Contribution Of Occupational Therapy Research Articles

Welchen Beitrag kann die Ergotherapie zum Auftrag der forensischen Psychiatrie leisten?

Einleitung: Innerhalb der forensischen Wissenschaft findet Ergotherapie wenig Beachtung, und auch in der ergotherapeutischen Forschung und Lehre ist das forensische Fachbegebiet selten Gegenstandsbereich. Dennoch hat die ergotherapeutische Behandlung einen festen Stellenwert im stetig wachsenden Bereich des Maßregelvollzugs. In diesem Artikel sollen kriminalprognostische Aussagen als forensischer Auftrag hervorgehoben werden. Der ergotherapeutische Beitrag wird über den Schwerpunkt der Handlung der Patienten im klinischen Kontext bestimmt.

Occupational therapy in the aging process and retirement: the construction of healthful spaces

In societies where the value of people is measured by what they do to earn their living, the interruption of work activitiesmay cause a deep disorganization of daily life, with an absence of projects, social intentions for life and social roles. This research hadas its objective to analyze the effect of retirement on identity and subjectivity of old people and effects this has in other roles and activitiesplayed by them, besides the contribution of occupational therapy for their social insertion. This is a qualitative research, carriedthrough by means of a case study from March 2007 to January 2008, where the central complaint of patients was the great disruption ofdaily life after retirement. Data collection involved an exploratory stage, planning, data collecting and evidences and analysis of results.Results show a more active position of the patient through the enrollment in significant activities, rescue of social roles, reduction ofpsychosomatic symptoms and the search for medical consultations, improvements in family relationships, and the construction of lifeprojects. One may conclude that the intervention of occupational therapists, before and after retirement, may contribute for an activeaging, through the transforming action of activities carried through in the Occupational Therapy setting.

Occupational therapy ‐ its contribution to social inclusion and recovery

Occupational therapy is a crucial part of the recovery agenda and social inclusion for people who experience mental ill health. Occupational therapists strive to support individuals to realise their potential by enabling them to participate in and contribute to society. Increasing someone's confidence by involvement with voluntary groups, work or training helps recovery. The importance and potential contribution of occupational therapy can be misunderstood or overlooked.

Occupational Therapists’ Role on U.S. Army and U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps Disaster Mental Health Response Teams

Occupational Therapists’ Role on U.S. Army and U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps Disaster Mental Health Response Teams

O campo da educação e demandas para a terapia ocupacional no Brasil

This work analysis the need of social interventions based on education and on citizenship rights, and directed towards adolescents and youngsters in a situation of social vulnerability; our particular focus is the Brazilian public school. Project METUIA has worked in the construction of theoretical bases for the elaboration of therapeutical-occupational programs in the social area, as well as in its practical experimentation. Taking as a reference the experiences and studies developed by the UFSCar Nucleus of Project METUIA, with regard to the violence in and of the public school, especially the high school, we discuss the desirable contribution of occupational therapy to the whole cycle of basic education. We assume that the occupational therapy practices have an interconnection with what the corresponding professionals think, with their opinions and attitudes before the social matters presented to them; the methods that they employ are conditioned to the way they understand reality and their own responsibility before it - those aspects, in turn, have a strong influence upon the nature of the solutions that those professionals are capable to propose. Inequality and poverty are important elements in the Brazilian social context, which demand an urgent revision of professional roles in our country.

Assessments: The contribution of occupatinal therapy

This article focuses on the contribution of occupational therapy in the assessment of older people in the care home setting.

Hands across the Water: Clinical Observations of Hand Therapy Practices in Great Britain and Norway

The Evelyn Mackin Traveling Hand Therapist Award is a new award established in 2004 by the American Hand Therapy Foundation. This award was named in honor of Evelyn Mackin, a distinguished leader in hand therapy rehabilitation. Ms. Mackin enthusiastically endorses worldwide networking among hand therapists. She strongly believes in the value of sharing knowledge and technical skills. This award enables members of the ASHT to travel, learn new concepts or skills, and share them with the American hand therapy community. Visits to clinics in Great Britain and Norway revealed similarities and differences between European and American hand therapy practice. Clinical observations explore tendon transfer rehabilitation, cold sensitivity, sensory desensitization and re-education, Dupuytren's contracture, and clinic design. Other highlighted topics include delivery of health care services, hand therapist certification, and the unique contributions of Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy to the practice of hand therapy. A hand therapy practice survey focuses on treatment and practice issues, continuing education, and challenges facing hand therapist colleagues abroad.

