Southern occupational therapies: Emerging identities, epistemologies and practices

Indexación: Web of Science; Scielo.For over a decade, debates in occupational therapy have extended into the profession's theoretical foundations as well as epistemological underpinnings thereof A series of proposals have emerged from around the world that aim to link the definition of occupational therapy, its knowledge and practices to contemporary social, political, cultural and economic conditions. Contributing to this is the increasing precariousness of the global social life, the economic crises of many social systems, and the deterioration of the ecological environment. The current paper critically reflects on the historical conditions that shape the institution of occupational therapy, particularly in the regions of South America and Africa. This involves a political, ethical, and epistemological rethinking of the foundations that underpin identities, knowledge and practices of occupational therapy and their effects on society. These foundations may favour processes of exclusion and ahistorical and individualist views of human occupation, as opposed to social perspectives expressed in collective occupations and human rights promoting practices. The authors propose to problematise the construction of a professional identity, knowledge and practices of occupational therapy, emphasising the need for a liberating discipline, committed to and acting alongside people and communities who are in situations of social exclusion. This implies the necessary positioning of occupational therapy within social transformation.http://ref.scielo.org/z57kz

The Nature of Creativity in Occupational Therapy

The purpose of this study was to document occupational therapists’ reported use of “creativity” in different practice realms, discover how they defined creativity, and determine their views on its importance to the field. A survey was sent to a random sample of 250 therapist members of the American Occupational Therapy Association. Seventy surveys were returned (28%). Descriptive statistics were calculated to portray responses and reveal relationships between demographic and response variables. The majority of respondents worked in children/youth, or rehabilitation settings. Therapists practicing 35+ years reported creativity in occupational therapy to be significantly more important (M = 8.1 of 10) than in other professions, compared with therapists in practice 0 – 5 years (M = 5.3 of 10). Seven themes emerged from answers to, “As an occupational therapist, when are you most creative?” The most prevalent were treatment planning/adjustment, difficult/challenging situations, and problem solving. The words – ability, using, new, and make – were most frequently used in response to the question, “What is your definition of creativity?” Although creativity is sparsely documented in occupational therapy literature, therapists reported it as integral to the occupational therapy process (M = 8.96 of 10) and client outcomes (M = 8.66 of 10), and vital to the field of occupational therapy (M = 8.94 of 10). More research is recommended to explore the role of creativity in occupational therapy and its use by therapists in practice

Learning about Professionalism within Practice-based Education: what are we looking for?

Health and social care professions are being held to account concerning their professionalism in ways that would have been unprecedented in the recent past. Students of the School of Health Sciences (HSC) within the University of East Anglia (UEA) in the United Kingdom have professionalism taught and assessed in a number of ways and have overt opportunities to develop their professional performance during practice education. In order to augment this further, a UEA Professionalism Charter has been developed, which helps students to define, learn and apply professionalism in a particular way. Since professionalism is being scrutinised by a number of bodies it is important that there is agreement about its nature. Without an overt definition of professionalism from the Health and Care Professions Council (the regulatory body for occupational therapy, physiotherapy and speech and language therapy) this study set out to explore what could be learned about this body’s perspective through analysis of its Fitness to Practice hearings. The outcome revealed that a definition could be identified and that this bears a close resemblance to that used within the UEA Professionalism Charter. The study therefore supports the continued use of the Charte

Occupational therapists’ perception of the concept of occupational balance

Introduction: Occupational balance is one of the concepts used by occupational therapists with no consensus on its definition. Literature demonstrates different perspectives when this concept is applied in practice and in its link to other concepts such as health and well-being. This study aims to explore how the concept of occupational balance is perceived and practised by occupational therapy practitioners. Method: A qualitative methodology was employed. Fourteen occupational therapists volunteered for the study. Nine occupational therapy practitioners were interviewed individually and five attended a focus group. Thematic analysis was applied to analyze the data. Results: Six themes were identified as follows: (1) occupational balance: what it is; (2) how occupational balance is formed; (3) occupational balance and well-being (4); subjective and objective representations of occupational balance (5); what disrupts/affects occupational balance; and (6) occupational balance/imbalance and occupational therapy practice. Conclusions: Both objective and subjective experiences of occupational balance need to be considered in order to make an informed decision in practice. The right occupational balance for each individual should be based on his/her values but with consideration of the principal of no harm to others

Short-term changes in occupational therapy students' self-efficacy for therapeutic use of self

