Digital Commons Network^™

Complete Issue Vol. 7, Issue 2

GrandFamilies: The Contemporary Journal of Research, Practice and Policy

Complete Issue Vol 7(2)

Exploring The Spiritual Alliance Of Maintaining A 5-Acre Tropical Farm Through The Lens Of Occupational Engagement, Jose Rafols, Amy Wagenfeld

The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy

Large-scale commercial farmers and small scale “hobby” farmers engage in growing crops for subsistence and survival for themselves, their families, communities, and beyond. Their reverence and passion for farming make them good stewards of both community and world population nourishment. We suggest there may be a collective physical, emotional, and spiritual draw to farming that is interwoven with occupational engagement. Through a personal narrative approach, we reflect on the meaning and the work-focused occupation of farming and specifically how spirituality may be a guiding force that supports engagement despite seemingly insurmountable environmental and personal hardships. With an increasing interest in …

Occupational Therapists' Role In Sexual Education For Teens And Young Adults Living With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Taylor M. Urban, Reeti R. Douglas

The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy

Teens and young adults living with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) do not have equal access to sexual education, thus having lower sexual awareness, little knowledge of preventative sexual health care, and having a more difficult time reading sexual body language (Hannah & Stagg, 2016; Holmes et al., 2019; Mogavero & Hsu, 2020). Deficits in these and many other skills may make it more challenging for teens and young adults living with ASD to engage in an intimate or sexual relationship with a consenting partner. Skilled intervention on the occupation of sexual activity and its related dimensions, such as communication and …

Covid-19 Pandemic’S Effect On Occupational Therapy Students’ Time-Use And Occupational Engagement On Returning To In-Person Learning, Jhannell Hannah D. Ocampo, Susan Macdermott, Karen Mccarthy

The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy

The COVID-19 pandemic emotionally and physically impacted students in occupational therapy and occupational therapy assistant programs. College students lost autonomy and access to meaningful occupations and environments. As students returned to campus, they struggled to navigate and adapt to in-person occupations and how they use their time. This study uses a mixed method descriptive research design to understand how the pandemic affected occupational therapy students' time-use and occupational engagement during the transition to in-person learning. Seventy-three students completed an online survey, while 12 of those students additionally participated in a follow-up time-use diary and interview. Eighty-three percent of the participants …

Osces’ Impact On Occupational Therapy Student Learning: Insights From Second- And Third-Year Focus Groups, Craig R. St. Jean, Karin Werther, Mary R. Roberts

The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy

Background: Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) are widely used in health programs to assess clinical skills. We present results of a qualitative study investigating occupational therapy students’ perceptions of OSCEs’ impact on their learning and readiness for clinical practice.

Method: Six second and six third year students in the University of Alberta’s Master of Science in Occupational Therapy program were interviewed in separate focus groups. Independent reviewers applied thematic analysis to the focus group transcripts to identify, analyze, and report themes in the data.

Results: Five themes were constructed from the data: from learning to action, transition …

Practice And Recommendations For Universal Design For Learning In Occupational Therapy Client Education, Heather L. Panczykowski, Lynne F. Murphy, Victoria Christmas, Whitely Macintyre

The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy

Background: Universal Design for Learning (UDL), an educational framework that describes flexible approaches to teaching and learning, can be used to address problems related to limitations in health literacy in health care settings.

Methods: This exploratory observational study, using a web-based online survey, was undertaken to discern how occupational therapists use the principles of UDL in educating their clients and to determine if differences exist between degree type or practice settings and UDL implementation.

Results: Of the 147 respondents only 30.6% indicated prior awareness of UDL principles. The most frequently cited means of client engagement were displaying …

Cross-Cultural Adaptation Of The Inventory Of Reading Occupations-Adult Into Filipino And Its Content Validation, Peñafrancia E. Ching, Treisha Naedine H. Santos, Lenin Grajo, Maria Concepcion Cabatan, Anna Liza Y. Tan Pascual

The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy

Background: Adult functional literacy ensures adequate and safe engagement in daily activities. It is assessed through the Inventory of Reading Occupations-Adult (IRO-A). The instrument underwent translation with cultural adaptation and content validation to ensure relevance to the Filipino context.