The Importance of Occupational Therapy Contributions to Health Services Research

Health care delivery includes a backdrop of constrained resources and scrutiny of quality, benefits, and cost of services. The peer-reviewed evidence supporting the benefits of occupational therapy is therefore of considerable importance in the debate about what constitutes reimbursable therapies. This article identifies the scope of occupational therapy research articles in recent published literature. MEDLINE and CINAHL were searched for “occupational therapy” from January 1996 through October 2002. Articles were coded by content, journal, and country. Journal ratings for “impact” also were reviewed. A total of 3,391 articles met inclusion criteria and 868 (25.6%) were classified as research, among which more than half (55.0%) were published in occupational therapy journals. Within occupational therapy journals, 21.4% of scholarship identified as occupational therapy was classified as research compared to 42.9% of the articles in rehabilitation medicine journals. Occupational therapy scholarship is in danger of being omitted in the current debates on health care delivery, costs, and quality. More transdisciplinary research may be one avenue for expanding occupational therapy research.

Canadian Occupational Therapists' Contributions to Prisoners of War in World War II

A small number of Canadian occupational therapists provided materials to prisoners of war who were experiencing occupational deprivation in German camps during World War II. Although the occupational therapy contribution was relatively minor relative to the overall efforts of assistance to prisoners of war, it represented dedication, commitment and further sacrifice at a time when occupational therapists faced difficult choices. An historical research method approach was employed to gather information from primary sources found in the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapy archives. Secondary sources were also consulted to provide additional background information. This paper outlines the need and context for the response, method of organization, materials sent, challenges experienced, and impact that this effort had on both POWs and the occupational therapists themselves. This account may inform and inspire current day occupational therapists who are considering the implications of occupational deprivation within frameworks of social and occupational justice.

Using an Evidence-Based Approach to Enable People with Mental Health Problems to Gain and Retain Employment, Education and Voluntary Work

Employment provides an economic means, gives social status and promotes social inclusion. While people with mental health problems attach a high priority to gaining employment, they face many barriers that inhibit their ability to gain and retain employment. This paper describes how a mental health trust actively promoted vocational rehabilitation through implementing evidence-based principles within the clinical teams. It reports how the trust acknowledged the unique contribution of occupational therapy in partnership with vocational services to enable its clients to access competitive employment, mainstream education and voluntary work.

Reflexões sobre as possíveis contribuições da terapia ocupacional nos processos de inclusão escolar

The pourpose of this article is to present and to argue about the possibilities of the Occupational Therapy actions inside the inserction process of handicapped children in regular school, starting from an epistemological and ethical position about the concepts that interpose the real speaches and practices of school inclusion. First of all, the authors argue about integration, inclusion and exclusion concepts, and their relationship with the praxis of school inserction, and then, they present some reflections about the schools necessities in front of inclusion of handicapped children. Finaly, they describe the possible Occupational Therapy contributions in this field of knowledge, as well as the argument of those possibilities.

A Clinical Audit of the Outcome of Occupational Therapy Assessment and Negotiated Patient Goals in the Acute Setting

The increasing emphasis on quality and effectiveness in the National Health Service requires occupational therapists to provide evidence of accurate assessment and of the outcomes of interventions, supported by clear and concise documentation. With the merging of two acute hospitals came the opportunity for the occupational therapy services of Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Trust to audit the process of functional assessment and documentation. A review of the occupational therapy service was undertaken. Standards were set to combine the Modified Barthel Index with negotiated patient goal setting. Practice was then changed to meet the standards. A subsequent audit considered the outcome of occupational therapy. The audit findings reaffirmed the acute occupational therapy focus on activities of daily living. The service identified that patients had low levels of disability according to Modified Barthel Index scores on discharge. Importantly, it was found that the reliability and validity of goal setting as a basic outcome measure was dependent upon therapists' ability to write specific quantifiable goals. The practice benefits included promoting patient involvement, enhancing the evidence base to practice, promoting consistent and effective functional assessment and documentation and reaffirming the unique contribution of occupational therapy as that of assessing a patient's level of function in activities of daily living objectively.

Effective Interdisciplinary Teamwork: An Occupational Therapy Perspective

Objective: First, to describe the focus and scope of occupational therapy and some contributions of occupational therapy in mental health settings. Second, to identify opportunities for enhancing interdisciplinary teamwork so as to effectively address the full range of needs and issues experienced by people living with mental illness, from an occupational therapist's perspective. Conclusions: The significance of occupation for health and wellbeing needs to be better understood within the mental health field, and wider community, if interdisciplinary teams are to more effectively address the occupational and other needs of those living with mental illness. To this end, improved opportunities for dialogue through shared education and professional development, informed dialogue about balancing generic, specialist and nonprofessional roles in service delivery, as well as inclusion of consumers and carers in these dialogues, are recommended.

Team collaborative practices between teachers and occupational therapists.

