Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Doing Nonbinary Gender: The Occupational Experience Of Nonbinary Persons In The Environment, Karen Mccarthy, Meghan Ballog, Maria Mayela Carranza, Katherine Lee

Occupational Therapy | Faculty Scholarship

Understanding the effect of the environment is fundamental to grasping the occupational experiences of nonbinary individuals. Current research in occupational science addresses the occupations of the transgender population but often fails to distinguish between the binary and nonbinary experience. There is an absence of occupational science research that solely focuses on the nonbinary experience. This study focuses on nonbinary individuals and aims to illuminate the environmental factors that support or hinder occupational engagement for nonbinary individuals. Using a descriptive qualitative research design, we conducted two interviews per participant and photo-elicitation. Data analysis resulted in three themes: binary environments and safe …

Transition In Occupations Of Refugees During Resettlement, Karen Mccarthy, Jacqueline-Elizabeth Cantrell, Jennifer Daine, Kimberley K. Banuelos, Adam Chan

Occupational Therapy | Faculty Scholarship

Background: Human displacement is a social problem that has occupational implications. There is a significant gap in the research focusing on the refugee experience and the impact of this experience on their occupations as they transition to living in the US. This study seeks to capture the experience of refugees and the impact of this transition to the US on a broad array of occupations.

Method: This research is a qualitative study. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with two participants who have legal status as refugees living in the US.

Results: Thematic analysis generated three themes: …

Social Participation In College Students With Chronic Pain, Megan Chamberlain, Megan Chinn, Jennifer Pineda, Camille Santiago, Jamie Spitzer, Patricia Tran

Occupational Therapy | Graduate Capstone Projects

College students with chronic pain often experience difficulty engaging in social activities both on and off campus due to stigma, misconceptions, or social exclusions (Culp & Rojas-Guyler, 2014). To fully understand the barriers to social engagement, the researchers used a qualitative phenomenological approach and semi-structured interviews to explore the lived experiences of 15 college students with chronic pain (pain lasting more than six months). Four main themes were identified: the additional influence of personality on social participation; stigma and lack of understanding of chronic pain; the “domino effect” of pain impacting energy, sleep quality, and ability to function throughout the …

Creating Focused Occupational Therapy Interventions For Clients With Heart Failure In Skilled Nursing Facilities, In Hwa Chae, Camille Marcia Schilling, Elena Ruth Vaccaro

Occupational Therapy | Graduate Capstone Projects

The ultimate goal of the SNF is to help clients stabilize their medical conditions and attain their therapy goals so that they can return home (Orr, Boxer, Dolansky, Allen, & Forman, 2016). However, approximately 27% of heart failure (HF) clients are readmitted to the hospital after being discharged from the SNF (Allen et al., 2011). High readmission rates may be due to the cognitive (Dickson, Tkacs, and Riegel, 2007), psychosocial (Halliday, 2010), and lifestyle barriers (Maeda, Shen, Schwarz, Farrell, & Mallon, 2013) HF clients face. However, interventions in the SNF tend to emphasize activities of daily living (ADLs) and therapeutic …

Are All Instrumental Activities Of Daily Living Equal? A Pilot Study On The Performances Of Adults With Acquired Brain Injury, Crystal Lee, Samantha Schauer, Amy Tam, Yareli Vargas

Occupational Therapy | Graduate Capstone Projects

Aim: To determine if a relationship exists among performances of different instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs) in adults with acquired brain injury (ABI).

Methods: A two-group correlational design was used to examine the relationship among performances in cooking, medication management, and financial management in nine adults with ABI who returned to driving and nine adults with ABI who did not return to driving. The Executive Function Performance Test (EFPT) measured initiation, organization, sequencing, judgment and safety, and completion.

Physiological Responses & Coping Strategies Of Sensory Defensive Adults, Benjamin Cohen, Alexandria Donaldson, Jenny Park-Chan, Jessica Valenzuela

Occupational Therapy | Graduate Capstone Projects

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to learn how adults cope with their sensory defensiveness (SD) and how physiological responses differ between adults who self-report as high SD versus low SD. Methods: In this continuation study participants (age 18-64; n=23) were categorized as low SD (control group; n=9) or high SD (experimental group; n=14) via their Adolescent Adult Sensory Profile (AASP) scores and Sensory Response Questionnaire (SRQ) scores (Brown, & Dunn, 2002 & Wilbarger, 2009). The last nine participants also completed the Coping Strategies Questionnaire (CSQ). All participants partook in the sensory challenge protocol which examined their electrodermal activity …

