Rehabilitation and Therapy Commons^™

Services Provided To Aging Individuals With Intellectual Disabilities: Survey Of Speech Language Pathologists, Claire H. Gatewood

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Purpose: The present study explored current speech-language pathology service provision for aging individuals with intellectual disabilities in the United States, including areas and domains of services, factors restricting service provision, and reported knowledge and confidence of individuals within the field of speech-language pathology in providing services, to identify possible gaps of service and needed improvement.

Methods: Participants (n = 272) from across the United States completed an online survey to gather descriptive information about current speech-language pathology service provision for aging individuals with intellectual disabilities. Participants were recruited through state speech-language hearing associations and universities with speech-language pathology clinics …

Social Isolation, Third Places, And Precarious Employment Circumstances: A Scoping Review, Debbie Laliberte Rudman, Rebecca M. Aldrich

Occupational Therapy Publications

No abstract provided.

Disability And Healthcare Access In Morocco: Social And Cultural Influences, Christa Shipman

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

I stepped into the SIT Multiculturalism and Human Rights program as a pre-physical therapy student with experience working and volunteering in the disability rights arena. Striking personal encounters with Moroccans combined with these past experiences drew me to investigate how social and cultural factors influence access to healthcare for people with disabilities. I hypothesized that access to medical care is limited by social or cultural mindsets, perceptions, or beliefs for those in my target population. This subject is relevant to Morocco as a developing country and as a society with, in some cases, fixed social dynamics, while in other areas …

Assessing The Need For And Access To Migrant-Sensitive Rehabilitative Healthcare: An Analysis Of Current Swiss And German Practices, Lauren Cuppy

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In recent years, the noticeable increase in migration has placed scrutiny on the migrant-sensitive services provided in healthcare settings globally. Migrants, in general, experience different health issues and worse health outcomes than non-migrants. In response to this, healthcare systems around the world have begun implementing migrant-sensitive healthcare (MSHC) systems; yet, although nearly a third of the world’s population experiences some health condition that would benefit from rehabilitation, the implementation of MSHC rehabilitation services have been critically understudied. This paper seeks to investigate the geographic and MSHC accessibility of rehabilitation in Geneva, Switzerland to fill the current gap of literature and …

Equine Assisted Therapy For Veterans, Nicole M. Krum

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

Equine-assisted activities and therapy have been proven to be highly effective in assisting veterans with mental health conditions. This project aimed to provide information and resources about these services to Treasure Valley veterans. In order to do this, an in-person open-house was hosted, to connect veterans to equine therapy. By completing this project, it can be asserted that there is a general lack of accessible and affordable services.

Redefining The Meanings Of Daily-Occupations And Life Quality Amongst Mothers Living With Their Autistic Children, Eko Sumaryanto, Gandes Mutiara Aziz

English Language Institute

Raising children with autism is very challenging for mothers due to changes on how occupational performance and occupational roles are performed. This circumstance demands these mothers to redefine the meaning of doing occupations and how they perceive their well-being in general. This study empirically investigates how mothers redefine the meaning of daily activities and self-report their well-being. The study employs in-depth interviews and formulates specific themes of findings. The study uses the phenomenology approach to investigate the dynamics of meanings experienced by the respondents and how they construct the new version of well-being from raising the autistic children.

Promoting Resilience In Self-Management (Prism): Adverse Childhood Experiences And Impacts On Emotion Regulation, Kasey Ann Macedo

Honors Scholar Theses

PRISM (Promoting Resilience in Self-Management) is a mindfulness-based intervention that aims to strengthen emotion regulation skills among individuals by employing cognitive behavioral therapy components. The purpose of the current study is to identify the relationship between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and depression, as well as to examine the changes in emotion regulation strategies of participants by comparing pre and post test data. The participants were voluntarily recruited from the Cornerstone Foundation, a homeless shelter, food pantry, and community center in Vernon, CT. The 13 participants completed PRISM through four weeks of two-hour workshop sessions in a small-group format. Results indicate …

The Use Of Urine Drug Testing For Risk Stratification And Efficacious Drug Monitoring In Pain Management Settings, Ahmad I. Hasan, Kareem Elhage, Brendan Farley, Khaled J. Saleh

Medical Student Research Symposium

Objective: To understand the current landscape of urine drug testing (UDT) guidelines as part of risk assessment for opioid abuse, and to offer recommendations towards adopting universal screening guidelines.

