Domain Of Occupational Therapy Research Articles

The occupational therapy process in workplace wellness: A qualitative study of client experience.

Occupational therapy presently has a limited presence within the workplace wellness industry and the profession's contribution within this area of practice is not fully understood. Occupational therapy's holistic, occupation-based, and client-centered approach has the potential to provide a valuable contribution to the field of workplace wellness. To explore the experience of organizational employees participating in a workplace wellness program centered in the occupational therapy domain and process. Six occupational therapy workplace wellness program participants completed in-depth semi-structured interviews one month after program completion followed by deductive thematic analysis of transcripts. Three themes emerged (sustainable change across context, process matters, and therapeutic relationship supporting wellness), along with subthemes, describing the participant experience. The structured and individualized process of occupational therapy delivered within a workplace wellness program was appreciated by participants as a means of addressing workplace wellness and providing sustainable wellness results.

Purpose in Life as an Explicit Outcome of Occupational Therapy.

Purpose in life is increasingly understood to be important to health and well-being. Despite occupational therapy's long history of using occupations to advance health and the linkage between a subclass of occupations and purpose in life, the term is nearly absent from the American Occupational Therapy Association's documents and the profession's empirical literature. We propose that the profession explicitly name purpose in life as among our intervention outcomes and address disruptions of purpose in life in practice. This can be accomplished by first investing in purpose in our own lives, discussing the topic with colleagues and students, identifying possible purpose disruptions in our clients, and using direct or indirect intervention approaches to help clients reconnect to purpose in their lives. By explicitly naming purpose in life as part of the domain of occupational therapy, we become poised to leverage human occupation to address both a broad societal gap and our clients' needs for a renewal of purpose in life.

A Missing Piece of Occupational Therapy Education: Attitudes About Sex

Following a lecture on sexual health and function, occupational therapy students were surveyed regarding their past sex education and their comfort level with the topic of sex. Students indicated a lack of sexual education received from parents/guardians and a prevalence of fear-based education from formal or informal sources. Results reflected a significant increase in students’ perceived comfort level with the topic following the lecture from a provider trained and certified in sexual health. As sexuality falls within the domain of occupational therapy, these results suggest a need for comprehensive sex education taught to students by qualified instructors.

Teaching and Evaluating an Occupational Perspective in Canada: A Descriptive Qualitative Study.

Background. Occupation is the core domain of occupational therapy, and an occupational perspective is foundational for practice. Research has explored how an occupational perspective is taught. Yet, little has explored the Canadian occupational therapy educational context. There are national differences in core competencies and accreditation standards and nuances in how occupation is defined and what conceptual models are used. As such, a Canadian perspective may offer new understandings of value both within and outside of Canada. Purpose. To understand how, in Canada, educators teach and evaluate student occupational perspectives in entry-level master of occupational therapy programs. Method. This study used a descriptive qualitative design with an interpretive approach. Semi-structured interviews were used to gather data from 12 educators from Canadian entry-level occupational therapy programs. Reflexive thematic analysis was used for data analysis. Findings. Five themes were identified: (1) occupational perspectives as pedagogy (2) it's a process, not an end state; (3) "everybody is involved": a community of educators; (4) thinking critically; and (5) "hard to evaluate." Conclusion. The complex, dynamic, and contextualized nature of an occupational perspective calls for critical, reflexive, communal, and innovative pedagogical and assessment approaches.

Going Beyond Management and Maintenance: Occupational Therapy's Role in Primary Prevention for Adults at Risk of Obesity.

There is a critical need to address the escalating obesity epidemic by examining new methods of care. Adult obesity has historically been addressed through management and maintenance once an individual is clinically diagnosed as obese. Research and practice demonstrate that significant weight loss can be difficult to achieve and even harder to maintain. Despite this, preventive interventions targeted toward adult obesity have been limited in many health care professions, including occupational therapy. As professionals who are skilled in supporting clients' holistic development of healthy habits and routines, occupational therapists are equipped to play a key role in moving health care practices away from a reactive model of care to a proactive one that emphasizes primary prevention. This column identifies how this issue is aligned with occupational therapy's domain and presents potential examples of interventions to support adult obesity prevention.

Supporting occupational therapists to initiate conversations about sexuality with people with intellectual disability: Co-design by deliberative dialogue.

