Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

History Of Falls, Mild Cognitive Impairment, And The Presence Of Home Environmental Hazards Among Community-Dwelling Older Persons In District V, Manila, Marilou J. Raval, Donald S. Lipardo

Philippine Journal of Physical Therapy

Introduction: It is important to investigate factors that may increase the fall risk in the geriatric population. This study aimed to determine the relationship between: 1) mild cognitive impairments (MCI) and history of falls; 2) home environmental hazards (HEH) and history of falls; and 3) MCI and HEHs among older adults.

Methods: Community-dwelling older persons of District V, Manila were random sampled to participate in this cross-sectional correlational study. The Home Falls and Accidents Screening Tool for Health Professionals (HOMEFAST-HP) and Fall History Questionnaire were used to collect information on the presence of HEH and history of falls, respectively. Chi-Square …

Enhancing Leisure Participation In An Inpatient Mental Health Setting, Jawad Aqil, Susan Macdermott

Fall 2022 Virtual OTD Capstone Symposium

This capstone project, Enhancing Leisure Participation in an Inpatient Mental Health Setting, was completed by a Doctor of Occupational Therapy candidate at the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences. Project objectives aimed to identify and address internal and external barriers related to leisure participation in inpatient mental health settings from an occupational therapy perspective. A literature review of leisure engagement demonstrates beneficial mental health outcomes in correlation with increased leisure engagement during inpatient mental health treatment. However, leisure is often an underutilized facet of mental health treatment. Additionally, individuals with mental health challenges present with individualistic barriers decreasing leisure …

Preventing And Reducing Nurse Burnout In An Outpatient Military Facility, Lisa Haik

Student Scholarly Projects

Practice Problem: Nurse burnout adversely affects nurses, patients, and healthcare organizations. Implementing changes to address key contributors to burnout can effectively reduce and prevent burnout.

PICOT: The PICOT question that guided this project was: In outpatient clinic nurses (P), how does implementing a bundled strategy (I) compared to not providing interventions (C) affect nurse burnout (O) within eight weeks (T)?

Evidence: Evidence from an extensive literature review showed that there is no single cause for burnout and therefore no single intervention to reduce or prevent it. The primary themes in the literature to address burnout include practicing mindfulness, …

Resilience Development In Children With Adverse Childhood Experiences: The Role Of The Occupational Therapist And The Interdisciplinary Team, Kayla Frederick

Student Journal of Occupational Therapy

Research has revealed adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) can have a negative effect on a child’s development and put a child at an increased risk of physical and mental health problems in adulthood including obesity, diabetes, depressed mood, and attempted suicide (Anda et al., 2006; Felitti et al., 1998; Gilbert et al., 2015; Putamen, 2006). Some children have been able to counteract the negative effects of ACEs and achieve positive life outcomes using a principle called resilience (Zolkoski & Bullock, 2012). While researchers have begun to identify the key skills and character traits associated with resilience in children, few have explored …

An Occupational Therapy Guidebook For Individuals With Substance Use Disorder, Cassidy B. Ardoin

Student Capstone Papers

Individuals with substance use disorder (SUD) experience barriers and challenges that impact their daily occupational performance, engagement, well-being, and quality of life. In addition to disrupting and distorting an individual’s unique occupational outcomes, SUDs can limit, replace, and dictate an individual’s daily meaningful activities, habits, routines, and skills that support healthy occupational engagement. Occupational therapy (OT) practitioners have a unique and valuable role in SUDs treatment as they are equipped to identify these barriers and implement strategies for supportive skill development or restoration. Based on the literature review conducted, OT practitioners do not have an OT practice guideline, protocol, or …

A Manualized Occupational Therapy Mindfulness Module For Clients With Ptsd, Michael Ramirez

Student Capstone Papers

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) adversely impacts an individual’s functioning across areas of daily occupation. There is a paucity of literature addressing occupational therapy (OT) for people with PTSD. The literature has advocated for the development of a manualized OT intervention with the inclusion of mindfulness as one of its components. To date, a mindfulness-based OT treatment guide or manualized program specifically for clients with PTSD has not yet been developed. The aim of this paper is to bridge a gap in the literature and to develop a resource for occupational therapists to employ mindfulness as a clinical intervention with clients …

The Role Of Occupational Therapy In Unplanned Motherhood, Cierra Stewart, Karen Park