Method: The translation and cultural adaptation of the IRO-A to Filipino (Fil IRO-A) was guided by the process proposed by two international guidelines for cross-cultural adaptations that involves (a) forward translation and synthesis, (b) back translation, and (c) pre-panel review of the adaptation to the Filipino context. The Fil IRO-A also underwent content validation by seven experts. Item and …

Confronting Systemic Racism In Occupational Therapy: A Mixed Methods Study, Rachelle Murphy, Karen Park, Christy Billock, Tracy Becerra-Culqui, Natalie A. Perkins, Rajvinder Bains

The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy

This study aimed to examine how occupational therapists and students perceive systemic racism in occupational therapy practice and the effectiveness and impact of the delivery of a keynote address on confronting systemic racism in practice delivered to occupational therapists and students. The study aimed to help inform future efforts in creating a more diverse and inclusive profession at the practice, policy, and education level by providing input into the challenges and opportunities that occupational therapists and students face when reckoning with issues of racism in practice. A mixed methodology research design was used with Likert-style scale and open-ended questions delivered …

Relationships Between Sensory Processing, Temperament Characteristics For Effortful Control, And Executive Function In School-Age Children, Rachel B. Diamant, Natasha Smet

The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy

Background: Sensory processing behaviors, the temperament characteristic for effortful control, and executive function promote self-regulation, activity engagement, and problem-solving. This study examined inter-relationships between executive function, effortful control, and sensory processing in school-aged children between 7 and 10.11 years of age.

Method: Descriptive correlation research design was used to examine relationships of outcomes from three caregiver-reported, standardized questionnaires of behaviors related to sensory processing (Sensory Profile-2), effortful control (Temperament in Middle Childhood Questionnaire) and executive function (Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function-2) in daily activities (N = 19).

Results: Data …

State Of The Journal: Introducing The Policy And Advocacy Category, Diane Powers Dirette

The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy

No abstract provided.

John Gower: The Minor Latin Works, Robert J. Meindl, Mark T. Riley

Accessus

A translation, with introductions, of the minor Latin works of John Gower.

Preface To A New English Translation Of The Minor Latin Works Of John Gower, Georgiana Donavin, Eve Salisbury

Accessus

The editors' preface to Robert J. Meindl and Mark T. Riley's new English translation of the Minor Latin Works of John Gower.

"The Lover's Confession": A Translation Of John Gower's "Confessio Amantis", Brian Gastle, Catherine Carter, Andrew Galloway

TEAMS Varia

John Gower’s Confessio Amantis (The Lover’s Confession) is one of the most important English works of the fourteenth century, influencing authors from Chaucer to Shakespeare. Within its frame of the lovesick lover’s confession are well over a hundred stories, mainly derived from classical mythology, the Bible, and history which exemplify the Middle Ages serve as moral lessons (exempla) for personal and political behavior. Echoing the octosyllabic line of the original, this is the first complete modern English translation of the entire (33,000-line) poem, including its Latin verses and glosses.

"I’M Not Teaching Them Per Se": Designing And Delivering Asynchronous Undergraduate Online Stem Courses, Regina L. Garza Mitchell, Whitney Decamp, Brian Horvitz, Megan Grunert Kowalske, Cherrelle Singleton

Instruments for Measuring Online Teaching Practices

Although online courses have been a part of academia for nearly 30 years, they are still perceived as “different” than face-to-face instruction. Through in-depth interviews with four instructors, we explored how STEM faculty approach teaching asynchronous online undergraduate STEM courses. The faculty interviewed for this study viewed online courses as “not regular class[es]” and teaching those classes as “not teaching per se.” Each of the instructors had assumptions about what a classroom was and about good instruction, but even for instructors who taught online for multiple years, those assumptions remained grounded in the face-to-face environment. There is a need for …

Developing An Observation Protocol For Online Stem Courses, Brian Horvitz, Whitney Decamp, Regina L. Garza Mitchell, Megan Grunert Kowalske, Cherrelle Singleton

Instruments for Measuring Online Teaching Practices

The use of online instruction for undergraduate STEM courses is growing rapidly. While researchers and practitioners have access to validated instruments for studying the practice of teaching in face-to-face classrooms, analogous tools do not yet exist for online instruction. These tools are needed for quality design and control purposes. To meet this need, this project developed an observational protocol that can be used to collect non-evaluative data for the description, study, and improvement of online, undergraduate STEM courses. The development of this instrument used a sequential exploratory mixed methods approach to the research, design, pilot-testing, refinement and implementation of the …

Can Workers And Their Families Live On A Living Wage?, Sandra Wexler, Soobin Kim, Rafael J. Engel, Jihee Woo, Jeff Shook