Occupational therapists routinely report low levels of confidence in addressing needs related to sexuality and intimacy. These issues are compounded when supporting clients with intellectual disability, due to prevailing assumptions about capacity and few practical support resources. At a disciplinary level, there is ongoing discourse around how to best conceptualise and support sexual and gender identities generally, within models of human occupation. Leveraging interdisciplinarity, where sexuality overlaps as a sphere of interest, can aid the development of practical support resources. Engagement with sociology (focussed on relationality) and disability studies (focussed on embodiment) offers a generative path forward. The deliberative dialogues framework was used to develop a co-designed resource by occupational therapists for occupational therapists. Six Australian occupational therapists with experience working with clients with intellectual disability and/or sexuality were purposively recruited to participate in co-design groups. Using the eight features of deliberative dialogue, data was collected and analysed by an interdisciplinary research team to collaboratively produce a practical support resource. Participants agreed the greatest need was to develop a resource for clinicians, to support conversations with clients about sexuality. Five key themes emerged: (1) Theoretical explanations addressing why sexuality is important must be paired with practical advice; (2) make a conversational call to action from 'OTs' for 'OTs' by locating sexuality within the domain of occupational therapy; (3) make explicit that people with intellectual disability are sexual beings; (4) need for self-reflection; and (5) demonstrate how existing understandings of occupation apply to sexuality. A resource in the form of a brochure was developed, intended to be used as a conversation primer. The process used to develop the resource demonstrated the value of interdisciplinary collaboration and the utility of deliberative dialogue as a co-design method.

Occupational Therapy-Related Assessments for Adults With Intellectual Disability: A Scoping Review.

Occupational therapy practitioners use structured assessment tools to gather information from adults with intellectual disability (ID) in order to develop the occupational profile, guide occupational therapy intervention, and assess change over time. To identify occupational therapy-related tools in the peer-reviewed literature for use in practice with adults with ID. Peer-reviewed literature published between January 2002 and January 2018 included in CINAHL, PsycINFO, PubMed, and Scopus. Study Selection and Data Collection: The review included articles that had information on occupational therapy-related assessment with adults 18 yr or older who had primary or co-occurring ID. Fifty-eight articles identified 73 occupational therapy-related assessment tools. This scoping review identified a broad range of assessment tools in the occupational therapy domain that are appropriate for adults with ID, some of which may be unfamiliar to occupational therapy practitioners. What This Article Adds: This scoping review provides occupational therapy practitioners with a summary of occupational therapy-related assessment tools for adults with ID and an assessment reference guide.

Scope of practice boundary violation in occupational therapy: An online survey of practitioners' perceptions in India

Background: Occupational therapy (OT) practice in India is yet to be regulated at the national level. This presents a significant challenge to the OT community in India as it would be difficult for them to defend themselves if other professionals violate the scope of practice (SOP) boundaries. Objectives: The aim is to explore the views of occupational therapists (OTs) related to the issue of SOP boundary violation in OT practice in India. Study Design: An online survey research design was chosen to conduct this study. A 10-item electronic survey (9 with response options and one open ended) was developed based on the research question. Methods: An online survey link generated through SurveyMonkey was E-mailed to 760 OTs in India, identified through convenient sampling. The survey link was also shared on four WhatsApp Messenger groups (TNAIOTA Official Group, OTist Group, Clinic OT, and IPOTPDG1) with many Indian OTs (snowball sampling). Data were collected from January 29, to February 29, 2020. Results: The number of responses received was 126. One hundred and nine (87%) respondents believed that other professionals encroach OT's SOP boundaries knowingly or unknowingly. This belief is strong among all OTs across the nation, regardless of gender and practice experience. Conclusions: Many OTs in India believe that individuals belonging to other professions step into the domain of OT knowingly or unknowingly. Enacting an OT practice legislation, establishing a regulatory body at the national level and increasing them at state levels, endorsing an official SOP document, educating stakeholders, and engaging in awareness promotion initiatives would help mitigate the issue to a great extent. Ongoing and strategic efforts by the OT community in India are warranted.

Occupational Therapy Practice Guidelines for Early Childhood: Birth-5 Years.