Summer 2022 Virtual OTD Capstone Symposium

For women experiencing unplanned pregnancy, the thought of becoming a mother can increase stress and affect the mother’s mental health. Maternal adjustment can include depression, anxiety, worry, stress, and happiness (Mihelic et al., 2016). The impact that this new role has effects daily demands, leading to a disruption in occupational engagement, environmental changes, and overall less time for the mother (Horne et al., 2005). There is currently not a well-defined role for occupational therapy within pregnancy medical clinics to support women experiencing unplanned pregnancy and their transition to motherhood. The purpose of this project is to provide care to new …

An Occupational Therapy Guidebook For Individuals With Substance Use Disorder, Cassidy B. Ardoin-Barnett, Steven M. Gerardi

Summer 2022 Virtual OTD Capstone Symposium

Individuals with substance use disorder (SUD) experience barriers and challenges that impact their daily occupational performance, engagement, well-being, and quality of life. In addition to disrupting and distorting an individual’s unique occupational outcomes, SUDs can limit, replace, and dictate an individual’s daily meaningful activities, habits, routines, and skills that support healthy occupational engagement. Occupational therapy (OT) practitioners have a unique and valuable role in SUDs treatment as they are equipped to identify these barriers and implement strategies for supportive skill development or restoration. Based on the literature review conducted, OT practitioners do not have an OT practice guideline, protocol, or …

The Effect Of Transfer Of Care Protocol On The Rehospitalization Rates In Psychiatric Patients, Fernando Guillen Msn, Cnp, Pmhnp-Bc

Student Scholarly Projects

Practice Problem: The problem involved the transition of psychiatric care from long psychiatric hospitalizations to community-based psychiatric treatment which has developed into shorter inpatient psychiatric hospitalizations, which in turn has developed into a significantly higher number of individuals being readmitted within one year of inpatient discharge.

PICOT: In adult patients undergoing inpatient acute psychiatric care (P), how does the use of a transfer of care protocol (I), compared to current transfer of care practice (C), affect the rate of readmission within 30 days for inpatient acute psychiatric care (O), in 10 weeks?

Evidence: The evidence from an extensive literature review …

Supporting The Transition Out Of The Family Caregiver Role: An Occupation-Centered Approach, Whitney Wilbanks, Susan Macdermott

Spring 2022 Virtual OTD Capstone Symposium

Engagement in meaningful and valued occupations can be used as a means to help former family caregivers cope, heal, and grow following the loss of their loved one (Pickens, 2011). Occupational engagement can be used as a means to help former family caregivers reshape their personal identity, experience a sense of wholeness, and reestablish purpose and balance in their lives (Hocking, 2016). The purpose of this doctoral capstone project was to educate hospice care staff on ways to support individuals with transitioning out of the family caregiver role following the death of the care recipient. An educational resource was developed …

The Role Of Occupation Therapy In Homeless Transition-Aged Youth Programs, Cortney Kirby Yap, Susan Macdermott

Spring 2022 Virtual OTD Capstone Symposium

The purpose of this project was to evaluate current programming with staff at Urban Street Angels (USA) and explore the role of occupational therapy (OT) with youth experiencing homelessness or are at risk of homelessness in San Diego, California. The project informed the development of proposals aimed to enhance programming and OT services already in place at the USA La Mesa site for the staff and the youth enrolled in services through the USA organization and the Housing Our Youth (HOY) collaborative program.

An Ot-Led Suicide Prevention Program For Middle School-Aged Youth, Kimberly Everett-Eaton, Susan Macdermott, Jazminne Orozco Arteaga

Spring 2022 Virtual OTD Capstone Symposium

Suicide is the fastest-growing cause of death for adolescents ages 10-14 (Horowitz et al., 2020). In the United States, the youth suicide rate tripled from 2007 to 2017, making suicide the second leading cause of death for those ages 10-24 (Curtis, 2019). This prevention program, Brighter Days Collective, utilizes occupational therapy (OT) practitioners to support middle school-aged adolescents by applying OT interventions based on theory and evidence-based practices. Brighter Days Collective aims to utilize OT practitioner expertise to support adolescents through educating students about mental health and employing occupations that enhance connection, coping skills, and living a purposeful life.

This …

Promoting Socio-Emotional Skills Through A Strength-Based Dance Program For Children Who Have Experienced Trauma, Lillian Tami Endow

Spring 2022 Virtual OTD Capstone Symposium

Negative outcomes as a result of trauma are multifaceted and can impact an individual throughout the lifespan. Younger children exposed to trauma are at higher risk for experiencing negative outcomes due to underdeveloped neurobiological capacities impacting their ability to appropriately respond to stressful stimuli (Price et al., 2013). Adversities including poor socio-emotional skills, mental and physical health challenges, and behavioral problems were identified among children exposed to trauma (Hovens et al., 2015). Occupational therapists are equipped to provide services for this vulnerable population by promoting socio-emotional skills necessary to cope with traumatic stressors through engagement in meaningful occupations. The occupation …

Exploring A Role For Occupational Therapists In Adult Eating Disorder Treatment, Felicia Titus, Karen Park

Spring 2022 Virtual OTD Capstone Symposium

Background: Occupational therapists working in eating disorder (ED) treatment in the United States is an emerging practice area. The main objective of this study was to seek an understanding of the perceived gaps in current adult ED treatment in the United States, from both the perspectives of ED treatment providers and individuals with an ED to discover if there is a role for occupational therapists.