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Many lower-wage workers’ earnings are insufficient to cover expenses such as food, housing, medical care, or transportation. While there are efforts to raise the federal and state minimum wage levels, including proposals to raise the minimum wage to $15, an alternative approach is to offer a living wage, that is a wage sufficient to meet these basic needs. We explored whether incomes above a basic needs budget threshold reduced or eliminated material hardships using a sample of 232 unionized lower-wage hospital workers. We collected data using an online survey. Basic needs budget thresholds were obtained from the MIT Living Wage …

The Role Of Hope In The Lives Of Sexual And Gender Minority Youth: The Relationship Between Bullying And Life Satisfaction, Jedediah E. Bragg, Daniel Howell, Shane R. Brady

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Among sexual and gender minority students, 70% are bullied at school every year in the United States (2019). This study utilized a random 6% sample (n = 400) from the 2018 Washington State Healthy Youth Survey (n = 32,271), to assess the relationships between sexuality, bullying and life satisfaction, and then how hope moderates this established relationship. Results of this study illustrate the negative effects of bullying on life satisfaction for all students, while highlighting differences across sexuality. Additionally, this study illustrates that interventions to address the impacts of bullying might be best served by including the positive construct of …

The Embeddedness And Reproduction Of Ableism In Social Work And A Call To Centre Disability Justice, Amber P.E. Young, Kathleen C. Sitter

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Predominately focused on a northern Turtle Island (otherwise known as Canada) context, this article focuses on how ableism, colonialism, and white supremacy intersect, and are embodied and reproduced in dominant social work education spaces and practices. We begin by providing a brief contextual background of the development of social work on northern Turtle Island and how certain social workspaces maintain and (re) produce ableism while intersecting with multiple forms of oppression. We then explore/reflect upon how centering a disability justice framework can inform/transform social work research design (including doctoral research design) and pedagogical practices, citing examples to support these claims.

Getting To Disability Justice: A Critical Conceptual Review Of Disability Models In U.S. Social Work, Kathryn M. Wright

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

In 1983, scholar Mike Oliver coined the term the “social model of disability.” While the medical model presents disability as an inherent, immutable, and pathological defect, the social model suggests that disability emerges from external and social barriers (Oliver, 1983). Little research within social work has engaged with sociocultural paradigms of disability and how they might impact social work practice. American social workers generally approach disability as a biological category and an obvious deficit. This paper draws attention to the need to analyze the category of disability through social and cultural lenses in social work research and practice. Via a …

Journal Of Sociology & Social Welfare Volume 51, Issue 1&2 (2024)

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

No abstract provided.

Arab Refugees With Physical Disabilities: An Exploration Of Barriers Within The Resettlement Process, Qusay S. Hussein Msw, Lailea Noel Phd

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

A series of global crises—the war on terror and its subsequent geopolitical disruptions, climate change, and political and economic instability —have created new waves of refugees, primarily from the Middle East, North Africa, and Latin America. Among these refugees are people with sensory disabilities (PWD). While all refugees require support and encounter challenges to adapting to their resettlement countries, those with physical disabilities face additional barriers to successful resettlement and integration into their resettlement communities. These additional barriers include access to accessibility services for alternative communication methods, orientation and mobility assistance, disability-specific medical support, as well as social support to …

Global Deaf And Disability-Led Partnerships For Accessible Emergency Response And Humanitarian Action, Alina A. Engelman, Joe Booze, Alexia Izquierdo

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Disability-serving non-profit, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) play a critical role in fostering care networks and supporting humanitarian action for disabled people before and during emergencies, particularly in the absence of targeted philanthropic and governmental support. However, relatively few NGOs serving disabled people are led or operated by people with disabilities, especially by disabled women. This analysis, based on survey and interview data with leadership, explores the impact of two disability-led operations. Findings have profound implications for how social work practice can center disability justice both in preparing for and responding to emergencies. This paper assesses the needs and impact of two …

Diverging From Conventional Autism Research Through Meaningfully Including An Adult Autism Community: Processes Of Engaging Ottawa’S Adult Autism Community In Critical And Emancipatory Autism Research, Margaret Janse Van Rensburg, Courtney Weaver

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Traditional research practices that aim to find causes, cures, and fixes for autism, without meaningful involvement of Autistic individuals, undermine disability justice and the inherent value of the Autistic perspective and Autistic contributions to society. Limited studies address the process of inclusive research and upholding disability justice principles; therefore this paper presents the process of a participatory planning stage for a research study committed to disability justice and social change for Autistic people. Drawing from the principles of disability justice, including intersectionality, leadership, anti-capitalism, cross-movement organizing, and collective liberation, the paper outlines both the successes and obstacles encountered during the …