This Practice Guideline provides stakeholders with a condensed summary of a large number of effectiveness studies. It is a valuable tool for facilitating decision making related to occupational therapy interventions for children ages birth-5 yr. Early childhood (birth-5 yr) is a critical period in which the foundation of key life occupations is developed (e.g., eating, dressing, play, learning, social participation, rest and sleep, and chores). The development of cognitive, motor, social-emotional, and self-care skills is important to support these occupations. This Practice Guideline synthesizes recent systematic reviews (SRs) on these areas of development to promote decision making for and high-quality interventions with this population. Four SRs related to cognition, mental health, motor function, and ADLs analyzed studies published from 2010 to 2017 retrieved from six electronic databases (MEDLINE, PsycINFO, CINAHL, ERIC, OTseeker, and Cochrane). A total of 196 articles were included in the SRs, which served as a guide to final clinical recommendations. Case studies describe translation and application to practice. and Recommendations: A variety of interventions within the domain of occupational therapy were found to support the development of cognitive, social-emotional, motor, and self-care skills. Although some of these interventions are typically implemented by occupational therapy practitioners, others can be implemented by parents after training or by teams working in preschool settings. These findings should be used to inform evidence-based practice provided by occupational therapy practitioners working in various early childhood settings. This Practice Guideline gives occupational therapy practitioners clear information about which interventions will be effective for specific outcomes. Better intervention choices mean better outcomes for young children and their families.

Effectiveness of Social Skills Interventions Incorporating Peer Interactions for Children With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: A Systematic Review.

Few studies examining the use of peers during interventions have been published, and no systematic review has been conducted to evaluate the available literature. To examine the effectiveness of social skills interventions incorporating peers for children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) to improve social interactions. A search of five databases (CINAHL, PubMed, Web of Science, Google Scholar, and PsycINFO) produced 697 articles. Sixty-one were retrieved for full-text review, and 15 articles met inclusion criteria. Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines were used to abstract data. Inclusion criteria: Participants younger than age 18 yr with any ADHD pattern, social skills interventions with peer involvement, outcome measures within the domain of occupational therapy, written in English, and involved a peer as the sole or primary component at some point in the social skills intervention. Exclusion criteria: Studies older than 20 yr or that used participants with comorbidities or multiple conditions. Interventions incorporating both peer categories were effective for increasing play skills, reducing undesirable social behaviors (e.g., inappropriate verbalizations, dominant behaviors, aggression), and improving communication (e.g., pragmatic language, collaboration, joint participation) and social participation. Improvements were maintained over time, as evidenced by follow-up studies. Outcomes of these studies demonstrate moderate evidence that supports the use of social skills interventions incorporating peers for children with ADHD to improve social interactions, supporting their use by occupational therapists and the need for more studies. This article provides guidance to occupational therapy practitioners on social skills intervention options for children with ADHD.

Scoping Review of School-to-Work Transition for Youth With Intellectual Disabilities: A Practice Gap.

Youth with intellectual disabilities (ID) have persistently poor work outcomes. Occupational therapy can support school-to-work transition but is underrepresented in transition practice. To identify and describe interventions within the scope of occupational therapy for youth with ID who are transitioning from school to work. MEDLINE, ERIC, PsycINFO, and CINAHL were searched, and hand searching was performed in relevant peer-reviewed journals. Included were peer-reviewed, English-language articles published from 2004 to 2017 describing studies focused on youth with ID with no significant co-occurring physical diagnoses who were transitioning from U.S.-based school settings to paid employment. Data extraction was managed using Google Drive. Data were organized on extraction sheets by trained reviewers. The quality of each study was assessed using questions adapted from the Critical Appraisal Skills Program checklist. A total of 35 articles were included, 7 of which used randomized controlled designs. All articles described interventions aligned with the Occupational Therapy Practice Framework: Domain and Process (3rd ed.), but specific mention of occupational therapy was notably absent from the literature. Interventions had little and generally low-level evidence supporting their use. Significant and concerning gaps exist in the literature on school-to-work transition for youth with ID, likely impeding evidence-based practice. No included article mentioned occupational therapy or had a contributor who was an occupational therapy practitioner. Practitioners should advocate for occupational therapy's role in transition and contribute reports of occupational therapy transition services for youth with ID to the literature. This study demonstrates that occupational therapy is poorly represented in literature describing transition services for youth with ID. Although the articles described interventions within the occupational therapy domain, these interventions were not provided by occupational therapy practitioners and did not have a strong evidence base.