Methods: The design of this study was a convergent mixed methods in which the data was collected through online surveys and recorded semi-structured interviews of ED treatment providers (N = 15) and individuals diagnosed …

Improving Belonging Through Occupation In Individuals Within The Substance Use Disorder Population, Michelle Perkins, Susan Macdermott

Spring 2022 Virtual OTD Capstone Symposium

This capstone project focused on improving belonging through occupation in individuals within the substance use disorder population. Based on site-based needs assessment findings and informed by the Recovery Model and the Doing, Being, Belonging, and Becoming framework, the Elevate 4-week pilot program was created. The Elevate program successfully demonstrated the feasibility of improving belonging through occupations, as evidenced by changes in pre and post-program client questionnaire scores. The client’s self-report scores in sense of belonging, satisfaction of belonging, and connection to housemates and staff demonstrated noticeable improvement. While the Elevate program demonstrated noticeable improvement in participants’ sense of belonging, satisfaction …

Qualitative Evaluation Of Occupational Therapy Assessments In Treating Veterans With Ptsd Who Are Transitioning Into Civilian Life, Natalia Marquez-Sterling, Pam Kasyan-Howe, Kristin Domville, Lisa Schubert

Spring 2022 Virtual OTD Capstone Symposium

The purpose of this qualitative research type capstone project was to explore the strengths and limitations of an occupational therapist assessment toolkit for use with the population of veterans with PTSD who are transitioning into civilian life. OTs lack consistent assessment tools for use with this population, resulting in a lack of inclusion of occupational therapy as a consistent member of the multidisciplinary team (Kerr et al., 2020). Kerr et al. (2020) found that while OT assessments may be mentioned in research regarding veterans with PTSD who are transitioning into civilian life, there was limited or no discussion of the …

Translating Neurobiological Knowledge Into Trauma-Informed Occupational Therapy, Kimberley Pierce, Jessica De Brun, Karen Park

Spring 2022 Virtual OTD Capstone Symposium

There is a growing need for an expanded understanding of the experience of trauma in light of many socio-political and cultural events of the previous years. Occupational therapy literature mentions a growing understanding of neuroscience that is leading to trauma-informed protocol reform, however, consistently concludes with the acknowledgment that more information is needed. The purpose of this project was to advocate for occupation as a significant tool in addressing traumatic stress. This project included a scoping review of non-peer-reviewed and peer-reviewed literature and manuscripts as well as a phenomenological qualitative research study interviewing occupational therapy practitioners who work with individuals …

Qualitative Evaluation Of Occupational Therapy Assessments In Treating Veterans With Ptsd Who Are Transitioning Into Civilian Life, Natalia Marquez-Sterling

Spring 2022 Virtual OTD Capstone Symposium

Presentation on the capstone paper Qualitative Evaluation of Occupational Therapy Assessments in Treating Veterans with PTSD Who are Transitioning into Civilian Life. Explores the strengths and limitations of an OT assessment toolkit as well as the role of OTs in treating veterans with PTSD transitioning into civilian life.

Analysis Of Quality Of Life In Parkinson's Disease Caregivers: A Quantitative Research Study, Peyton Dooley, Claribell Bayona, Krisitin Domville

Spring 2022 Virtual OTD Capstone Symposium

Parkinson’s disease is a commonly known movement and neurodegenerative disorder affecting a large portion of the male population. This disease is gruesome and progressive; it often interferes with a person’s daily routines and activities due to deficits in postural stability, tremors, slowed movement, and rigidity (Tysnes et al., 2017). Most persons with Parkinson’s have informal caregivers, often female spouses, or significant others of the individual. Caregivers of Parkinson’s disease prioritize their loved ones needs over their own, neglecting their own daily activities and routines including self-care, social participation, leisure, and physical activity. Occupational therapists and other health care professionals often …

Happy And Healthy: A Positive Mental Health Program For Early Elementary School-Aged Children, Haleigh Freeman, Angela L. Blackwell, Erik Pérez