Background: There has been an opioid epidemic within the United States, and the role of prescription opioids has been well established. Despite proposed recommendations, there has yet to be a published universal screening guideline on the use of UDT in the setting of opioid abuse risk stratification as well as postoperative drug monitoring.

Methods: We explored current guidelines for UDT on two levels. First, we explore general indications for UDT within …

Herbal Medicine And Pediatric Massage: Interning At A Tcm Pediatric Clinic, Yvette Way

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Before entering this program my knowledge of TCM was practically nonexistent. However even from a young age, I had an interest in learning about the healing properties of plants and herbs but, I had no way of exploring this interest of mine. After entering this program, I have learned more about TCM and herbal medicine. Because of the lessons that we have taken in class, it made me want to have a deeper understanding of TCM because of this, I decided to do an internship that would involve TCM. My time at Yang Zhen Er Kang clinic has taught me …

Disability And Migration: How Systems Of Violence Intersect With The Production And Experience Of Disability For Migrants In Morocco, Frances Condon

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This project investigates the perspectives and experiences of physically disabled, chronically ill, or bodily-impaired migrants from south of the Sahara living in Rabat, Morocco. Increasing interest in disabled migrants’ rights from international organizations risks erasing those being ‘protected’ if it does not attend to the intersections of race, class, citizenship, and gender as they relate to the production and experience of disability for migrants. Produced by and for the (white) global North, I argue that traditional Euro-American disability studies scholarship is ill-equipped to address the issues faced by disabled migrants in post-colonial contexts. In addition to being ineffective, the uncritical …

Recent Trends, Current Research In Cyberpsychology: A Literature Review, Amarjit Kumar Singh, Pawan Kumar Singh

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Cyberpsychology refers to the study of the mind and behavior in the context of interactions with technology. It is an emerging branch, which has focused on the psychological aspects connected to the increasing presence and usages of technology in modern lives. This paper traces recent advancement and trends of Cyberpsychology is an emerging domain of knowledge and goes on the give a literature review of the same. An analysis of the recent research and literature covering 300 most relevant research papers from the period of 2012 to 15, August 2019 was conducted to determine and shape the research pattern based …

Racial And Ethnic Disparities In Stroke Outcomes: A Scoping Review Of Post-Stroke Disability Assessment Tools, Suzanne Perea Burns, Brandi M. White, Gayenell Magwood, Charles Ellis, Ayaba Logan, Joy N. Jones Buie, Robert J. Adams

Health and Clinical Sciences Faculty Publications

Purpose: To identify how post-stroke disability outcomes are assessed in studies that examine racial/ethnic disparities and to map the identified assessment content to the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) across the time course of stroke recovery.

Methods: We conducted a scoping review of the literature. Articles published between January 2001 and July 2017 were identified through Scopus, PubMed, CINAHL, and PsycINFO according to predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria.

Results: We identified 1791 articles through database and hand-searching strategies. Of the articles, 194 met inclusion criteria for full-text review, and 41 met inclusion criteria for study inclusion. The …

A Study Of Music: Music Psychology, Music Therapy, And Worship Music, Jessica Whittemore

Senior Honors Theses

There are three specific fields related to music: the psychology of Music and how it affects human brain and functions, the methodology of Music Therapy and how it affects individuals undergoing treatment, and the psychological effects of Worship Music and how it can be used in music therapy. Music therapy is a growing field in which the therapeutic outcomes greatly benefit the patients. The overall purpose is to create a greater understanding of music and music therapy in order to a provide a system for introducing group worship services into music therapy to ultimately bring spiritual healing to individuals.