Doing Occupational Justice: A Central Dimension of Everyday Occupational Therapy Practice.

The Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists (CAOT) and the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) state that occupational justice is part of the domain of occupational therapy and that occupational justice is "an aspect of contexts and environments and an outcome of intervention" (AOTA, 2014, p. S9). Despite the increasing focus on justice in the occupational therapy and the occupational science literature, many practitioners in traditional settings do not see its relevance to their everyday practice (Galvin, Wilding, & Whiteford, 2011) or have difficulty envisioning how to enact a justice-informed practice. This paper demonstrates how occupational justice is germane to all settings of occupational therapy, and how it can be enacted at micro, meso, and macro levels of occupational therapy practice. We argue that occupational therapy is a justice-oriented profession at its core and will discuss how occupational justice can be enacted at all levels of practice.

OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY FOR CHILDREN WITH FEEDING DIFFICULTIES AND PICKY EATING HABITS – A CASE STUDY

Feeding and eating are basic activities of daily living (B/ADL) thus it is one of the major occupation domain of occupational therapy. The role of an occupational therapist at this domain is to evaluate occupational performance and develop feeding skills that includes sensory-motor, fine motor, oral motor and processing skills. Moreover behavior pattern, habit and routine along with contextual factors during the mealtimes that facilitate feeding mechanism. Picky and fussy eating is also called choosy eating which is most common form of feeding difficulties [2] among both typically developed and delayed milestone children. The aim of case study is to promote the effectiveness of occupational therapy in picky eater children who have attained developmental milestones within typical ranges but healthy eating habits are not developed. The occupational performance of the 5 year old picky eater child was monitored through ABLLS-Assessment of Basic Language and Learning Skill. Feeding issues of the child were affecting her physical and behavioral health eventually leading to struggle in functions for BADL- basic activities of daily living and social participation. It is observed that continuous occupational therapy session with individualized intervention plan, inculcate healthy eating habits and improve results at ABBLS.

Moving beyond the individual: Occupational therapists' multi-layered work with communities

IntroductionAlthough working with communities using community-centred approaches like community development has been identified as an important occupational therapy domain of practice, occupational...

Occupational Therapy in Orthopedics and Accident Surgery

Ergotherapy is part of the multidisciplinary treatment concept in the field of orthopedics and trauma surgery. The occupational therapist treats patients together with doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, psychologists, social workers/pedagogues, speech therapists and other professional groups · with congenital malformations,. · with chronic diseases,. · with degenerative diseases,. · after accidental injuries or surgical interventions.. Therapy takes place in terms of client centricity and sees the patient as a full member of the team. Together, therapy goals are determined and the therapy is designed. Occupational therapy has a wide range of treatment options that are individually tailored to the patient's situation and needs.The start of treatment is early in acute care hospitals - some already in the intensive care unit, z. For example, with bar treatments for physiological storage, ADL training, aid care, functional treatment with increasing load increase, sensitivity training, etc., with the aim of helping the patient to carry out activities in his important areas of life and to largely independently create his own life.In rehabilitation clinics or in outpatient settings, occupational therapists pass on these treatment measures, adapting the therapy contents to the status and possibly changed needs of the patient and his goals in the rehabilitation process. Accompanying up to professional reintegration is possible.One domain of occupational therapy is the inclusion of contextual factors of the patient in therapy (biopsychosocial model).Occupational therapy is not deficit-oriented but knows how to integrate the patient's resources into the treatment and to support him in becoming an expert in his illness. This in turn has a positive effect on the adherence in occupational therapy treatment.