Spring 2022 Virtual OTD Capstone Symposium

Approximately 17% of children from the ages six to 17 in the U.S. have a treatable mental health disorder, however, of those children, 70% have not received appropriate mental health care to address their mental health problems (MHP) (American Academy of Family Physicians, 2019; Mental Health Foundation, 2016). The severity of MHP identified within the literature points to a distinct need for mental health promotion, prevention, and intervention to address those needs (Albuquerque et al., 2020). Specifically, the need for school-based and after-school based mental health services continues growing at alarming rates (Map, 2013). However, school systems often lack provisions …

Fostering Community Participation For Youth With Intellectual And Developmental Disabilities: An Occupation-Based Program For Caregivers, Mindy Goltiao, Kristin Domville, Pam Kasyan-Howe, Lisa Schubert

Spring 2022 Virtual OTD Capstone Symposium

Caregiver expectations influence outcomes of youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) as they seek more independence transitioning from adolescence to adulthood. The purpose of this program development capstone project is to promote realistic expectations of caregivers of youth by improving caregiver youth relationships and facilitating activities. Strategies of current and evidence-based programs that support caregivers of youth with IDD, such as Maximizing Adolescent Post-Secondary Success and TrASDition training. The American Occupational Therapy Association Vision 2025 aligns with the program as it aims to provide caregivers equal opportunity, access to care, and expands an individual’s capacity to advocate for caregivers. …

Habituation In Occupational Therapy For People With Alcohol Use Disorder, Sarah Garces, Steven M. Gerardi

Spring 2022 Virtual OTD Capstone Symposium

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is an ongoing chronic health problem affecting millions of people worldwide. Habituation is a construct used by the occupational therapy (OT) practice model, the Model of Human Occupation (MOHO). Habituation relates to a persons’ roles, habits, and routines, and how these interact to shape occupational participation and performance. Since the habitual use of alcohol is a key component of AUD, an understanding of how habituation is addressed in OT intervention is essential. The OT literature has not been systematically reviewed to determine how habituation is addressed in OT practice in clients with AUD, leaving it difficult …

Program To Increase Occupational Therapy Inclusion In Community Mental Health Practice, Leeanne A. Bugter-Vanloon, Pam Kasyan-Howe, Kristin Domville, Lisa Schubert

Spring 2022 Virtual OTD Capstone Symposium

Occupational therapists are qualified mental health providers, however, inadequate numbers of practitioners work in the community to treat individuals with mental health conditions. A program to advocate for the profession of occupational therapy in community-based mental health was created to increase capacity for occupational therapy practitioners in this setting. A two-hour virtual workshop was implemented to educate participants on occupational therapy's role, the barriers that limit occupational therapy inclusion, and methods to increase occupational therapy inclusion. Results indicate the virtual workshop was effective at increasing an individuals knowledge on the roles, limitations, and opportunities for occupational therapy practitioners in community …

Leisure Activity And Social Participation Group Therapy To Address Geriatric Depression Symptoms, Austin Brown, Keegan Mckay, Lisa Griggs-Stapleton, Rene Wren

Spring 2022 Virtual OTD Capstone Symposium

This capstone project involved the creation of a group therapy program that used leisure activity and social participation to address geriatric depression.

Improving Mental Health After Sci: An Occupation-Based Program, Kerston Ring

Spring 2022 Virtual OTD Capstone Symposium

The purpose of this project was to assess the effectiveness of occupational therapy in promoting positive mental health in those with SCI. Formal conversations related to mental health as well as various leisure activities took place throughout the program. The leisure activities were determined prior to initiating the program during the needs assessment. These were activities that the participants were either familiar with or novel. The activities were client-centered and modified as necessary to meet the client’s needs for full participation. The objectives of this capstone were to conduct a needs assessment to understand what factors could be changed to …

Improving Occupational Engagement: An Occupation-Based Virtual Program For Caregivers Of Individuals With Dementia, Betsabel Garcia, Pam Kasyan-Howe, Kristin Domville, Lisa Schubert

Spring 2022 Virtual OTD Capstone Symposium

Dementia is a progressive disorder that affects many people worldwide including informal caregivers of individuals with dementia (Harrison et al., 2019). Every year, more than 16 million Americans provide more than 17 billion hours of unpaid care for family and friends with Alzheimer’s disease or other related dementias (CDC, 2019). As a result, many informal caregivers experience higher levels of caregiver burden, depression, and anxiety (Amato et al., 2021; Raj et al., 2021; Walter & Pinquart, 2020). This causes an occupational imbalance in caregivers' ability to meet their needs and those of their loved one. Leisure is within occupational therapy's …