Rehabilitation and Therapy Commons^™

Knitting In Art Therapy: An Exploratory Study, Mollie Irene Howey Tracy

EVMS School of Health Professions Theses & Dissertations

While knitting has long been considered a functional craft, there is significant evidence to support knitting as an art form. Current research exploring the artistic, meditative, and therapeutic qualities of knitting was reviewed and findings indicated scarce research on knitting in art therapy. In this phenomenological study, six female knitters were interviewed and the author addressed her personal experience as well. Several themes were identified: the freedom felt when knitting, keeping one’s hands busy, reduction of anxiety, sharing the finished piece with others, a connection to self and to others, and knitting as a bridge into more traditional art therapy …

The Therapeutic Value Of The Equine-Human Relationship In Recovery From Trauma: A Qualitative Analysis, Janet Yorke

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The purpose of this research was to explore the nature of equine-human bonding and its therapeutic value in recovery from trauma. The study sample consisted of six participants who identified that their pre-existing relationships with horses were therapeutic in recovering from various types of trauma (i.e. car accidents, horse-related accidents, work accidents and health trauma). Using a phenomenological perspective and an emotionalist lens, though the use of semi-structured interviews and video-tapes of horse-rider interaction, the study sought to describe the nature of the equine human bond and how it is useful in trauma recovery. The research results show that equine-human …

Characteristics Of Effective Employment Services: The Consumers’ Perspective, Jaimie Ciulla Timmons, Jennifer Schuster, Doris Hamner, Jennifer Bose

All Institute for Community Inclusion Publications

This monograph reports on a study investigating the characteristics of effective state service systems. Findings are based on the experiences of individuals with disabilities who have used a state agency (Vocational Rehabilitation, Department of Mental Retardation, Department of Mental Health, or One Stop Center) to find employment. Interviews were conducted to examine individuals' experiences with employment services including job search, job entry, strategies that facilitated involvement, supports provided, and barriers experienced. Findings indicated five key components to effective service delivery, including agency culture, consumer-directedness, access to resources, quality personnel, and coordinated services. Obstacles faced during the employment process and personal …

Vocational Rehabilitation Outcomes For People With Mental Retardation, Cerebral Palsy, And Epilepsy: An Analysis Of Trends From 1985 To 1998, Dana Scott Gilmore, Jennifer Schuster, John Butterworth

All Institute for Community Inclusion Publications

This monograph presents the results of secondary analysis of the RSA-911 database from the Rehabilitation Services Administration. All successful VR closures for individuals with mental retardation, cerebral palsy, and epilepsy for six data points between 1985 and 1998 were investigated. Trends in competitive labor market and extended employment (sheltered workshops) closures were examined. The use of supported employment in the VR system and its outcomes were also discussed. Findings include increased incidence of competitive labor market closures and supported employment services, with a decrease in extended employment closures.

Comparisons of successful VR closure outcomes to trends in the general labor …

Neurobehavioral And Neuromotor Long-Term Sequelae Of Prenatal Exposure To Cocaine And Other Drugs: An Unresolved Issue, Yvette Blanchard

All PTHMS Faculty Publications

When the cocaine epidemic began, predictions were made that the children of cocaine users would demonstrate devastating negative developmental sequelae. In infants and young children prenatally exposed to cocaine most frequently the neurobehavioral and neuromotor systems have been studied. Although clinically described as irritable, difficult to console, and jittery as infants, research findings have not been able to clearly describe a pattern of long-term developmental sequelae. The mechanisms of action of drug exposure on developmental outcome have shown to be more complex than originally suspected. Many factors, other than the drug use, can influence developmental outcome. In most studies of …

Depression In Women With Heart Disease, Kimberly M. Ashcraft

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between anxiety and anger with depression in women with heart disease. A sample of 50 women participating in cardiac rehabilitation programs in Charleston, WV and Huntington, WV was used to evaluate the inter-relationship of suppressed, expressed, state and trait anger, state and trait anxiety and depression. This non-experimental, descriptive designed study was evaluated by using multiple linear regression and regression coefficients analyzed for the anger and anxiety scores and their interaction. Depression was measured by the Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-II). Anxiety and anger were measured by Spielberger’s State-Trait Anxiety …

An Inquiry: The Concept And Application Of Empowerment, Pamela Kay Wheelock

Masters Theses

While empowerment is a dominant concern in mental health care, services often reflect the inadequate use of an empowerment-based frame of reference. This study seeks to enlarge the understanding of empowerment so that more effective services can be established.

Using naturalistic inquiry methodology, this study explores the lived experience of empowerment through direct dialogue with both mental health consumer advocates and mental health occupational therapists. Data were collected and evaluated using a hermeneutic dialectic process. A series of three interviews were done with six respondents.

