Occupational Therapy Commons^™

Effective Mental Health Accommodations For Occupational Therapy Students And Practitioners, Allison Jo Naber

Dissertations and Theses

The process of transitioning from high school to higher education and from academic programs outside of the health sciences to the workplace is documented; however, the transitional experiences of those in the health professions and occupational therapy specifically are less understood. This dissertation research aimed to identify the formal accommodations and informal adaptations occupational therapy students and entry-level practitioners have employed to address their mental health needs as they transition from the classroom to fieldwork or capstone and entry-level practice. The link between empirical literature, theories surrounding transitions, and the Occupational Adaptation Model provided the foundation for this research. This …

Development Of The Sexual Spring Planning Manual, Hannah Belle Aldridge

Occupational Therapy Doctoral Capstones

Sexual activity plays an essential role in many individuals' lives, but some people are unable to participate in the activity as they would like to due to many underlying causes. Issues with sexuality are commonly underdiagnosed and overlooked, given the social stigmas that make individuals feel ashamed and embarrassed to discuss it with their medical providers. As of 2019, "sexual dysfunction is estimated to be around 30-50% in the general population” (Verbeek & Hayward, 2019). This number continues to rise; therefore, education must be provided to these individuals to receive appropriate care and treatment. Sexual health is typically only addressed …

Sidewalks: Environmental Facilitators To Promote Older Adult Community Participation, Hailey Godfrey Thomas

Occupational Therapy Doctoral Capstones

According to the Administration of Community Living (2021), between 2009 and 2019 there was a 34 percent increase of adults aged 60 and older, totaling 74.6 million older adults in the United States. With the increase in the aging population an emphasis on accessible environments to promote inclusion is necessary. The American Association of Retired Persons found 80 percent of Americans desire a community that has sidewalks and places to walk (2014). Sidewalks are an integral aspect to improving community participation and the quality of life of older adults. Sidewalks can assist in enhancing social interactions, physical activity, and community …

Development Of A Vocational Skills Program For An Adult Day Treatment Center, Faith Jones

Occupational Therapy Doctoral Capstones

Approximately 6.5 million people in the United States have an intellectual disability (Special Olympics, 2020). Worldwide, approximately one percent of the population has an intellectual disability (Mauliket al., 2011). For an individual to be diagnosed with an intellectual disability, they must display significant deficits in both intellectual functioning and adaptive behavior that has an onset prior to 22 years of age. A score below 70 to 75 on an IQ test indicates that an intellectual functioning deficit is present (AAIDD, n.d.). Employment plays a significant role in community engagement and social interaction for many people throughout the world; however, historically, …

Victim Identification And Response Protocol Improvement For Human Trafficking Victims In Northeast Arkansas Region, Kylie Long

Occupational Therapy Doctoral Capstones

The aim of the Doctoral Capstone Project was to improve screening methods and response protocols for victims of human trafficking in educational and medical settings in the Northeast Arkansas region.

Starting With The Soil: An Occupation-Based Agricultural Frame Of Reference, Sadie Beth Masterson

Occupational Therapy Doctoral Capstones

The purpose of the current study sought to develop a comprehensive Occupation-Based Agricultural Frame of Reference to increase occupational therapists' knowledge and skills needed to provide adequate services to conventional farmers within a community-based setting to enhance their occupational performance and safety. The frame of reference will also merge the gap between occupational therapists’ knowledge and their ability to understand the “unique person, environment, occupation, and performance dynamic of farmers” to “effectively address the multiple losses that can accrue” when a farmer endures a debilitating injury or chronic condition (Hissong & Wilhite, 2008, p. CE-1).

Making The Most Out Of Mealtime, Melodie Palmer Penn

Occupational Therapy Doctoral Capstones

The purpose of the Doctoral Capstone Project was to: 1) Educate on the importance of client-centered interventions in the occupation of feeding. 2) Provide evidence-based resources for patients/caregivers, community members, and staff at Encompass Health Rehabilitation Hospital on client-centered interventions incorporating OT principles.

