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Table Of Contents

GrandFamilies: The Contemporary Journal of Research, Practice and Policy

Table of Contents

Call For Papers

GrandFamilies: The Contemporary Journal of Research, Practice and Policy

Call for Papers

GrandFamilies: The Contemporary Journal of Research, Practice and Policy

Submission Deadline: October 15, 2024

Complete Issue Vol. 7, Issue 2

GrandFamilies: The Contemporary Journal of Research, Practice and Policy

Complete Issue Vol 7(2)

Artworks: Art As Occupation, Erin Barrus

The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy

A collaborative effort from various artists at MRC artWorks located in Kalamazoo, MI contributed to the cover art for the Winter 2024 issue of the Open Journal of Occupational Therapy (OJOT). MRC Industries is a non-profit organization that focuses on supporting individuals with developmental disabilities, cognitive or emotional impairments or illnesses, and people who have experienced traumatic brain injuries. One particular program has become a staple in the Kalamazoo community – MRC artWorks, a professional working art studio for adults with disabilities to learn skills, both physical and emotional, through art instruction and art-making.

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 …

When Music Becomes Me: Occupational Therapy’S Role In Caring For Upper Extremity Disorders In Musicians, Kathryn S. Halsted, Kristin Biggins, Kimberly Davis

The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy

Musicians are a distinct population with a high rate of developing musculoskeletal and neurological disorders affecting their ability to participate in music-based occupations. These injuries negatively affect the musician’s health and well-being in physical, financial, psychosocial, and emotional dimensions. Given music’s complex and integrated role in the musicians’ life, treatment must be multi-dimensional, considering aspects of the person, the type of instrument, environment, context, and social obligations. Occupational therapy providers are uniquely qualified to treat musicians because of their focuse on holistic, occupation-based, and client-centered care. This manuscript describes the role of occupational therapy in this client population based on …

Outcomes Of The Nurosleeve And Occupational Therapy On Upper Limb Function Of An Individual With Chronic Hemiparesis Following A Stroke: A Case Report, Nicole M. Gerhardt, Jeremy P. Armstrong, Mijail D. Serruya, Mj Mulcahey

The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy

Background: Upper limb neuromuscular impairments can adversely impact function. This case report investigates the process and outcomes of occupational therapy (OT) for training in the use of the NuroSleeve, a novel research-grade exoskeletal powered orthosis, with a participant with chronic right hemiparesis following a stroke.

Method: The participant engaged in 24 OT sessions using the NuroSleeve over 10 weeks. Therapeutic interventions included neuromuscular reeducation, device management, and engagement in occupation-based activities with training to use the NuroSleeve. The Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM), ABILHAND, Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System Upper Extremity Short Form 7a (PROMIS UE SF), …

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 …

Hand Strength Changes Following A Clinical Rotation In Hand Therapy: A Pilot Study, Gretchen L. Bachman, Josh Macdonald, Rhian Sage

The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy

Background: Hand therapy clinical rotations are 12 weeks, and one common anecdotal change frequently expressed is an increase in hand strength. Quantifiable measures of change are not documented in the literature. The purpose of this study is to determine if students experience significant increases in strength during a clinical rotation.

Methods: This study is a quasi-experimental, double-blinded, non-randomized sample of convenience. Grip and pinch strength were assessed pre, mid, and post clinical rotation. Demographic data were collected and reported. Paired t-tests were used to compare means between groups. SPSS 27.0 was used for data analysis.

Results: After …

Predictors Of General Well-Being In Postprofessional Students Of Occupational Science And Occupational Therapy, Elena Wong Espiritu, Paul E. Yeatts, Cynthia L. Evetts

The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy

Background: Doctoral students experience decreased well-being during their educational experience. Self-compassion, engagement in meaningful occupations, and occupational balance positively impact well-being in individuals. This study examined the relationships between these constructs in postprofessional occupational science and occupational therapy students.