Impacts Of Assistive Technology Applications In Higher Education For Students With And Without Disabilities, Christine Jacob, Michelle Morello, Cayla Chapman, Grace Erhardt, Erin Camarena, Sara Delucchi, Bethany Young

Occupational Therapy | Graduate Capstone Projects

Current trends in higher education include an increased enrollment of students who have a disability and a rising trend of technology use within the classroom. Assistive technology (AT) has been shown to enhance academic success and influence learning strategies. Furthermore, the combination of AT and individualized support has the potential to promote and enhance engagement in meaningful occupations, such as participation in school, for individuals with and without disabilities. However, the procurement of AT alone can often have less impact than AT combined with individualized support. Occupational therapists (OT) can play a significant role in HE providing training and individualized …

Evaluation Of User Interface In Drive Focus® Application, Bailey Kiser, Paul S. Peritos, Noreen Hasan, Anjelica J. Collins

Occupational Therapy | Graduate Capstone Projects

Technology is used in healthcare settings to aid clinicians in accessing client information, researching data, and enhancing communication with the client and other healthcare team members. In order for an app to best support client engagement, the app needs to have a well-developed user interface design There are four main aspects of user interface design, context, fidelity, accessibility, and consistency. The Drive Focus® application (app) is designed to identify how an individual recognizes, prioritizes, and reacts to information during real-world driving simulations. The Drive Focus® app has efficacy and feasibility, however, the user interface design has never been assessed. Therefore, …

Interrelationship Between Sensory Modulation, Altered Interoceptive Awareness, And Anxiety And Impacts On Quality Of Life, Sara Laughter, Vanessa Mitchell, Natalie Nguyen, Christine Kim

Occupational Therapy | Graduate Capstone Projects

OBJECTIVE: The negative impacts of sensory modulation disorder (SMD), anxiety, and altered interoceptive awareness (AIA) on daily occupations reinforced the need for the study of the relationship between sensory modulation, anxiety, and interoception in typical adults. Understanding the relationship between the three constructs is the first step in the ultimate goal of developing effective intervention and treatment measures.

METHODS: This cross-sectional, exploratory study analyzed the relationship between scores on four self-report measures in an online survey: State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36), Sensory Responsiveness Questionnaire (SRQ), and Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness, Version 2 (MAIA-2). …

Translated Evidence-Based Mental Health Toolkit For Skilled Nursing Facilities, Natalie Crisostomo Barrales, Jan Martha Conducto, Cecelia Ly-Peh

Occupational Therapy | Graduate Capstone Projects

More than 500,000 adults with a serious mental illness (SMI) receive long term care (LTC) in a skilled nursing facility (SNF) (Grabowski, Aschbrenner, Feng, & Mor, 2009). Residents who live in SNFs may experience limited access to meaningful occupations. The SNFs’ institutionalized structure may perpetuate a lack of autonomy and stigma for residents with a SMI (Sullivan & Williams, 2017). Occupational therapy (OT) services provided in a SNF are often limited to therapeutic exercises, therapeutic activities, and activities of daily living skills (Rafeedie, Metzler, & Lamb, 2018). OT practitioners are not utilizing mental health interventions. Although SNFs are not traditionally …

Mapping Occupational Therapy Practice With Postsecondary Students: A Scoping Review, Karen Keptner, Karen Mccarthy

Occupational Therapy | Faculty Scholarship

Background: Legislation supports a role for occupational therapy in postsecondary settings, but this area is not a common practice area and the practice area is not well understood. This scoping review maps current literature of occupational therapists working with students in postsecondary settings in order to inform future research and practice.

Method: After identifying included articles, a narrative description of the quantitative studies along with a concept map were completed. A qualitative thematic analysis of the articles was also conducted.

Results: Twenty-five articles met the inclusion criteria. Quantitative results describe occupational therapy services as both a direct and indirect service …

Environmental Impacts On The Occupations Of Non-Binary Individuals, Meghan Ballog, Maria Mayela Carranza, Katherine Lee

Occupational Therapy | Graduate Capstone Projects

Understanding the link between occupations, gender identity, and the environment is fundamental to the comprehension of the occupational participation of non-binary individuals. Occupations are used to express an individual’s personal and social identity and serve as a modality for identity “growth and reconstruction” (Laliberte-Rudman, 2002). Beagan et al. (2012) reveal that transgender individuals use occupations to shape and project their identity; the inability to engage in occupations that align with an individual’s identity (particularly gender identity) resulted in distress, a sense of emptiness, and occupational deprivation. Current research addresses the transgender population but fails to distinguish between the binary and …