was to understand better to what extent the non-health occupational concepts are used in the academic literature to discuss the social barriers disabled people face in being occupied and whether these occupational concepts are used to enrich discussions in areas that impact the reality of occupation in general such as equity/equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI), science and technology governance, well-being and the impact of environmental issues. Methods: a scoping review of academic abstracts employing SCOPUS, the 70 databases of EBSCO-HOST and Web of Science was performed. Results: We found 24,104 abstracts for the 28 occupational concepts we used in general and 624 abstracts in conjunction with disability terms. Of these 28 occupational concepts, “occupational performance” was mentioned the most (in 9739 of the 24,104 and 397 of the 624 abstracts). The next concept “occupational engagement” was already present in one tenth or less. Occupational justice was present in 700 of the 24,104 and 14 of the 624 abstracts. Furthermore, within the 24,104 and 624 abstracts EDI, science and technology governance, environmental topics, and well-being measures were rarely or not mentioned. Most of the 624 abstracts originated from occupational therapy journals. Only 23 of the 624 abstracts originated from journals with “disability”, and none with “disability studies” in the title. Conclusion: Non-health occupational concepts are underutilized in discourses that focus on decreasing the social barriers to being occupied in general and in relation to disabled people, which is a missed opportunity and should be fixed.

Scopus based bibliometric and scientometric analysis of occupational therapy publications from 2001 to 2020

Background: Occupational therapy (OT) is one of the allied health professions, with its first journals in 1920. The main objective of this study was to find out the publication trend in the field of OT research for the period of 2001-2020 using the principles of bibliometrics and scientometrics. Methods: The data was retrieved from Scopus from the past 20 years (2001-2020). VOSviewer software was used to find year-wise publications in OT-specific and non-OT-specific Journals along with top journals, countries, organisations, authors, cited articles, and highly used keywords. Results: There was a steady growth of OT articles over the past 20 years. Scopus indexes 16 OT-specific journals are identified. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, British Journal of Occupational Therapy Journal, Australian Occupational Therapy Journal, Scandinavian Journal of Occupational Therapy, and Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy are the leading publications and citations. A comparison of OT-specific and non-OT journals inferred that the OT-specific papers are three times more published in non-OT journals. There is a trend in publishing multidisciplinary medical journals than OT journals. The US publishes the most articles, followed by the UK, Australia, Canada, and Germany. Though the US alone produced a considerable number of articles (9517), only five organisations are listed in the top 20, compared to Canada (n=6) and Australia (n=5). Australia represents the highest number of published authors (n=11/20). Canada represents a highly cited author from the top-cited publications. The five common keywords used by OT-authors are "occupational therapy", “rehabilitation”, “stroke”, “physical therapy,” and “activities of daily living”. This study lists top-20 journals along with their CiteScore and Journal Impact Factor. Conclusions: This study will help the budding researchers in OT to select a suitable quality journal for publication and, further, helpful for research promotion, researcher incentivising, grant allocations, and policymakers in the OT field.

Measurement of School Engagement in Elementary School Students: A Scoping Review.

School engagement is the extent to which students commit to and participate in school activities, including internal thoughts, emotions, and observable behaviors. It is critical to children's academic outcomes and mental health. Occupational therapy practitioners support children at school to maintain mental well-being and meet their school outcomes. However, how occupational therapy practitioners should measure school engagement among elementary school students remains unclear. To identify and characterize how elementary school students' school engagement is currently measured. PsycINFO, Eric, CINAHL, and A+ Education databases. Two reviewers screened titles and abstracts, and one reviewer completed full-text screening and data extraction using Excel. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews guided this review. Studies published between 2015 and 2021 were included if full text was available, written in English, and used a measure designed for elementary school-age students. Studies were excluded if they used no school engagement measurement; used only infant, adolescent, or adult scales; were not available for review; and did not meet the inclusion criteria. The review included 125 studies. A range of self-report, observational, teacher-report, and caregiver-report measures of school engagement were identified. Behavioral school engagement was most commonly measured. Included studies were primarily published in education and psychology fields, with none published in occupational therapy journals. A range of school engagement measurements can be found in the literature, but no consensus exists on a validated school engagement measurement for occupational therapy practice. What This Article Adds: This review provides occupational therapy practitioners with a comprehensive understanding of (1) the importance of school engagement to mental health and (2) the range of behavioral, cognitive, and emotional engagement measures currently available for use with elementary school-age children, thereby enhancing the profession's knowledge and scope of practice in school engagement.