“Ready to Be a Normal Person Again”: Occupational Needs of Service Members With Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

Abstract Date Presented 4/1/2017 The purpose of this study is to describe the occupational challenges in daily life faced by active duty military service members who experience persistent symptoms following mild traumatic brain injury. The findings establish needs that fall within each aspect of the occupational therapy domain of practice. Primary Author and Speaker: Alison Cogan Contributing Authors: Maria Devore, Christine Haines, Karla Lepore, Margaret Ryan

Comparative Effectiveness of Three Occupational Therapy Sleep Interventions

Although sleep intervention is within the domain of occupational therapy, few studies exist supporting practice. Effectiveness of three sleep interventions was compared: Dreampad Pillow®, iRest® meditation, and sleep hygiene. Twenty-nine participants were randomly assigned to the Dreampad Pillow® ( n = 10), iRest® meditation ( n = 9), and sleep hygiene ( n = 10) groups. In Phase 1, all participants used a 7-day sleep hygiene regimen to reduce poor sleep habits. In Phase 2 (14 days), 10 participants used the Dreampad Pillow® and sleep hygiene, nine used the iRest meditation and sleep hygiene, and 10 continued sleep hygiene only. At intervention-end, the iRest meditation group experienced statistically greater time asleep than both the Dreampad Pillow® ( p < .006, d = 1.87) and sleep hygiene groups ( p < .03, d = 1.80). The Dreampad Pillow® group experienced statistically fewer nighttime awakenings than the iRest® meditation ( p < .04, d = -1.53) and sleep hygiene ( p < .004, d = -1.43) groups. No differences were found between groups in perceived sleep quality, length of time needed to fall asleep, and fatigue level next day. This study provides support for sleep interventions within occupational therapy's domain.

Different pathways to children’s enjoyment of participation in daily activities

Background: The enjoyment arising from participating in an activity is considered to be related to health and well-being. However, only a few studies have focused on children’s enjoyment of participation.Aim: To assess the contribution of various individual factors to the total explained variance of children’s enjoyment of participation from the perspectives of parents and children.Methods: Ninety-eight typically developed children were evaluated using motor and cognitive tests; they completed the Children’s Assessment of Participation and Enjoyment. Their parents completed the Children Participation Questionnaire, the Performance Skills Questionnaire, and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire.Results: Age and gender were found to be significant predictors. Parents perceived enjoyment to be associated with their child’s performance skills and the efficient execution of daily tasks. Children perceived enjoyment to be associated with their psychosocial functioning.Conclusions: The contribution of performance skills exceeds the contribution of motor or cognitive ability to the total explained variance of a child’s enjoyment of participation. A gap exists, however, between the perspectives of children and parents regarding enjoyment of participation. Enhancing participation is a central goal of the occupational therapy domain and process; our findings may provide insights into possible pathways to accomplish this goal.

Social Interaction and Atypical Sensory Processing in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Objective/Background Many children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) have sensory processing disorders (SPDs), which may limit many facets of daily life, including social interaction, an important domain of occupational therapy. Therefore, we examined the relationship between social interaction deficits and SPD in 4—6-year-old children with ASD without intellectual disorders. Methods The Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS) and the Japanese Sensory Inventory-Revised (JSI-R) questionnaires were administered to parents of children with ASD and children in the control group (n = 42 each). Results Response analyses revealed significant intergroup differences in scores for the questionnaires, with more atypical sensory processing patterns and social interaction deficits observed in children with ASD. Significant correlations were observed between the SRS total raw scores and subcategory scores of all sensory modalities of the JSI-R in the entire experimental group. The SPD symptoms were significantly associated with social interaction deficits in children with ASD. Conclusion It is important that occupational therapists consider SPD symptoms in children with ASD to provide early intervention for social interaction deficits.

Ensayo sobre la importancia de la educación sexual en personas con déficit intelectual: reflexiones desde la terapia ocupacional

The following essay analyzes and reflects on the importance of sex education in people with intellectual deficit from Occupational Therapy, as only when the why and the what for are validated and justified, it is possible to plan on how and where to intervene. In order to carry it out, the peculiarities of this group are considered as well as analyzed from the Occupational Therapy domain (AOTA, 2008), the concept of sexuality formulated by the World Health Organization - WHO (2006), the need and impact in their social integration processes as well as some bioethical reflections on the subject matter. Under this reflective and theoretical logic analysis it emerges the idea of considering that social integration implies the need of maximizing the independence and autonomy of persons with intellectual deficit as well as their sexual dimension which expression and experience are daily performed. Therefore, his/her education must be a person-centered work and it also must be accomplished together with his/her family and the multidisciplinary team. Based on the latter, it is concluded that it is not necessary being an expert in the field to provide the essential advice, and then occupational therapists should be part of these teams, as they have the necessary tools.