Is Technology The Key To Prevention Of Falls Among The Elderly In Rapidly Aging Societies? A Case Study Of Kunming, China, Phoebe Kiburi

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

As the aging society rapidly becomes more dominant in the world, there is a pressing need for different stakeholders to tend to the needs of the aging sufficiently. This is crucial in ensuring the robustness of the healthcare system as a whole; given that it can only be as strong as its weakest link. This study focuses on one of the areas of need of the ageing society: fall prevention.

Numerous studies have been done on interventions by the government, private entities, elderly people and their caregivers to prevent occurrence and recurrence of falls. However, most of these have been …

Exploring Mobility Help-Seeking Behavior Among People With Physical Disabilities: A Case Study Of Jaipur Foot, Alex Podell

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

It is estimated that as many as 90 million people living in India experience some sort of disability (The World Bank, 2007). As India’s population keeps growing and aging, not only will the medical aspects, but also the societal impacts of disability need to be brought to the forefront of discussion, developmental strategy, and policy implementation. This study sought to analyze factors influencing the process of seeking help from formal and informal sources for people with physical disabilities. Data was collected from 10 people with physical disabilities receiving a variety of mobility aids from the NGO, Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata …

State Roles In Promoting Community Life Engagement: Themes From The State Employment Leadership Network’S Working Group, Jennifer Sullivan Sulewski, Jaimie Ciulla Timmons, Thinkwork! At The Institute For Community Inclusion At Umass Boston

ThinkWork! Publications

As states focus on expanding integrated employment opportunities for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and phasing out sheltered work, they are finding a need to concurrently examine Community Life Engagement (CLE) supports as a wrap-around to ensure individuals’ engagement in the community is maintained and they continue to receive sufficient levels of support, despite fluctuations in job status and hours. In January through June of 2017, the State Employment Leadership Network (SELN) hosted a working group of member states to discuss ideas and share strategies for encouraging quality CLE supports while maintaining a focus on Employment First (see …

A Roadmap To Competitive Integrated Employment: Strategies For Provider Transformation, Esther Kamau, Jaimie Ciulla Timmons, Thinkwork! At The Institute For Community Inclusion At Umass Boston

ThinkWork! Publications

Competitive integrated employment is defined within the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA, 2014) as full-time or part-time work at minimum wage or higher, with wages and benefits similar to those without disabilities performing the same work, and fully integrated with coworkers without disabilities. The Act requires that states ensure employment is offered as a priority outcome for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). As a result, providers who offer employment support to people with IDD have been working to phase out sheltered workshops and transform to offer competitive integrated employment.

Data Note: Social Security Administration Data Show A Record Low Level Of Pass Usage Among Ssi Recipients, Daria Domin, Jaimie Ciulla Timmons, Thinkwork! At The Institute For Community Inclusion At Umass Boston

ThinkWork! Publications

The Social Security Administration (SSA) offers a set of work incentives for Supplemental Security income (SSI) beneficiaries. Work incentive employment supports help SSI recipients go to work by minimizing the risk of losing their SSI or Medicaid benefits (Social Security Administration, 2018). One such incentive, the Plan to Achieve Self-Support (PASS), allows approved individuals to set aside earned or unearned income and resources to achieve an employment goal. The money or resources set aside are excluded from SSI income and resource tests and can be used to pay for goods or services needed to reach the goal, such as education, …

Service Provider Promising Practice - The Arc Of Westchester: Creative Partnership With Mercy College, Jaimie Ciulla Timmons, Thinkwork! At The Institute For Community Inclusion At Umass Boston

ThinkWork! Publications

The Arc of Westchester benefits from an agency culture that values innovative partnerships. In fact, an agency leader explained that the organization “will work with anybody who is willing to sit and talk.” This collaborative spirit led to a creative endeavor with Mercy College, a four-year school offering degrees in Business, Education, Liberal Arts, Health and Natural Sciences, and Social and Behavioral Sciences. Within Health and Natural Sciences are departments such as nursing, speech therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and nutrition. The Arc of Westchester partnered with these departments to form a mutually beneficial relationship, creating opportunities for both college …