Gender Composition in Occupational Therapy Journals’ Editorial Boards

This paper analyses the Editorial Board (EB) distribution of Occupational Therapy journals from a gender perspective. The "Occupational Therapy" field in the Scimago Journal and Country Rank (SJR) and the "Occupational Therapy" term in the title search of the Journal Citation Report (JCR) were used to find the Occupational Therapy-specific journals. The following indicators were calculated: Editorial Board Member (EBM) gender distribution by journal, publisher, subject speciality, country, and journal quartile. Thirty-seven journals were located, including 667 individuals, 206 males (31%) and 461 females (69%). Referring to the EB positions, most members (557) were EB members, 70 were listed as Associate Editors, and 20 as Editorial Leaders. The results show that the proportion of women in the EB's of Occupational Therapy journals represents a majority. Regarding the distribution by gender of the EBMs, six journals had a female proportion below the cut-off point revealed in this study (69%). Four did not reach parity, with female representation below 50%. Additionally, the balance among the EBMs is significantly underrepresented compared to the percentage of female Occupational Therapy practitioners.

Evidence for Implementing Tiered Approaches in School-Based Occupational Therapy in Elementary Schools: A Scoping Review.

Internationally, it is suggested that school-based occupational therapy (SBOT) has an important role in supporting inclusion in educational settings. In SBOT, multitiered service delivery models are identified as a way forward to maximize school inclusion. Therefore, identifying evidence for the implementation of tiered interventions in SBOT is vital. To identify and map evidence in the occupational therapy literature relating to SBOT interventions delivered in elementary schools for all children, for those at risk, and for those with identified diagnoses. Peer-reviewed literature published in 14 occupational therapy journals between 1990 and 2020, indexed in the EBSCOhost database. Included studies were those within the scope of SBOT that reported on school occupations and focused on elementary school-age children (excluding kindergarteners or preschoolers). Forty studies met the criteria. Individual-tier intervention studies (n = 22) primarily reported direct interventions with children at risk or with identified diagnoses (Tier 2 or Tier 3), focusing mostly on remedial approaches. None adopted a whole-school approach. Despite handwriting and self-regulation being dominant areas of concern, these studies were not explicitly related to inclusion outcomes. Evidence for implementing multitiered models primarily used indirect, collaborative consultation, embedded in the school context (n = 18). These studies identified positive school staff and child outcomes when collaboration was timely, consistent, and authentic. More rigorous individual-tier intervention studies are required to inform the design and implementation of multitiered interventions in SBOT and to support participation and inclusion in schools. What This Article Adds: This scoping review provides evidence to support occupational therapists' professional reasoning in developing evidence-based, contextual, educationally relevant multitiered models of intervention in SBOT.

Controvérsias e debates em torno da terapia ocupacional: uma análise das produções bibliográficas na América do Sul (2010-2018)

Abstract Considering that occupational therapy practices act in spaces of daily life where there is a plurality of existences, it is imperative to build heterogeneous practices from the historical-social contexts that produce them. In South America, debates have emerged that challenge the prevailing north-Eurocentric and Anglocentric discourse due to its claim to universality, objectivity, and neutrality, bringing with its positivist scientific reasoning and dualistic logic. This article aims to present seven debates identified in some of the written productions of Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, and Chile between 2010-2018, both in older occupational therapy journals in the region and in books of collective authorships that discuss occupational therapy. A mapping of controversies is carried out through a documentary review and analysis of 133 journal articles and 53 book chapters. The issues they discuss are related to occupational therapy practices around the social; communities and territories; human rights; knowledge and knowledge production; the critical; gender and feminisms; and Latin America and the global south. It is possible to conclude that each debate condenses different historical moments, from which plural and unfinished forms of occupational therapy are produced that make visible controversial issues that have given them richness and heterogeneity, allowing to stress the asymmetries of power and give political relevance to the practices that are produced from South America for the local-global context.

State of the Journal, 2022.