Introduction: Occupational balance is one of the concepts used by occupational therapists with no consensus on its definition. Literature demonstrates different perspectives when this concept is applied in practice and in its link to other concepts such as health and well-being. This study aims to explore how the concept of occupational balance is perceived and practised by occupational therapy practitioners. Method: A qualitative methodology was employed. Fourteen occupational therapists volunteered for the study. Nine occupational therapy practitioners were interviewed individually and five attended a focus group. Thematic analysis was applied to analyze the data. Results: Six themes were identified as follows: (1) occupational balance: what it is; (2) how occupational balance is formed; (3) occupational balance and well-being (4); subjective and objective representations of occupational balance (5); what disrupts/affects occupational balance; and (6) occupational balance/imbalance and occupational therapy practice. Conclusions: Both objective and subjective experiences of occupational balance need to be considered in order to make an informed decision in practice. The right occupational balance for each individual should be based on his/her values but with consideration of the principal of no harm to others

SEKSUAALITERVEYDEN EDISTÄMINEN OSANA TOIMINTATERAPEUTIN TYÖNKUVAA

Opinnäytetyö käsittelee seksuaaliterveyden edistämistä toimintaterapeutin työnkuvan kannalta, sisältäen seksuaalisuuden määrittelyn, seksuaalisuuden käsittelyn osana toimintaterapiaa ja toimin-taterapiaprosessin arviointia, toimintaterapeutin työnkuvan määrittelyn seksuaaliterveyden edistä-jänä sekä seksivälineiden näkökulman osana lääkinnällistä kuntoutusta. Opinnäytetyön toteutustapa oli toiminnallinen. Toteutus järjestettiin opetustilanteena, osana en-simmäisen vuoden toimintaterapeuttiopiskelijoiden toiminnan analyysi ja arviointi – opintojaksoa. Opetustilanteeseen osallistumista tarjottiin myös aiemmin aloittaneiden vuosikurssien toimintate-rapeuttiopiskelijoille. Opinnäytetyön tavoitteena oli herättää kiinnostusta ja keskustelua aiheesta sekä antaa työkaluja aiheen käsittelyyn ja puheeksi ottoon toimintaterapeutin työssä. Opinnäytetyön tekeminen alkoi tiedonhaulla, jonka jälkeen valitsimme luotettavia lähteitä ja siir-ryimme teoriapohjan kirjoittamiseen. Itse työn toteutustapaa suunniteltiin jo opinnäytetyön aihetta valitessa ja rajatessa. Toteutustapana oli kahden ja puolen tunnin mittainen toiminnallinen opetusti-lanne aiheesta: seksuaaliterveyden edistäminen osana toimintaterapeutin työnkuvaa. Toteutimme opetustilanteen kahteen kertaan, eri päivinä, suurehkon osallistujamäärän vuoksi. Toteutus suunni-teltiin tarkemmin opinnäytetyön teoriaosuuden ollessa lähes valmis, jolloin teimme opetustilan-teesta tuntisuunnitelman. Toteutuksen jälkeen kirjoitimme pohdintaa opetustilanteen onnistumi-sesta niin omasta kuin osallistujien näkökulmasta ja viimeistelimme opinnäytetyön. Opinnäytetyön toiminnallinen toteutus herätti ammatillista kiinnostusta ja keskustelua kohderyh-mässä. Aiheen käsittely koettiin erittäin tärkeäksi toimintaterapeuttikoulutuksessa. Toteutukselle asetetut tavoitteet saavutettiin täten täysin. Vastaavaa opetusta ja seksuaalisuuden huomioimista toivottiin toimintaterapian koulutusohjelmaan lisää, osana jokaisen opintojakson toteutusta.The thesis deals with sexual health promotion activities from the perspective of an occupational therapist's job description. It includes the definition of sexuality, sexuality as part of occupational therapy treatment and of occupational therapy process evaluation as well as occupational thera-pists’ role in promoting the definition of sexual health and sexual tools as part of medical rehabilita-tion. The thesis pathway was functional. It was organized as part of the implementation of the first year occupational therapy students’ Activity analysis and evaluation - course. Also older students were offered participation in the teaching situation. The aim was to generate interest in and discussion on the topic and provide tools for its handling and introduction in occupational therapists’ work. The study itself began with a search of information after which reliable reference sources were selected for the writing of the theoretical background. In fact, the implementation of the work was being planned already at the stage of selecting and limiting the topic. The mode of implementation was a two-and-a-half-hour functional teaching session on the topic. The session was carried out twice, on different days, due to a fairly large number of participants. The implementation was planned in more detail when the theoretical part of the thesis was almost finished, at which point a lesson plan was produced. After the implementation a report on the teaching situation was written in which the success of the session was reflected on from both the authors’ and the participants' point of view. The functional implementation attracted professional interest and raised discussion in the target group. The treatment of the topic was seen as very important to occupational therapy education. The targets set for the implementation of the session were thus achieved completely. More of simi-lar consideration of sexuality was called for in occupational therapy education as part of the imple-mentation of each study period

