Rehabilitation and Therapy Commons^™

Occupational Therapy Newsletter, Summer 2022, Occupational Therapy Department

News, Magazines and Reports

Highlights: Letter from Department Chair and Program Director Dr. Sharon McCloskey -- 20th year program celebration slideshow -- Alumna Anastasiya Akay advocates for orphans in Ukraine -- Faculty focus on Amanda Wheeler (PhD, OTR/L) -- Dr. Sheelagh Schlegel (DrHSc, MPH, OTR/L, CHES, CAPS) facilitates patient simulations -- Dr. Lola Halperin (Ed.D., OTR/L) presents at the ConnOTA and AOTA conferences and participates in the Dean's Speaker Series -- Dr. Sharon McCloskey (Ed.D., MBA, OT/L, DipCOT, CTP) presents "Understanding the Impact of Trauma and ACE's on Learning and Participation in Schools" -- Pilot social simulation training program for occupational therapy students -- …

Development Of The Classroom Sensory Environment Assessment (C-Sea), Heather Miller-Kuhaneck, Jacqueline P. Kelleher

Occupational Therapy Faculty Publications

The Classroom Sensory Environment Assessment (C-SEA) allows teachers to examine the sensory aspects of classroom tasks and environments. The purpose is to assist in determining ways to modify tasks and environments to improve engagement and reduce problem behaviors in elementary school students with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Diagnostic Statistical Manual 5 Changes To The Autism Diagnostic Criteria: A Critical Moment For Occupational Therapists, Heather Miller-Kuhaneck, Rondalyn Varney Whitney

Occupational Therapy Faculty Publications

The new definition of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) is expected to appear in May 2013 in the finalized Diagnostic Statistical Manual (DSM) -5 (American Psychiatric Association, 2012). The current DSM-IV criteria uses Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) as the umbrella term for autism, a classification that many professionals believe has been outdated for several years. ASD will be the new name for the category that includes “autistic disorder (autism), Asperger’s disorder, childhood disintegrative disorder, and pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified” (APA, 2012). It will also serve to better differentiate autism spectrum disorder from typical development as well as from similar …

Service Learning In Higher Education Exercise Science Programs, Wendy Bjerke

All PTHMS Faculty Publications

Introduction: Service learning (SL) describes teaching methods that incorporate student service activities with specific learning objectives. SL has been applied to allied health higher education programs.

Purpose: To determine the applicability of SL to exercise science courses. SL data associated with an undergraduate course in exercise physiology serving a local fire department is examined.

A Qualitative Study Of Coping In Mothers Of Children With An Autism Spectrum Disorder, Heather Miller Kuhaneck, Tajhma Burroughs, Jamie Wright, Theresa Lemanczyk, Amy Rowntree Darragh

Occupational Therapy Faculty Publications

A significant body of research exists that explores the stressors of raising a child with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). There are fewer studies, however, that examine specific effective coping strategies of mothers of children with an ASD. This qualitative study explored mothers’ perceptions of effective coping strategies for their parenting stressors. In-depth interviews were conducted with 11 mothers to inquire about their personal coping methods. Interviews were coded and emergent themes identified which included coping strategies such as “me time,” “planning,” “knowledge is power,” “sharing the load,” “lifting the restraints of labels,” and “recognizing the joys.” The information from …

Critical Thinking And Evidence-Based Practice In Problem-Based Learning Tutorial Groups: A Critical Case Study, Joanne M. Bortone

Occupational Therapy Faculty Publications

Little research has investigated how problembased learning (PBL) instruction influences students' critical thinking and evidence-based practice. This research sought to ascertain if PBL instructional practices facilitated critical thinking and EBP; identify those practices; and, identify changes students made in tutorials.

A qualitative, twocase, critical case study design used pretest and posttests of the California Critical Thinking Skills Test (CCTST) (Facione, 1990) and Self-Evaluation of EBP adapted from Straus et al. (2005) to select the critical case sample. Students who made the greatest gains from pre to posttest scores met selection criteria for the critical case sample and were invited to …

Communication Apprehension And Interpersonal Skills In Physical Therapy Students : A Comparative Study Of Problem-Based Learning And Traditional Curricula, Beverly D. Fein

All PTHMS Faculty Publications

Physical Therapy education has been challenged to prepare students to meet the increasing demands upon and changing needs of physical therapy practice in the evolving health delivery system. Today's practitioner needs strong interpersonal and collaborative skills for effective communication with patients, families, third party payers, community and other members of the health care team. The characteristics of problem-based learning (PBL) curricula appeared to offer greater potential for students to develop communication skills as compared to traditional curricula. Therefore, this study used available measures of communication apprehension and clinical performance of communication related behaviors to compare students educated in PBL curricula …

Perceived Role Responsibilities Of Physical Therapists And Adapted Physical Educators In The Public School Setting, Mindy Blumenkopf, Pamela Levangie, David L. Nelson

All PTHMS Faculty Publications

Right to Education legislation has brought physical therapists and adapted physical educators together in the public school setting to serve the child with special needs. Investigation of the role responsibilities of these professionals would facilitate not only communication between the groups, but also understanding of their functions by other school personnel and administrators. We analyzed questionnaires returned by 79 physical therapists and 30 adapted physical educators to determine areas of uniqueness or similarity in 18 identified role responsibilities performed by these two groups. Each subject rated the appropriateness of each role to physical therapists and to adapted physical educators. On …

Public School Physical Therapists: Role Definition And Educational Needs, Pamela Levangie

All PTHMS Faculty Publications

Questionnaires returned by 328 physical therapists were analyzed to 1) establish a role definition for public school therapists and 2) determine the educational needs of therapists preparing for public school service. The therapists ranked 15 skills in importance to the role of the public school physical therapist and in urgency of their need to develop each skill. They also indicated which educational format they believed would be most appropriate for developing each skill. The respondents were divided into four groups matched by experience in treating children and by exposure to public school physical therapy. Rank-order correlations within each of these …