A descriptive, correlational study using a survey instrument and record review was designed to describe collaboration practices between teachers and occupational therapists in public schools and to explore relationships of these practices to individual education plan (IEP) objectives and teachers' perceptions of occupational therapy contributions to student skill development. Forty teachers of students who receive occupational therapy comprised the sample. Descriptive statistics and Spearman rank order correlations were used to describe the practices and to determine associations among the variables. The findings indicated that teachers and occupational therapists were using collaborative team practices, such as jointly developing goals and objectives, collaboration within the classrooms, jointly monitoring interventions, and jointly reviewing student progress. However, scheduling team meetings was difficult. The majority of respondents stated that occupational therapy contributed to student skill development, and as collaboration practices increased, the teachers' perceptions of occupational therapy contribution to student skill development increased. A significant negative correlation was found between the percentage of IEP objectives met variable and three collaborative variables--team meetings, reviewing progress, and develop goals and objectives. This finding indicated that as the frequency of these team processes increased, fewer objectives were met.

The Role of Computer Simulation in the Development of Clinical Reasoning Skills

A multidisciplinary project is under way to develop a computer model which will simulate the hip fracture care process in both a large teaching hospital and a district general hospital (Currie et al 1998). This paper describes the occupational therapy contribution to the project. The complex process of care will be simulated by integrating each clinical group's patient intervention (strategy) at each point of the patient's journey. As part of this research, the literature was referred to for evidence to support current occupational therapy and to form a structure for simulation. The occupational therapy strategy is represented as a flow chart which leads the patient from admission to the acute orthopaedic ward, through to assessment, rehabilitation and, finally, discharge. The literature suggested that the way in which each occupational therapist individualised this strategy (based on Hagedorn's [1997] model) was influenced by his or her own clinical reasoning, which might in turn affect outcome. The notion that mental modelling (clinical reasoning) might be simulated has led to the suggestion that computer simulation could be used as a learning tool to develop clinical reasoning skills in the novice, with the aim of improving patient care.

The contribution of occupational therapy to the fabric of Australian rural and remote communities

Social justice has provided a basis for the underlying values of occupational therapy in Australia. In the 1990s, changes in health issues and delivery of services are causing occupational therapists to reconsider their values and the ways they deliver their services. By any measure, the health status of individuals in rural and remote communities of Australia is poorer that their urban counterparts. The issues associated with the poor health status of these communities will best be addressed through a combined strategic approach by governments, organizations and professional groups, including occupational therapy. Identification of some of the key issues affecting the supply of occupational therapists in rural and remote communities and how they might be addressed are discussed. It is proposed that the development of cohesive national strategies and actions aimed at enhancing the contribution of occupational therapy to rural and remote communities ought to include, among other things, adoption of the primary health care approach, fundamental changes in the education and preparation of practitioners for practice, and identification of competencies and standards for effective rural and remote practice.

Using the Core Values and Skills of Occupational Therapy in Management

The contribution of occupational therapy to the management of the health service is largely an unexplored domain. This article examines the meaning of effective management practice and the integration of occupational therapy values and skills within the management role. It proposes a link between the occupational therapy philosophy and a participative approach to management. The benefits and challenges that develop from this particular management style are highlighted, with particular reference to the power dimension of the health service. The use of power in organisational life is explored and the nature of participative management is reviewed in the light of this. The article concludes by advocating the positive use of power within the political arena and by encouraging all occupational therapists to participate fully in the management of their services.

Beobachtung hat eine zentrale bedeutung in der ergotherapie

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image sizeAbstractOur skill in observation is an essential prerequisite in order to practise a therapeutical profession. This leads us to the conclusion that we should consciously formulate observation as a method for occupational therapy. Training in observation should be an integral part of OT-education. Differentiated observation in practice can qualitatively improve the contribution of occupational therapy to rehabilitation.Keywords: ObservationRelevance to OTOT-educationOT-student selectionOT-practice

Physical and emotional abuse and neglect of preschool children: A literature review

Early studies of the consequences of maltreatment for preschool children were plagued by numerous methodological difficulties, including a lack of theoretical frameworks. More recent studies have investigated the complex interaction of factors, such as the environment and pre‐existing child characteristics. This review examines the effects of maltreatment on preschool children in four areas: (i) developmental delay; (ii) cognitive competence; (iii) emotional development (attachment relationships and empathy); and (iv) social development. The developmental domains requiring further investigation are highlighted: motor, self‐care and play skills of abused preschoolers. Recommendations are made regarding the contribution of occupational therapy to these areas.

Embracing our past, informing our future: a feminist re-vision of health care.

Using a feminist perspective, this paper explores the roots of the practice of healing and medicine. It traces the role of women in health care from prehistorical times, through the present, and into the future discussing the changing paradigms that the author identifies as (a) the Prototypic Paradigm: Mysticism and Healing; (b) the Scientific Paradigm: Curing; and (c) the Paradigm of Inclusion: Caring, Curing, and Healing. The role and status of women in society are reflected within these paradigms, and the changing status of the profession of occupational therapy is discussed within this framework. The unique skills and contributions of occupational therapy more closely fit within the Paradigm of Inclusion and can support us as health care leaders within the changing world of the 21st century.