Evidence-Based Intervention for Sleep Disturbance in Healthy Elderly Individuals

Elderly individuals have a predisposition to experiencing sleep disorder, yet many remain untreated. Consequences of untreated sleep disturbance may result in decreased cognitive functioning, lowered perceived quality of life, and loss of independence. A literature review describes the definition of sleep, consequences of sleep disorder, sleep disturbance in the elderly population, intervention efficacy, principles of gerogogy, and the role of occupational therapy in sleep intervention. The scholarly project presents a manual designed for use with well-elderly populations and intended to be guided and/or distributed by occupational therapists. The manual is entitled “Take Control of Your Sleep: An Occupational Therapy Manual to Improve Sleep Quality in Elderly Individuals” is a synthesis of cognitive-behavioral strategies and complimentary interventions aimed at life-style change and increased knowledge of sleep processes in elderly individuals. The Model of Human Occupation is selected to serve as a foundation for the sleep manual and addresses concepts of personal values and desires (volition), sleep routines (habituation), and metacognition (performance capacity), as well as attention to the sleep environment. The cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) approach is well-supported in the research literature for its application to the selected population and is the main intervention strategy used throughout the sleep manual. Principles of gerogogy specific to older adult learning are utilized to guide the development of chapter content in the self-help manual

Occupational therapy practice and patient/client participation in religious occupations: a scoping review protocol

Review objective The objective of this scoping review is to identify and map information on how occupational therapists address their clients’ perceived and experienced barriers to participation in religious occupations as part of the occupational therapy intervention. Specifically the review questions are: i) What are the conceptual understandings of religious practice as an occupational need? ii) What assessments, interventions and outcome measures do occupational therapists use concerning their patients’/clients’ participation in religious occupations

Management of Children with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Learning Disabilities: A Survey of Paediatric Occupational Therapists in the United Kingdom

Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common complex neuropsychiatric disorder frequently overlapping with learning disabilities (LD) in children with average and above intelligence (Biederman et al 1991). The complex needs of these children could be better addressed in a multidisciplinary context (Foy & Earls 2005) within which paediatric occupational therapists may have a significant role. The aim of this study was to identify the interventions used by occupational therapists in the United Kingdom with these children and explore the rationale for their use. The purpose was to provide baseline data to inform multidisciplinary team approaches for the management of these children. A survey, based on postal questionnaires, was conducted among 100 paediatric occupational therapists in the United Kingdom. The effective rate of response was 42%. Both qualitative and quantitative data were gathered and analysed. The findings suggested that therapists tended to use more than one method/ approach in the rehabilitation of these children. The sensory integration approach and the perceptual-motor training were more popular among therapists. A variety of other approaches, used on an individual needs basis, were reportedly used. Future studies to test the effectiveness of reported practices with children with both ADHD and LD are recommended

Management of children with ADHD and LD: A survey of paediatric occupational therapists in the UK

Copyright @ 2009 The University of HuddersfieldAttention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common complex neuropsychiatric disorder frequently overlapping with learning disabilities (LD) in children with average and above intelligence (Biederman et al 1991). The complex needs of these children could be better addressed in a multidisciplinary context (Foy & Earls 2005) within which paediatric occupational therapists may have a significant role. The aim of this study was to identify the interventions used by occupational therapists in the United Kingdom with these children and explore the rationale for their use. The purpose was to provide baseline data to inform multidisciplinary team approaches for the management of these children. A survey, based on postal questionnaires, was conducted among 100 paediatric occupational therapists in the United Kingdom. The effective rate of response was 42%. Both qualitative and quantitative data were gathered and analysed. The findings suggested that therapists tended to use more than one method/ approach in the rehabilitation of these children. The sensory integration approach and the perceptual-motor training were more popular among therapists. A variety of other approaches, used on an individual needs basis, were reportedly used. Future studies to test the effectiveness of reported practices with children with both ADHD and LD are recommended