Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Exploring Accessibility And Social Inclusion For Children With Hearing Impairments In Residential Camps Through The Occupational Therapy Lens, Tiffany Coles

Student Capstone Papers

Children are encouraged to engage in various play, leisure, and social participation activities to enhance the development of life skills, independence, and social skills. A common leisure and social participation activity for children aged 6 to 18-years-old is to attend residential camp. Residential camps provide children a structured opportunity to engage in leisure activities while learning to become independent and self-confident when socializing and making new friends. Attending camp can be a fun and engaging environment to help accelerate growth in key developmental outcomes, such as positive identity, social skills, physical skills, positive values, and spirituality.

Within the residential camp …

Animal-Assisted Therapy And Quality Of Life In Patients With Dementia, Karissa D. Thomson

Student Capstone Papers

The aim of this quantitative study was to examine the effects animal-assisted therapy (AAT) had on people diagnosed with dementia living in a nursing home. The study aimed to examine the effects AAT had on depression, blood pressure, social interaction, and how these factors impact quality of life (QOL). The study was conducted once a week for one hour on Thursdays for 6 weeks. 7 participants were included in the study and further broken down into two groups based upon their level of cognition as measured by the Mini-Mental Status Examination. Beck’s Depression Inventory (BDI) and the World Health Organization …

Mental Health In The School System: Providing Tools And Resources For Teachers, Hannah Skinner

Student Capstone Papers

This capstone project's aim was to look at the mental health needs of school aged children, and how Occupational Therapists can help to meet their needs in the school system. The doctoral student completed a background on mental health statistics and needs in children, and also completed a literature review on occupational therapy’s role in mental health and schools, mindfulness, and current practices in the United States.

A gap was identified after a literature search was completed: While the school systems understand mental health is an area that should be addressed, there is a gap in providing these tools and …