Service Provider Promising Practice - Atwork!: Creating A Robust Investment In Staff Professional Development, Esther Kamau, Thinkwork! At The Institute For Community Inclusion At Umass Boston

ThinkWork! Publications

At the beginning of their transformation process, AtWork! did not have a training structure in place. Recognizing that job development required a different skill set for their staff, AtWork! made a commitment to invest in training, which they saw as “a key ingredient” to successful transformation. Investing in the development of staff skills and competencies to support the transformation process is essential. Without that investment, as one agency leader put it, “every provider is going to continue to spin their wheels with people in, people out, retraining, all those type of things.” Consequently, AtWork! invested in training its staff through …

Effects Of International Service Learning On Development Of Intercultural Competence, Sharon M. Mccloskey

Occupational Therapy Faculty Publications

As the United States becomes an increasingly multicultural society (Colby & Ortman, 2014; Perez & Hirschman, 2009), there are greater opportunities for cross-culture interactions, especially in settings for healthcare practitioners. The profession of occupational therapy demands future practitioners understand culture and become skilled in the delivery of culturally competent care (AOTA, 2014). The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of international service learning (ISL) on the development of intercultural competence in graduate occupational therapy students. Inquiry for this research followed a mixed-methods explanatory sequential design. Study participants were graduate occupational therapy students who engaged in an international …

Service Provider Promising Practice - Penn-Mar Human Services: Creating Their “2020 Strategic Plan”, Esther Kamau, Thinkwork! At The Institute For Community Inclusion At Umass Boston

ThinkWork! Publications

At the beginning of the transformation process, Penn-Mar recognized the importance of robust strategic planning to understand what the organization needed to do differently to transform. Therefore, Penn-Mar created the 2020 Strategic Plan, a 5-year plan to help focus the organization, and to strategize about how to achieve their objectives. The 2020 Strategic Plan outlines Penn-Mar’s goal to close its sheltered workshop, with a set of action steps for achievement. The plan set a specific date for closure, as Penn-Mar staff argued that without it, the transformation process would “linger forever.” Penn-Mar established a task force to support the development …

Service Provider Promising Practice - Work Inc.: Developing A Community Liaison Program To Address Holistic Needs, Esther Kamau, Thinkwork! At The Institute For Community Inclusion At Umass Boston

ThinkWork! Publications

Leadership at Work Inc., a provider in the Boston area, thought about the holistic approach to providing individual supports even before their agency’s transformation began. Work Inc. designed its community liaisons program to have three components: volunteerism, with the intention of identifying employment opportunities and contributing to the community; recreation, “because everyone wants to have fun”; and instruction, with a focus on skill-building and identifying interests and talents. In designing and implementing the program, Work Inc. staff considered each person’s interests, and turned former workshop staff into “community liaisons.”

Service Provider Promising Practice - Arc Of Westchester: Annual Employer Appreciation Breakfast, Jaimie Ciulla Timmons, Thinkwork! At The Institute For Community Inclusion At Umass Boston

ThinkWork! Publications

The Arc of Westchester was established in in New York State in 1949 as a day school for children with developmental disabilities. It has since grown to over 800 hundred employees serving over 2000 individuals throughout Westchester county supporting children, teens, and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The organization’s vision is a world where the population that they serve enjoy fulfilled lives and an inspired future while the mission focuses on strengthening families and encouraging personal choices, abilities and interests. The programs focus on the individual, helping them discover their interests, develop their talents and prepare for meaningful careers. …

Supporting Employment Consultants In Their Work With Job Seekers. A Longitudinal Study, Alberto Migliore, John Butterworth, Oliver Lyons, Kelly Nye-Lengerman, Paul Foos, Thinkwork! At The Institute For Community Inclusion At Umass Boston