Geological And Environmental Sciences - 2024, Dept. Of Geological And Environmental Sciences

Geological and Environmental Sciences News

• Greetings from the Department Chair
• Thank You to our Donors
• Faculty Updates
• Emeritus Faculty Updates
• MGRRE Updates
• MGS Updates
• Geosciences Advisory Council
• Student Clubs
• Awards and Honors, 2024
• Department Graduates
• Publications 2023–24

Anti-Ableist And Disability Justice Pedagogies In Social Work Education, Rose C. B. Singh, Laura Yakas, Laura J. Wernick, Shanna K. Kattari, Elspeth Slayter, Sarah Taylor

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Our personal and collective experiences of ableism and disability brought us together to envision anti-ableist and disability justice pedagogies in social work education. We begin by describing, defining, and reviewing key terminology and concepts, including disability, ableism, and saneism, by drawing on social work and interdisciplinary literature and situating disabled students’ and educators’ experiences in social work education. We provide definitions of anti-ableism and disability justice (e.g., Sins Invalid, 2016, 2019) and a brief overview of how anti-ableism and disability justice have been articulated in social work and related literature. We highlight the broader pedagogical approaches that have inspired our …

Wmu Board Of Trustees Formal Session January 25, 2024, Wmu Board Of Trustees

WMU Board of Trustees Meetings

• Acceptance of the Agenda
• Approval of the Minutes
  • November 30, 2023 – BOT Meeting
  • December 14, 2024 – BOT Special Meeting
• Remarks by the Chair
• Remarks by the President
• Updates by the Faculty Senate President
• Updates by the Western Student Association President
• Western Michigan University Employee Graduates
• Haenicke Institute for Global Education Presentation: Journey from Graduate Student to Assistant Professor
• Public Comments Regarding Action Items

Action Items

2024 Western Michigan University Board of Trustee Officer Election

Delegated Authority to Confer Degrees

Consent Items

Curriculum Proposals

Personnel Report

• General Public Comments

Supplemental

What Is The Goal Of Defining Family? Best Practices For Teaching Family Communication, Kaitlin E. Phillips

Journal of Communication Pedagogy

Family Communication is an inherently value-laden class. When students walk into the classroom, some of them come with a very negative view of family, whereas others walk in with an extremely narrow view of family. By prioritizing and facilitating the importance of multiple definitions of families, instructors can move through more complex topics over the course of the semester knowing that students have an understanding of why defining family is important—even if they are hesitant to change their definition. In this article I present eight best practices for teaching family communication. This set of practices provides a foundation for educators …

Assessing Information Literacy Programs For First-Year Writing Courses At A Public University, Kathleen A. Langan, Lumarie Guth, Dylan Mcglothlin

University Libraries Faculty & Staff Publications

This chapter discusses the findings of a study that used Project Outcome (PO) to assess the effectiveness of library programming for first-year writing courses in different colleges at a mid-sized public university. The purpose of this study was twofold. First, PO data was used to compare student feedback on library support across multiple college writing programs to measure the success of library programming for all incoming first-year students. Second, the PO data was used to set a benchmark for future assessment with the expansion of the library programming for a first-year gateway course. We are not concerned with benchmarking across …

Decolonizing Disability In Social Work: A Conversation On Colonialism, Autumn Asher Blackdeer

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The present work seeks to prompt a paradigm shift in the conceptualization of disability within social work through three main goals: a) Problematize the dominant disability discourse in social work, b) Illuminate present day manifestations of settler colonialism and their intersection with disability in social work, and c) Introduce decolonization and its compatibility with disability justice to reckon with disability and colonialism in social work. First, the present work will illuminate social work’s dedication to the medical model, evidence-based practice, and hollow notions of empowerment and inclusion. Next, in viewing intersections of ableism with other forms of oppression, this work …

Using A Career Research Project In The Introductory Communication Course To Develop Agency, Self-Efficacy, Self-Determination, And Adaptability In Career Exploration, Stephen A. Klien, John Elmer, Patrick J. Rottinghaus

Journal of Communication Pedagogy

Helping students make connections between the disciplinary study of communication and the development of student agency in career exploration can be an important part of the mission of the introductory course in communication. This study incorporates social cognitive career theory to examine the effects of a semester-long communication career awareness research project as an intervention in an introductory communication course at a large public university in the Midwest. Survey data from 83 undergraduate students were analyzed to measure perceptions of self-efficacy, perceived competence, autonomy support, and adaptability for career exploration. The results of paired samples t-tests found significant gains on …