The American Journal of Occupational Therapy (AJOT) had another successful year reaching our highest 2-yr impact factor in history (2.813) and regaining our position as the highest ranking occupational therapy journal in the world. Our expanded social media platforms and online resources continue to expand access and help occupational therapy practitioners translate research into practice. The journal's goals moving forward include enhancing opportunities for student involvement, enhancing standards for rigor and reporting, and updating official AJOT documents and resources to reflect best practices for bias-free language and the use of race/ethnicity data in research publications.

Optimizing Occupations, Habits, and Routines for Health and Well-Being With Lifestyle Redesign®: A Synthesis and Scoping Review.

Lifestyle Redesign® originated as a preventive occupational therapy intervention for healthy older adults, and it was found to be both effective and cost effective in the Well Elderly Studies initiated in the 1990s. Building on that empirical foundation, the scope of Lifestyle Redesign has been greatly expanded as a general intervention framework addressing prevention and chronic condition management in a wide range of populations, settings, and conditions. Yet until now, its full scope, defining characteristics, and supporting evidence have not been clearly and succinctly described, limiting its potential reach and impact. To outline the definition and key characteristics of Lifestyle Redesign, provide a scoping review of its evidence base and future directions for research, describe its current applications, and make recommendations for its use in clinical practice. We searched PubMed and CINAHL, tables of contents of 10 occupational therapy journals, and citations in two seminal Lifestyle Redesign publications to identify articles published in 1997-2020 that described quantitative outcomes (for n ≥ 20) of interventions meeting the defining characteristics of Lifestyle Redesign. Our scoping review yielded 12 publications providing supportive evidence for Lifestyle Redesign's positive impact on a range of health and well-being outcomes among both well populations and those with chronic conditions. Lifestyle Redesign has the potential to meet a growing need in clinical and community settings for health care services that address prevention, health promotion, and chronic disease management. What This Article Adds: Current evidence supports the use of Lifestyle Redesign to improve health and well-being for a range of client populations. This review outlines its defining characteristics and current applications to improve its implementationin clinical practice and expand related research efforts.

Profile of Pediatric Occupational Therapy Practice in Kuwait: A Qualitative Study

Pediatrics specialty is the most occupational therapy practice in Kuwait. Therefore, the purpose of this survey is to establish a profile of pediatric occupational therapy practice in Kuwait. Moreover, it aims to recognize the most common diagnoses that are referred to the pediatrics occupational therapy in Kuwait as well as identify the most common assessments, frame of reference, and intervention techniques that are used in the area of practice. In addition, there are also many studies conducted about pediatric occupational therapy profiles in Australia, Canada, and United States, However, there are no studies about pediatric occupational therapy profiles in Kuwait (Australian Occupational Therapy Journal, 2005). Therefore, the importance of this research is to follow a successful role model similar to Canada, Australia, and the United States. The Methodology was is ex post facto survey that is adapted to conduct the data. The sample is all pediatric occupational therapists working in both Ministry of Health and the privet educational sector in Kuwait receive the survey. The sample size was 260 therapists but the responding participants were 217 therapists. The result showed that the most commonly used assessments were the Developmental Test of Visual Motor Integration, Peabody Developmental Motor Scales, Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency, and the Sensory Profile.

Reporting Quality in Abstracts of Randomized Controlled Trials Published in High-Impact Occupational Therapy Journals.

Adequate reporting in the abstracts of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) is essential to enable occupational therapy practitioners to critically appraise the validity of findings. To evaluate the reporting quality and characteristics of RCT abstracts published between 2008 and 2018 in the occupational therapy journals with the five highest impact factors in 2018. A descriptive cross-sectional study. The American Journal of Occupational Therapy (AJOT), Australian Occupational Therapy Journal (AOTJ), Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy (CJOT), Scandinavian Journal of Occupational Therapy (SJOT), and Physical and Occupational Therapy in Pediatrics (POTP) were identified using a Web of Science search. We searched Scopus for abstracts in the five included journals. We used a 17-point scale based on the CONSORT for Abstracts (CONSORT-A) checklist to assess reporting quality. We also identified characteristics of the abstracts. Seventy-eight RCT abstracts were assessed and showed moderate to low adherence to the CONSORT-A checklist (Mdn = 8, interquartile range = 7-9). Abstracts of articles with authors from a higher number of institutions, European first authors, and >200 words had higher CONSORT-A scores. The most underreported CONSORT-A items were trial design, blinding, numbers analyzed, outcome (results), harms, trial registration, and funding. Between 2008 and 2018, the reporting quality in RCT abstracts from the five highest impact occupational therapy journals was moderate to low. Inadequate reporting in RCT abstracts raises the risk that occupational therapy practitioners will make ineffective clinical decisions based on misinterpretation of findings. What This Article Adds: Reporting quality in RCT abstracts in occupational therapy journals is moderate to low. Journal editors should require authors of RCTs to use the CONSORT-A checklist to promote optimal reporting and transparency in abstracts.

