Rehabilitation and Therapy Commons^™

Identifying An Association Between Sensory Processing And Food Sensitivities, Taylor Tonks

OT Student Capstones

Introduction: Feeding difficulties are quite common in children and can lead to a multitude of poor health outcomes. Children with sensory processing difficulties can present with feeding difficulties. The relationship between sensory processing and feeding difficulties in children has been previously researched. However, most of the existing research focuses on children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. Methods: The purpose of the present study was to identify the association between sensory processing and food sensitivities in children of varying diagnoses using retrospective data. In the study, the researcher included 47 children who presented to an outpatient pediatric clinic for a feeding …

Occupational Health And Safety For Commercial Pilots During The Coronavirus Pandemic, Autumn M. Dawley

OT Student Capstones

BACKGROUND

The aviation industry has been growing with the number of aircraft pilots jumping from 590,038 in 2015 to 664,563 in 2019. With an increasing demand for distribution of cargo, a review of the effects of work-related stressors during the coronavirus pandemic and, further, a solution to increase the health and well-being of individuals in the industry is essential. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) addresses fatigue and routinely revises regulations which alleviate job stress; however, the coronavirus pandemic has added new stressors to the aviation industry.

PURPOSE

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of the pandemic …

Fostering Healthy Therapeutic Relationships: Foster Parent Education Program, Sydnie Barboza

OT Student Capstones

Background: Children who have been placed in the foster care system due to trauma often have difficulty coping with past experiences. These traumatic experiences can often affect their development, physically and mentally, and emotional regulation, relationships, and attachment. As of April 2021, more than 13,400 children were placed in the foster care system in Arizona. While removing children from their birth home to a safer environment is critical, it brings along many challenges such as emotional trauma and inconsistent caregiving. Methods: The foster parent educational program described in this paper, “Fostering Healthy Therapeutic Relationships,” is a foster and adoptive parent …

Progression Through Return-To-Sport And Return-To-Academics Guidelines For Concussion Management And Recovery In Collegiate Student Athletes: Findings From The Ivy League–Big Ten Epidemiology Of Concussion Study, Douglas J. Wiebe, Abigail C. Bretzin, Bernadette A. D'Alonzo, Ivy League–Big Ten Epidemiology Of Concussion Study Investigators, Arthur C. Maerlender

Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior: Faculty Publications

Objective To examine the progression of collegiate student athletes through five stages of a return-to- activity protocol following sport-related concussion (SRC).

Methods In a multisite prospective cohort study, we identified the frequency of initial 24–48 hours physical and cognitive rest, and the sequence of (1) symptom resolution and return to (2) exertion activity, (3) limited sport, (4) full sport and (5) full academics. In resulting profiles we estimated the likelihood of return to full sport ≤14 days or prolonged >28 days and tested for variability based on timing of the stages.

Results Among 1715 athletes with SRC (31.6% females), 67.9% …

Head Impact Exposure In Youth And Collegiate American Football, Grace B. Choi, Eric P. Smith, Stefan M. Duma, Steven Rowson, Eamon Campolettano, Mireille E. Kelley, Derek A. Jones, Joel D. Stitzel, Jillian E. Urban, Amaris Genemaras, Jonathan G. Beckwith, Richard M. Greenwald, Arthur C. Maerlender, Joseph J. Crisco

Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior: Faculty Publications

The relationship between head impact and subsequent brain injury for American football players is not well defined, especially for youth. The objective of this study is to quantify and assess Head Impact Exposure (HIE) metrics among youth and collegiate football players. This multiseason study enrolled 639 unique athletes (354 collegiate; 285 youth, ages 9–14), recording 476,209 head impacts (367,337 collegiate; 108,872 youth) over 971 sessions (480 collegiate; 491 youth). Youth players experienced 43 and 65% fewer impacts per competition and practice, respectively, and lower impact magnitudes compared to collegiate players (95th percentile peak linear acceleration (PLA, g) competition: 45.6 vs …

Constructing Neural Network Models From Brain Data Reveals Representational Transformations Linked To Adaptive Behavior, Takuya Ito, Guangyu Robert Yang, Patryk Laurent, Douglas H. Schultz, Michael W. Cole

Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior: Faculty Publications

The human ability to adaptively implement a wide variety of tasks is thought to emerge from the dynamic transformation of cognitive information. We hypothesized that these transformations are implemented via conjunctive activations in “conjunction hubs”—brain regions that selectively integrate sensory, cognitive, and motor activations. We used recent advances in using functional connectivity to map the flow of activity between brain regions to construct a task-performing neural network model from fMRI data during a cognitive control task. We verified the importance of conjunction hubs in cognitive computations by simulating neural activity flow over this empirically-estimated functional connectivity model. These empiricallyspecified simulations …

Affective Flexibility As A Developmental Building Block Of Cognitive Reappraisal: An Fmri Study, Jordan E. Pierce, Eisha Haque, Maital Neta

Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior: Faculty Publications

Cognitive reappraisal is a form of emotion regulation that involves reinterpreting the meaning of a stimulus, often to downregulate one’s negative affect. Reappraisal typically recruits distributed regions of prefrontal and parietal cortex to generate new appraisals and downregulate the emotional response in the amygdala. In the current study, we compared reappraisal ability in an fMRI task with affective flexibility in a sample of children and adolescents (ages 6–17, N = 76). Affective flexibility was defined as variability in valence interpretations of ambiguous (surprised) facial expressions from a second behavioral task. Results demonstrated that age and affective flexibility predicted reappraisal ability, …

Effective Occupational Therapy Interventions For Reducing Parental Stress In The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Ann Landreville, Annah Greenmyer, Makayla Murden

Critically Appraised Topics

John et al.’s (2018) study found that over half of the mothers in the NICU suffer from moderate to severe anxiety. This anxiety negatively impacts parents’ abilities to engage in the occupation of caring for their child, which can have long-term consequences. Currently, there is a lack of research on occupational therapy-specific interventions that focus on reducing parental stress in the NICU setting. The purpose of this critically appraised topic (CAT) is to discover which stress-reducing occupational therapy interventions have a positive impact on the abilities of parents to successfully care for their infants in the NICU.

Understanding Perceptions Of Social Eating During Lunch For Adolescents With Anorexia Nervosa: An Instrumental Case Study, Madelyn Duzyk

Occupational Therapy Doctorate Capstone Projects

Background: Current literature on adolescents with Anorexia Nervosa (AN) show that social participation is a key factor of community reintegration and long-term recovery (Mekori et al., 2017; Preyde et al., 2017); however, there is little known about the impact of social eating for adolescents with AN.

Purpose: The purpose of this instrumental case study is to more fully understand the meaning of social eating during lunch for adolescents with AN and begin to illustrate social eating’s impact on treatment, community re-integration, and long-term remission.

Methods: A qualitative case-study methodology was developed to gain perceptions of social eating from adolescents with …

The Effects Of Education With Healthcare Providers On Low Vision Assistive Devices And Their Ability To Improve Self-Care Skills, Lora L. Jester-Rains

Occupational Therapy Doctorate Capstone Projects

Background: Results of a study by Casten et al., (2005) confirmed low rates of use of devices and services for low vision by the older adult. Older adults with low vision are receptive to using low vision resources but are often unaware of them (Lighthouse International, 2021). Casten et al. (2005) further suggested that the lack of services or use of devices may be due to a lack of awareness of health care professionals. Low vision assistive devices (LVAD), whether high or low tech, or mainstream, can help maximize a client’s vision so that they can perform everyday tasks …

The Use Of Compression To Treat Phlebolymphedema Symptomology: A Systematic Review, Naomi Moran

Occupational Therapy Doctorate Capstone Projects

Background: There is a lack of clinical practice guidelines regarding treating phlebolymphedema symptomology. To facilitate client centered evidence-based practice, occupational therapists (OTs) who are Certified Lymphedema Therapists (CLTs) need disease specific evidence for treating phlebolymphedema. Finding available evidence regarding the use of complete decongestion therapy (CDT) for this population will support evidence-based practice. For this capstone compression usage is the one component of CDT that will be researched.

Purpose: A systematic review of evidence related to use of static compression for treatment of lower leg phlebolymphedema that is within the scope of a CLT who is not wound care certified. …

Doodling As Self-Expression: Building Self-Efficacy In Normally Functioning Adults, Journey Coward

Art Therapy | Theses and Dissertations

While previous studies identify doodling as a useful educational tool, this study sought to determine if doodling can build creative or emotional self-efficacy. Self-efficacy is an individual’s belief in their own capacity to express behaviors necessary to attain specific performance goals. The current study also sought to determine if doodling can be a form of self-care. Research collected was quantitative and qualitative using surveys to measure both creative and emotional self-efficacy along with a doodling activity. Ten participants were recruited through convenience sampling on social media and were included in the study after meeting the inclusion criteria of identifying themselves …

"Making Change By Shared Doing": An Examination Of Occupation In Processes Of Social Transformation In Five Case Studies., Sandra Schiller, Hanneke Van Bruggen, Sarah Kantartzis, Debbie Rudman, Ryan Lavalley, Nick Pollard

Occupational Therapy Publications

BACKGROUND: As social and health inequalities deepen around the world, scholarship in occupational therapy and occupational science has increasingly emphasised the role of occupation as a powerful tool in transformative processes.

OBJECTIVE: To explore how opportunities for everyday doing together may contribute to processes of social transformation by identifying ways occupation is being taken up in socially-transformative practice.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: A generic descriptive qualitative case study design was utilised in order to describe current practice examples and identify ways occupation was being taken up in five initiatives working towards social transformation located in Canada, Germany, South Africa and the …

Situating Occupational Injustices Experienced By Children With Disabilities In Rural India Within Sociocultural, Economic, And Systemic Conditions, Tanya Elizabeth Benjamin-Thomas, Debbie Rudman, Colleen Mcgrath, Debra Cameron, Vinod Joseph Abraham, Jeshuran Gunaseelan, Samuel Prasanna Vinothkumar