ThinkWork! Publications

BACKGROUND: A key step for increasing the employment outcomes of job seekers with disabilities includes ensuring that employment consultants who assist them have the tools to succeed, including feedback about how they are performing. OBJECTIVE: Supporting employment consultants in their work with job seekers by providing feedback about the implementation of the support strategies recommended in the literature. METHODS: Sixty-one employment consultants completed a daily survey for one year, on their smartphones. RESULTS: Providing supports that lead to hire represented 30% of the employment consultants’ work time. When providing supports that lead to hire, most of the primary interactions were …

State Employment First Policies #3: Investing In Training And Technical Assistance To Build Capacity In Integrated Employment, Jennifer Bose, Jean Winsor, Jaimie Ciulla Timmons, Thinkwork! At The Institute For Community Inclusion At Umass Boston

ThinkWork! Publications

For more than a decade, many states have been developing policies that prioritize integrated employment as the first choice and preferred outcome for individuals with intellectual/developmental disabilities (IDD). Collectively, these actions have been united under the framework of Employment First, a commitment by states and state IDD agencies to the propositions that all individuals with IDD (a) are capable of performing work in typical integrated employment settings, (b) should receive as a matter of state policy employment-related services and supports as a priority over other facility-based and non-work day services, and (c) should be paid at minimum or prevailing wage …

The Essential Characteristics Of Successful Organizational Transformation: Findings From A Delphi Panel Of Experts, Oliver Lyons, Jaimie Ciulla Timmons, Allison Cohen Hall, Stephanie Leblois, Thinkwork! At The Institute For Community Inclusion At Umass Boston

ThinkWork! Publications

BACKGROUND: Federal legislation has called for the phasing out of sheltered workshops and the transition to integrated employment, causing providers to struggle with how to adapt their model towards providing community integration services.

Bringing Employment First To Scale: Support Coordination Strategies That Impact Employment Outcomes And Services For Individuals Served By State Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities Agencies, Barbara Brent, Rie Kennedy-Lizotte, Mary Lee Fay, Thinkwork! At The Institute For Community Inclusion At Umass Boston

ThinkWork! Publications

Leadership from NASDDDS and ICI worked together to determine topics for a series of white papers on policies that influence employment outcomes for individuals with IDD. This white paper is the third in a series of five. It provides an overview of strategies that support coordinators, or case managers, use to influence employment outcomes for individuals with IDD who are receiving state funded services.

Bringing Employment First To Scale: Pushing The Integrated Employment Agenda: A Case Study Of Maryland’S High-Performing Employment System, Jean Winsor, Cady Landa, Allison C. Hall, Caro Narby, Thinkwork! At The Institute For Community Inclusion At Umass Boston

ThinkWork! Publications

This brief summarizes data collected from key informants in Maryland about the state’s efforts to support integrated employment for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). It highlights features that contribute to the effectiveness of Maryland’s collaborative structures that have resulted in the state’s success in achieving integrated employment outcomes for individuals with IDD across three state systems: IDD, vocational rehabilitation (VR), and education. Presentation of these features is organized by the seven elements of the Higher-Performing States Employment Framework. These elements have been found to be important in achieving higher rates of competitive integrated employment outcomes for people with …

State Employment First Policies #2: Engaging Stakeholders In Development And Implementation, Jennifer Bose, Jean Winsor, Jaimie Ciulla Timmons, Thinkwork! At The Institute For Community Inclusion At Umass Boston

ThinkWork! Publications

This brief is the second in a series focusing on Employment First implementation as it relates to one of the seven elements within the High-Performing States in Integrated Employment model. It looks at the interagency collaboration and partnership element in depth. Interagency partnership and collaboration includes interagency agreements and relationships, provider collaboration, and outreach to stakeholders to ensure that integrated employment is a shared goal.
Case study data was collected for a sub-sample of seven states: Connecticut (CT), Delaware (DE), Kansas (KS), Minnesota (MN), Missouri (MO), Tennessee (TN), and Washington (WA). These states were selected because they represent a wide …