Scopus based bibliometric and scientometric analysis of occupational therapy publications from 2001 to 2020

Background: Occupational therapy (OT) is one of the allied health professions that had its first journals way back in 1920. The main objective of this study was to find out the publication trend in the field of OT research for the period of 2001-2020 using the principles of bibliometrics and scientometrics. Methods: The data was retrieved from Scopus from the past 20-years (2001-2020). VOSviewer software was used to find year-wise publications in OT-specific and non-OT-specific Journals along with top journals, countries, organisations, authors, cited articles, and highly used keywords. Results: There was a steady growth of OT articles from the past 20-years. Scopus indexes 16 OT-specific journals are identified. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, British Journal of Occupational Therapy Journal, Australian Occupational Therapy Journal, Scandinavian Journal of Occupational Therapy and Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy are the leading publications and citations. Comparison of OT-specific and non-OT journals inferred that the OT-specific papers are three times more published in non-OT journals. There is a trend in publishing multidisciplinary medical journals than OT journals. The US publishes the highest number of articles, followed by the UK, Australia, Canada, and Germany. Though the US alone produced a considerable number of articles (9517), only five organisations are listed in the top-20, compared to Canada (n=6) and Australia (n=5). Australia represents the highest published authors (n=11/20), and Canada represents a highly cited author from the top-cited publications. The “occupational therapy”, “rehabilitation”, “stroke”, “physical therapy,” and “activities of daily living” are the five common keywords used by OT authors. This study lists top-20 journals along with their CiteScore and Journal Impact Factor. Conclusions: This study will help the budding researchers in OT to select a suitable quality journal for publication and, further, helpful for research promotion, researcher incentivising, grant allocations, and policymakers in the OT field.

Drivers of Consumers’ Behaviour to Recycle Smartphones

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Use of Metacognitive Techniques in Occupational Therapy Education: A Scoping Review

Efficient and effective occupational therapy curricular and course design is essential to develop competent and reflective practitioners. The intentional use of metacognitive strategies could improve the development of higher-order thinking and learning outcomes. The study explored the use of metacognitive strategies to improve learning and higher-order thinking in students within occupational therapy higher education. A targeted search for occupational therapy journals only was the primary method to identify studies. Arskey and O’Malley’s (2005) five-stage framework guided this scoping review. All studies demonstrated some aspects of metacognition, this included thinking about their learning, reflection, self-assessment, or sense-making. Through the PRISMA process, the initial search yielded 260 studies; 27 duplicates were removed for a remaining total of 233 studies. Thirteen articles were included in the final study. The identification of the studies’ purpose, pedagogy, metacognitive strategies, and the level of Bloom’s taxonomy for the strategies was included in the analysis. Written reflection, peer-to-peer debate, self-directed learning, critical thinking, self-assessment, and reflection observation were the metacognitive strategies described in the articles. The metacognitive strategies were not specific to a pedagogy. Rather the strategies varied in use; however, all focused on learning outcomes to develop higher-order thinking skills and life-long learners. The selected studies reported improved learning outcomes and described metacognitive strategies. Transparency and intentionality in occupational therapy higher education related to metacognition may improve learning outcomes leading to practitioners whose self-reflection and critical thinking improve client and system outcomes.

The Role of Occupational Therapy in Managing Food Selectivity of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Scoping Review.

Food selectivity is common in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It can be defined as the unwillingness to eat common or new foods, resulting in a lack of variety in the diet or limited food consumption for multiple reasons, such as inflexibility or sensory alterations. We conducted a peer scoping review to describe the interventions that are carried out from occupational therapy (OT) in children with ASD with food selectivity. Two authors independently searched the databases PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and EMBASE, as well as the OT journals indexed in Journal Citation Reports. Articles exploring OT interventions in children (≤12 years) with ASD and food selectivity, published in Spanish or English, with experimental design, and with full text available were included. Of the 1445 articles identified, 8 articles met the inclusion criteria. Three main intervention categories were identified: sensory–behavioral, family focused, and other interventions. Most of the interventions from OT were aimed at treating sensory–behavioral aspects. Only three articles described interventions led exclusively by occupational therapists, and the rest were led by a multidisciplinary team. Finally, although these interventions are not exclusive to OT, occupational therapists can participate together with other professionals as an essential component in the treatment of food selectivity in children with ASD.