Method: This quantitative cross-sectional study collected national survey data (N = 113) using the Self-Compassion Scale – Short Form, the Engagement in Meaningful Activities Survey, the Occupational Balance Questionnaire 11, and the 14-item Scales of General Well-Being. Multiple linear regression analysis determined how well each construct predicted general well-being and the strength of each construct’s relationship compared to other …

A Scoping Review Of Universal Design For Learning In United States Allied Health & Medical Education, Karolina Gawron, Madison Tomlinson, Nicole Mohan, Laura H. Vanpuymbrouck

The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy

Background: Universal design for learning (UDL) is considered best-practice for embracing inclusion for students with disabilities and there is growing evidence of its effectiveness in primary, secondary, and postsecondary education. However, little is known about if and how UDL is being implemented into United States graduate allied health and medical school curriculum as well as evidence of its benefits.

Method: We used Arksey and O’Malley’s (2005) methodological framework. Search engines were: PubMed, CINAHL Complete, ERIC, GoogleScholar, and Scopus. Data were analyzed by the research team using Covidence to organize articles, screen, and complete a full-text review. Data extraction …

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 …

Perspectives On Adaptation In A Stroke Self-Management Program: A Multiple Case Study, Riqiea F. Kitchens, Gayle Hersch, Wayne Brewer, Marsha Neville

The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy

Background: Occupational Adaptation occurs when a person develops a response to meet an occupational challenge. This process is disrupted when a person experiences a life altering event, such as stroke. Stroke self-management programs equip persons with stroke with education and skills to manage the daily tasks associated with their condition. Few studies have explored the adaptive process survivors experience as they seek to effectively use the tools provided through stroke self-management programs. The objective was to explore the adaptive process of three individuals following participation in a stroke self-management program.

Method: A multiple case study design was used. …

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.

"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 …

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 …

Does Learning About Social Policy In A Global Context Change Students’ Views On U.S. Social Policies?, Dirk De Jong, Dennis Kao

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This article reviews the development and implementation of a course titled “Social Policy Without Borders” and an evaluation of students’ attitudes toward social policies as a result of having taken the course. “Social Policy Without Borders” is an undergraduate social work elective and involves a cross-national analysis of social policies and an examination of the impact of neoliberalism on social policies and social welfare systems globally. This paper reports on an evaluation of outcome in terms of possible changes in students’ views on social policies in the United States as a result of learning about their global context. The evaluation …

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

Geological and Environmental Sciences News

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Wellbeing And Indigenous Aymara Orphans In Perú: An Empirical Study At Hogar De Niñas Virgen De Fatima De Chejoña, Puno, Lee Fergusson, Javier Ortiz Cabrejos, Anna Bonshek

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a wide spectrum of well-documented adverse mental health outcomes for children and adults, including depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), self-harm, suicide, and other detrimental impacts to the well-being of young people. These impacts have extended to Perú where 216,000 people in a population of 33 million died from the disease, despite that country being the first to fully lockdown in Latin America. It is predicted that about 200,000 children will become orphans or lose their guardians as a consequence of this unprecedented surge in mortality. Compelling and sustained international research since the 1970s …

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 …

Journal Of Sociology & Social Welfare Volume 50, Issue 4 (2023)

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

No abstract provided.

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 …

Which Side (Of The Balance Sheet) Are You On? Household Financial Resources And Participation In The 2020 Protests, Selina Miller, Stephen Roll, C.Taylor Brown, Laura Brugger, Michal Grinstein-Weiss

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The summer of 2020 was marked by widespread protests. Though research has often examined the predictors of protest participation, there exists little work examining the relationship between different types of wealth and protesting. Drawing on resource-based theories of protest participation and asset-based theories of civic engagement, we constructed regression models disentangling relationships between income, liquid assets, investment assets, homeownership, and protesting. Using a national survey administered during the protests, we find that liquid assets are negatively associated, homeownership is positively associated, and investment assets exhibit a non-linear association with protesting. These relationships hold when controlling for income, demographics, and ideology, …

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.