An Occupational Therapy Life Skills Community Reintegration Program For Individuals Recovering From Substance Use Disorder, Hope Smith

Occupational Therapy Doctoral Capstones

Substance use recovery is a lifelong journey that is difficult to endure. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (2020), 40 60% of people with a substance use disorder (SUD) will relapse following a period of sobriety. Within the SUD recovery process, rehabilitation has a primary focus on treatment approaches that lack the component of community reintegration skills needed for sustained sobriety. The primary approaches include the AA 12 step program, counseling techniques, methadone maintenance, and cognitive retraining (Sullivan & Fleming, 2008). Bleiler (2021) suggests that “treatment of SUDs may increase in effectiveness and efficacy when approached through the …

Ot In The Picu: Early Mobility And Parent Occupational Engagement In Medically-Fragile Pediatric Patients, Allison Tackett

Occupational Therapy Doctoral Capstones

The purpose of the capstone project is to 1) promote the health and wellness of PICU patients by fostering early mobility, and 2) encourage parental occupational engagement with their child in the PICU.

Effect Of Simulation Learning On Graduate Student Attitudes Toward Interprofessional Teams And The Team Approach To Care, Norman Cadiz Belleza

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

According to health care reports, more than 250,000 deaths annually are attributed to medical error, prompting interprofessional education (IPE) initiatives as one way to improve healthcare delivery. The problem is that little is known about the effect of simulation learning with standardized patients on occupational therapy (OT) and physical therapy (PT) students’ attitudes toward IPE. The purpose of this causal-comparative study using a pretest–posttest nonequivalent control group design was to investigate the difference in posttest scores on the Students’ Perceptions of Interprofessional Clinical Education—Version 2 (SPICE-R2) between first-term graduate OT and PT students who participated in a simulation and those …

The Development And Evaluation Of A Pediatric Interprofessional Education (Ipe) Experience For Occupational And Physical Therapy Graduate Students, Lorry Liotta-Kleinfeld, Nancy Darr, Tamara Lemmonds, Teresa Plummer

Funded Scholarship

Interprofessional competence is needed to improve health care outcomes. The aim of this paper is to describe the development of theoretically grounded interprofessional education (IPE) experiences to advance interprofessional competencies for occupational and physical therapy doctoral students. In addition, a pretest/postest survey was designed to determine the participants’ perceptions of knowledge attainment, roles, and attitudes. Two cohorts of students (N=115) completed surveys pre and post IPE experiences. Statistically significant changes were found on perception of roles and knowledge attainment. Additional studies are needed to determine if IPE leads to behavioral changes in practice and improves patient outcomes.

Evaluating Course Design For Significant Learning Among A Blended Cohort Of Occupational Therapy Students, Diana R. Feldhacker, Bobbi S. Greiner

Journal of Occupational Therapy Education

Occupational therapy (OT) school is where learning begins as students prepare to become future professionals. Thus, effective course design is imperative in professional formation. This study examined the effectiveness of a course designed around andragogical and active learning principles in combination with Fink’s (2013) taxonomy of learning for a blended cohort of face-to-face and hybrid OT students. The study used a mixed methods explanatory sequential design with pre/post surveys, end-of-course evaluations, and focus groups to explore student perceptions and preferences toward learning to create significant learning experiences. One hundred six students completed pre and post testing of the redesigned course, …

Evaluation Of An Innovative Student-Led Work Disability Prevention Program, Amanda U. Davis, Rebekah Lewis, Sara Saunders

Journal of Occupational Therapy Education

A university-based, role-emerging fieldwork placement for occupational therapy students has been developed to provide work disability prevention services for university managers and workers. Over five years, 24 students have provided holistic interventions across 18 departments. The purpose of this project was to formally evaluate the perceptions of the program and the impact of services on managers and workers and to examine the experience of participating students. A utilization-focused evaluation approach was used as the guiding framework for this project. Methods included a retrospective review of reports and educational materials, a manager and worker survey, and a review of results from …

Copilot – Development And Implementation Of International Cooperative Online Intercultural Learning, Liliya Todorova, Elisabeth Fattinger, Elisabeth Url, Siska Vandemaele, Ulla Pott, Helen Strebel, Claudia Merklein De Freitas, Anja Christopher, Sabine Hendriks, Maria Prellwitz

Journal of Occupational Therapy Education

This article presents the products and evaluation results of COPILOT (Cooperative Online Peer-assisted and Intercultural Learning in Occupational Therapy), an Erasmus+ funded project undertaken by a consortium of six European universities from 2018 to 2021, which addresses the need for internationalization and intercultural learning by developing competences graduates will need in the future. Internationalization has become one of the main avenues to developing global learning in higher education. Online education has a significant role in providing opportunities for internationalization online without the high cost of travel that might deter some students. The interest in online intercultural exchange has been significantly …

Best Practice For Treatment And Prevention Of Ankle Sprains In Ballet Dancers, Sara Bergin

Honors Program Theses

No abstract provided.