State of the Journal, 2021

The American Journal of Occupational Therapy (AJOT) retains its ranking as the top-rated occupational therapy journal in North America by maintaining its commitment to publishing high-quality research aimed at occupational therapy professionals. As the needs and scope of the profession continue to expand, AJOT will continue to serve as a resource to practitioners, academics, and administrators to help guide best practices. Communication and engagement with readers will be facilitated through the new AJOT website as well as the new AJOT: Authors and Issues series. The journal seeks to expand its scope through its website, manuscript submission platform, and new ways to engage readers.

State of the Journal, 2021.

The American Journal of Occupational Therapy (AJOT) retains its ranking as the top-rated occupational therapy journal in North America by maintaining its commitment to publishing high-quality research aimed at occupational therapy professionals. As the needs and scope of the profession continue to expand, AJOT will continue to serve as a resource to practitioners, academics, and administrators to help guide best practices. Communication and engagement with readers will be facilitated through the new AJOT website as well as the new AJOT: Authors and Issues series. The journal seeks to expand its scope through its website, manuscript submission platform, and new ways to engage readers.

Quality-of-Life Discrepancies Among Autistic Adolescents and Adults: A Rapid Review.

Quality of life (QoL) is a core outcome of occupational therapy, but it is decreased among autistic adolescents and adults. This is the first review of QoL from an occupational therapy standpoint. To identify self-reported QoL differences between autistic and nonautistic samples; investigate sex differences in QoL among autistic people; examine consistency in QoL among autistic people across age, intellectual disability (ID), and self- versus proxy-report method; and appraise occupational therapy-related interventions addressing QoL among autistic people. Articles published in peer-reviewed journals between 2010 and 2020, located through Academic Search Ultimate, PubMed, and OTseeker, along with the American Journal of Occupational Therapy, British Journal of Occupational Therapy, Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy, and Australian Occupational Therapy Journal. Study Selection and Data Collection: Article samples consisted of at least 20% autistic females and used self-reported QoL measures. Qualitative research was excluded, as well as studies with participants younger than age 13 yr. Twenty-seven articles qualified (3 Level 1B, 13 Level 3B, and 11 Level 4). Autistic adolescents and adults demonstrated decreased self-reported QoL compared with nonautistic peers across age and ID presence. One article compared sex differences in QoL among autistic people. Interventions improved QoL among autistic people. Autistic adolescents and adults demonstrate decreased QoL in comparison with nonautistic peers. Questions remain related to sex differences in QoL among autistic people, an area for future research. Multiple evidence-based approaches to improve QoL in the autistic population are relevant to occupational therapy practice. What This Article Adds: Self-reported QoL among autistic adolescents and adults is clearly lower than among their nonautistic counterparts. This article provides information on multiple interventions related to occupational therapy to improve QoL among autistic people.

Occupational Therapy Interventions in Adults with Multiple Sclerosis or Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: A Scoping Review.

This scoping review aims to describe occupational therapy interventions carried out with multiple sclerosis (MS) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients in occupational therapy. A peer review of the literature was conducted in different databases: Pubmed, Scopus, Web of Science and Embase, and in some occupational therapy journals. A search of the literature published was carried out before December 2019. The inclusion criteria were as follows: (1) articles evaluating the intervention of occupational therapy in MS or ALS including experimental, randomized, nonrandomized and exploratory studies; (2) written in English or Spanish; (3) adult population (over 18 years old). The initial search identified 836 articles of which we included 32 divided into four areas of intervention: fatigue-targeted interventions, cognitive interventions, physical interventions and others. Only 16 studies were carried out exclusively by occupational therapists. Most occupational therapy interventions are aimed at fatigue and physical rehabilitation. The majority of the studies in our review included MS patients, with little representation from the ALS population. These interventions have shown an improvement in perceived fatigue, manual dexterity, falls prevention and improvement in cognitive aspects such as memory, communication, depression and quality of life in the MS and ALS populations.