Occupational Therapy Publications

This paper contributes to diversifying and situating understandings of occupational injustices through presenting findings from the knowledge generation phase of a participatory action research (PAR) project that utilized participatory filmmaking with children with disabilities in rural South India as co-researchers. Centering on situations of occupational injustices generated through a participatory analysis conducted with the child co-researchers, a critical theoretical analysis, informed by critical occupational science and critical disability perspectives, was carried out. This theoretical analysis of data generated through the filmmaking process, as well as data generated with parents of children with disabilities, community members, and service providers, was used …

Promoting Critically Informed Learning And Knowing About Occupation Through Conference Engagements, Rebecca Aldrich, Roshan Galvaan, Alison Gerlach, Debbie Rudman, Lilian Magalhaes, Nick Pollard, Lisette Farias

Occupational Therapy Publications

As occupation-focused discussions and applications of critical theoretical perspectives increase, attention must also be paid to how different spaces of knowledge dissemination, exchange, and production support critically informed learning and knowing about occupation. This paper presents the reflections of a group of international scholars and lecturers whose shared interest in critical theoretical perspectives prompted the incremental co-development of a series of conference engagements. We describe how our group came together, what kinds of learning experiences we developed to promote and support engagement with critical theoretical perspectives, and what understandings we gained through ongoing critical reflexivity about those learning experiences. Our …

Differential Behaviour Of Distinct Motoneuron Pools That Innervate The Triceps Surae, Josh W. Cohen, Taian M. Vieira, Tanya D. Ivanova, Jayne Garland

Kinesiology Publications

It has been shown that when humans lean in various directions, the central nervous system (CNS) recruits different motoneuron pools for task completion; common units that are active during different leaning directions, and unique units that are active in only one leaning direction. We used high-density surface electromyography (HD-sEMG) to examine if motor unit (MU) firing behaviour was dependent on leaning direction, muscle (medial and lateral gastrocnemius; soleus), limits of stability, or whether a MU is considered common or unique. Fourteen healthy participants stood on a force platform and maintained their center of pressure in five different leaning directions. HD-sEMG …

Coaching, Capacity, And Change: Youth Sport Providers' Perceptions On Creating A Health-Promoting Environment, Jennifer Papenfuse

Occupational Therapy Doctorate Capstone Projects

Background: Rising youth public health disparities can be attributed to the social determinants of health that influence health and wellness. Youth sport providers can be influential in creating healthier environments that facilitate positive youth development, positively impacting life-long healthy behaviors.

Purpose: The purpose of this Capstone Project was to explore youth sport provider’s perceptions, after completing an educational module, of their capacity to implement positive youth development and to create a health-promoting environment. Theoretical Framework. The Model of Human Occupation and the Transtheoretical Model of Behavioral Change guided this project’s assumption that the multicontextual environment’s influence on the process of …

Occupational Therapy Practitioners’ Perceptions Of The Effectiveness Of Employer-Sponsored Evidence-Based Practice Activities, Kelli Spayd

Occupational Therapy Doctorate Capstone Projects

Background: Evidence-based practice is an expectation for the practice of occupational therapy, however, practitioners are not engaging regularly in it. Employers have started to offer activities, such as journal clubs and case studies, or access to research articles and continuing education activities, to help increase evidence-based practice use.

Purpose: The purpose of this descriptive open-ended survey study was to evaluate the perceived effectiveness of employer-sponsored evidence-based practice activities by occupational therapy practitioners. It was the goal of the research to answer the question: what are occupational therapists’ perceptions regarding employer-sponsored evidence-based activities?

Theoretical Framework. The Model of Human Occupation provides …

Use Of Concept Mapping Within A Functional Neuroanatomy Course To Promote Critical Thinking Skills In Occupational Therapy Students, Alissa R. Baker

Occupational Therapy Doctorate Capstone Projects

Background: Critical thinking involves examining and reflecting on one’s own biases, assumptions, and thinking processes. Within occupational therapy (OT), critical thinking skills are foundational skills to support effective clinical reasoning and decision making; however, there is limited evidence on how these skills can be developed and applied within OT education to support positive student outcomes.

Purpose: The purpose of this research project was to explore the use of explicit instruction on critical thinking paired with concept mapping as teaching methods to support entry-level OT student mastery of content knowledge related to functional neuroanatomy. This study aimed to answer the following …

Holistic Occupational Therapy Dining Interventions Supporting Individuals With Dementia In Skilled Nursing Facilities, Kathleen Osio, Sabrina Anne Cezar, Ashley Lorton, Lisa Worsham

Occupational Therapy | MSOT Capstone Projects

The purpose of this project is to provide occupational therapy practitioners (OTPs) with a Holistic Occupational Therapy Dementia Dining Toolkit to enhance the dining experience in the SNF setting for individuals in all stages of dementia. Dementia is a prevalent condition seen in skilled nursing facilities (SNF) that is expected to continue to rise; in 2016, 47.8 percent of individuals living in a SNF had a diagnosis of dementia (Center of Disease Control, 2020). Dining experiences for individuals with dementia (IwD) are impacted by an individual’s cognition, physical, environmental, and psychosocial factors. Additionally, the task oriented and structured approach to …