A Case Study On Special Education And The Covid-19 Pandemic, Megan Cercone

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The purpose of this qualitative project is to explore the implications of online public schooling for a student with special needs, how this type of teaching impacted his individualized education plan (IEP), and investigate solutions to the consequences of the pandemic for special education. I am specifically interested in how the student's online education may have affected his progress in the physical, occupational, and speech therapy services he typically receives in school as required by his IEP. This project entails interviews of the parents and school-based occupational therapists of a child with special needs to examine the impact online schooling …

Footwear Characteristics: Effects On Dynamic Balance In The Young And Elderly, Joseph Wallace

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Older adults suffer from an increased risk of falling, and falls make up a substantial percentage of injuries and mortality rates in elderly populations. Falls also burden health and long-term care infrastructure and can limit individual independence and overall functioning due to fear of falling. Footwear and orthotic interventions have previously been shown to affect balance in both young and older adult populations and may provide a potential avenue for improving balance and combatting fall rates. Footwear and orthotic interventions are relatively easily implemented, however there is a lack of consistency among current footwear and orthotic literature as well as …

The Effectiveness Of Occupation-Based Virtual Reality Intervention On Upper Extremity Functional Improvement In Post-Stroke Individuals: A Systematic Review, Darcy Bowman, Tiffani Suhm, Ann Marie Brown, Aubrey Barrett, Hannah Reilley

Student Journal of Occupational Therapy

Purpose: Virtual reality (VR)-based therapy is an emerging practice in the clinical setting and still requires research documenting its efficacy. This review analyzed the effectiveness of VR-based therapy on upper extremity (UE) motor recovery in individuals with chronic stroke by analyzing multiple randomized controlled trials.

Methods: Search limits for this review consisted of articles published between January 2010 and January 2020 and available in English. Search keywords were based on language in individual databases (e.g. stroke or cerebrovascular accident, upper extremity, occupational therapy). Articles were limited to include only randomized control trials consisting of adult patients (18+) with …

Is A Forensic Cohabitation Program Recovery-Oriented? A Logic Model Analysis, Shu-Ping Chen, Wen-Pin Chang, Bryan Fleet, Santoch Rai, Steve Panteluk, Alberto Choy, Deann Hunter

Occupational Therapy Faculty Publications

Background. Recovery orientation is a movement in mental health practice. Although general mental health services have taken the lead in promoting recovery, forensic psychiatric systems have lagged behind because of the need to reconcile recovery principles with the complexities of legal mandates. Advocating recovery and making systemic changes can be challenging because they require seeking a balance between the competing duties to the patient and the public. This paper used a logic model framework to demonstrate a cohabitation program that placed a woman and her newborn infant in a secure forensic rehabilitation unit, and analyzed the key assumptions of recovery …

Stimming Expresses Empathy, Not To Be Masked Or Persecuted: A Scoping Review And Case Study Of The “Double-Empathy Problem” Solved By Recognizing The Autism Language, Kathryn Haas

Student Capstone Papers

This article critically examines autism and autistic stimming through the lenses of neurotypicals and autistics, evaluates confines currently imposed upon autistics by neurotypical society, and synthesizes what autistic leaders have expressed about their experiences striving for inclusion (Gernsbacher, 2017; Milton, 2012). Autistic-led studies are now at the forefront of the neurodiversity movement and are growing in fervor. The following themes were identified: (a) prevalence of autism, (b) the interpretation and measurement of empathy, (c) discovery of genetic factors transformed autistics’ identity, (d) publication of non-genetic factors such as vaccines undermined the legitimacy of the autism language, (e) the problem with …