Analysis of the interviews revealed striking contrasts between the therapists' and advocates' perspectives in relation …

The Acute Effect Of Aerobic Exercise On Anxiety Levels, Toni Devolder

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The present study sought to determine whether or not state anxiety levels were significantly reduced when individuals participated in aerobic dance workouts of 15 minutes and 30 minutes. Undergraduate university students and faculty enrolled in an aerobic dance class were volunteers in this study. As hypothesized, subjects in the aerobic dance classes did reduce anxiety acutely following both their 15 minute and 30 minute workout as assessed by the STAI (Y-Form State Anxiety). Thus, results indicate that state anxiety may be reduced through aerobic dance with similar situations and individuals. In addition, the study also looked at the posttest state …

Self-Empowerment Among Adults With Severe Physical Disability: A Case Study, Nancy A. Brooks

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

An independent living residential setting for severely physically disabled adults was studied through overt observation methods for twenty-two months. The purpose was observation of residents' council actions and expressions of group interests. The council displayed several phases of political structure and behavior. These phases were related to staff and administrative considerations as well as the residents emerging demonstrations of self-empowerment at the group level. The capacity for selfadvocacy emerges as a dynamic enterprise which is clearly related to the structure and interests of the service agency.

The Effects Of Activity Group Structure On Cohesion, Engagement, And Affective Meanings In Acute-Care Psychiatric Patients, Hope L. Brucki

Masters Theses

Through activity analysis, occupational therapists identify various components of group structure and group processes for use in therapeutic activities. This study compared the effects of individual activity group structure (members engage in individual projects) and common activity group structure (members share a common project) in a sample of 38 acute-care psychiatric patients. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of eight theme-oriented poster-making groups, four for each experimental condition. Cohesion among group members was measured by the Group Environment Scale (GES), engagement was assessed by the Group Climate Questionnaire-Short Form (GCQ-S), and affective meanings were evaluated by Osgood's short-form semantic differential …

Effectiveness Of A Video Recorded Ocean Scene Technique As A Relaxation Therapy, David M. Ford

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of a video recorded ocean scene as a relaxation technique by comparing it with an established method, progressive relaxation training (Jacobson, 1938) on their ability to affect the following physiological measurements: systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, pulse, and respiration.

Thirty female elementary school teachers participated in this study and were randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups: Video Recorded Ocean Scene Group, Progressive Relaxation Training Group, and Self Directed Relaxation Group (used as control). The general protocol for each treatment group consisted of a forty minute session with …

Holidays As Multiple Realities: Experiencing Good Times And Bad Times After A Disabling Injury, Mary Jo Deegan

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Holidays are idealized as times of celebration. They are embedded in cultural symbols, family patterns, and lived experience. Because all holidays are not good times, however, the lived experience of holidays is considerably more complex than its symbolization. This ambivalence is dramatically deepened for recently disabled adults who view holidays as a specially strained time of remembrance. Past holidays are often idealized in a new way as one's biography is placed into a new embodied reality. Simultaneously, holidays remain days when one is supposed to celebrate, and often denote some celebration for the injured. The resulting experience is a melange …

Issues In Assessing Community Resources For The Leisure-Time Needs Of The Elderly, Jordan I. Kosberg, Juanita L. Garcia

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The growth of leisure-time, following retirement, is potentially problematic for the elderly and can result in such adversities as depression, problem drinking, loneliness, and boredom. Leisure-time resources include recreation, education, volunteerism, training, voluntary associations, familialism, and solitary activities. The use of resources for leisure-time needs of the elderly are influenced by idiosyncratic differences; cultural background, financial resources, geographic variations; and the characteristics of programs and services. There is a need to better prepare individuals for the use of leisure-time. Each community must ensure that leisure-time resources exist and do not exclude any elderly from possible involvement, for either structural, programmatic, …

The Effect Of Therapeutic Touch On Anxiety And Physiological Measures, Marie Nicholas Bremner

Ellmer School of Nursing Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship of therapeutic touch to anxiety, blood pressure, heart rate, and respiratory rate of 30 hospitalized women between the ages of 30 and 65 with the medical diagnosis of cancer. Subjects were matched into three intervention groups; three consecutive days subjects received a five minute intervention by therapeutic touch, casual touch, or no touch. A-trait and A-state anxiety were measured by the Self-Evaluation Questionnaires developed by Spielberger, Gorsuch, and Lushene. A factorial two-way analysis of variance revealed that subjects who received intervention by therapeutio touch experienced a significant reduction in A-state …

Living And Acting In An Altered Body: A Phenomenological Description Of Amputation, Mary Jo Deegan

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Adults with recent amputations are often perceived as suffering from post-operative depression and phantom limbs. These states are frequently seen as failures in "adjustment" since there are often few physiological involvements which curtail daily functioning. This perspective is seen as compatible with major American values of pragmatism, individualism, and a mechanistic medical model. We suggest here that problems in daily living and the phantom limb are not "mental" aberrations but rather reflections of a radically altered lived experience. The performance of the actor is significantly changed and can be discussed as a function of changed experience, and style. This persppctivedraws …

Depression And Physical Rehabilitation, Mary Jo Deegan

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Depression is often expected in our society during physical rehabilitation. This and similar expectations structure the experience of a physical disability. Contradictions in expectations and demands by providers to conform to this paradigm create barriers in the rehabilitation process. Changes in the physical rehabilitation paradigm are briefly suggested.