Modified Occupational Questionnaire (MOQ)

The Modified Occupational Questionnaire is a yesterday time diary / time use assessment designed to collect information about meaningful use of time. It can be used for research and clinical applications

Strengthening Supports for Children 0-8 years and their Families: A Literature Review

The Strengthening Supports for Children and Families 0-8 Years Strategy is to improve the way that the New South Wales (NSW) Department of Family and Community Services: Ageing, Disability and Home Care (ADHC) provide services to young children and their families (NSW Government, 2013b). Consistent with the international, national and state policy context and discourse, ADHC’s strategy encourages the inclusion of young children with disabilities and their families in mainstream settings. This report presents the findings of a systematic review of the literature on interventions provided in mainstream settings for children with disabilities aged 0 to 8 years and their families. Further, the focus of the review is on inclusion-based approaches to delivering services in mainstream settings. The review examines the literature describing: - best practice for promoting the inclusion of young children and their families - benefits and outcomes of inclusion-based approaches - key factors in the effective provision of inclusion-based approaches - barriers and challenges to inclusion-based approaches.New South Wales Department of Family and Community Services: Ageing, Disability and Home Care

If Reasoning, Reflection, and Evidence-Based Practice are Essential to Practice, We Must Define Them

Reasoning, reflection, and evidence-based practice are considered essential to the delivery of high-quality occupational therapy services. These skills are highlighted in occupational therapy practice acts and educational standards. Unfortunately, although clearly integral to practice, reasoning, reflection, and evidence-based practice are rarely and inconsistently defined in the profession of occupational therapy. Because the terms reasoning, reflection, and evidence-based practice are used so frequently, and so often their definitions are assumed, occupational therapy students may be unclear on how they will be evaluated and, ultimately, what they will be expected to do in practice in relation to these skills. Through a review of literature, this paper identifies the need for clear conceptualizations of professional skills in occupational therapy and synthesizes the significance of reasoning, reflection, and evidence-based practice to both the education of occupational therapy students and the practice of occupational therapy. This Opinions in the Profession paper seeks to begin a discussion around actions required to advance occupational therapy as a profession through the process of clarifying how these skills are conceptualized, taught, and implemented to promote clear language in literature, education, and practice with the hope of positively impacting therapy services

Sampling Social Experiences in School: Feasibility of Experience Sampling Methodology on an iPlatform

This paper reports on a pilot study testing the feasibility of an app as a survey tool for exploring the social experiences of high school students who are vision impaired. The Participation in Everyday Life Survey app was designed for use with the Experience Sampling Method. This method uses in-the-moment surveys to understand individuals’ experiences of everyday activities and situations. Pilot testing shows the app to be usable and accessible for people with vision impairments and high school students who are sighted but who have other disabilities. This pilot study has also shown that the Experience Sampling Method has the potential to provide useful insights into the social experiences of high school students who are vision impaired

Recovery Assessment Scale - Domains and Stages (RAS-DS) Manual - Version 2

Manual to guide administration of the Recovery Assessment Scale - Domains and Stages (RAS-DS). The RAS-DS has 38 items or statements for the consumer to rate. It is a Likert scale with 4 rating categories for consumers to select from: “untrue”; “a bit true”; “mostly true” and “completely true”. The items have been divided into 4 recovery domains: Doing Things I Value (functional recovery); Looking Forward (personal recovery); Mastering My Illness (clinical recovery) and Connecting and Belonging (social recovery)

Informing Evidence-Based Health Policy for Rural Australia

NHMRC and Department of Human Services NSW, Ageing, Disability and Home Car

Low Levels of after School-Hours Social Interaction and Physical Activity of 5-7 Year Olds

As part of a cluster randomized controlled trial (Bundy et al., 2017), the after school-hours activities of 5-7 year old children were recorded by parents and other adult carers on four consecutive weekdays between 3:30pm-7:00pm. Records of time use showed most time was spent indoors in activities involving low levels of physical activity. The most-frequently-recorded activity was screen time, accounting for approximately one quarter of all activities. Higher levels of physical activity were reported when children were outdoors (19.5% of time) and/or with peers (9.58%). If an adult was present, highest activity levels of children occurred when the child was with a teacher/carer (6.07%). Although concern is frequently raised about children spending too much time in organized activities, these structured forms of out-of-school choices accounted for only 8.09% of recordings. The results of the current study strengthen the evidence base, supporting the need to optimise out-ofschool times with more developmentally important social and physical contexts. We discuss ways in which context may support or inhibit opportunities physical activity in after school-hours activities

P.I.E.L. Survey Application Manual

This is the manual that accompanies the P.I.E.L. Survey App. This App is a simple survey tool that can be used offline in research by people with and without disabilities. It utilises the accessibility features of iDevices, in particular the text to speech voiceover options. It was designed for use with the Experience Sampling Method (ESM). This is an in-the-moment survey method in which participants, when alerted, fill in a short survey about their current activities and experiences

A comparison of motor behaviors, interaction, and playfulness during mother-child and father-child play with children with motor delay

Physical and Occupational Therapy in Pediatrics, 26(1/2): pp.129-151.The purpose of this investigation was to compare motor behavior, parent-child interactions, and child’s playfulness during mother-child and father-child play with children with motor delay. Play sessions of 20 children (ages 7 to 36 months) and their parents were videotaped in the families’ homes. Interval recording was used to measure the children’s motor behaviors, the parents’ handling/positioning, and the children’s position of play. The Maternal Behavior Rating Scale and the Test of Playfulness were used to measure the parents’ interactive behaviors and children’s playfulness, respectively. Mean differences were analyzed using paired t-tests. Children demonstrated similar occurrence of motor behaviors and degree of playfulness when playing with their mothers and their fathers. Mothers and fathers had similar occurrence of carrying their children, using adaptive positioning equipment, and manually positioning their children. Fathers held their children on their lap for a greater proportion of the play intervals compared with mothers. Mothers were more responsive than fathers during the play sessions but both parents demonstrated similar achievement orientation, affect/animation, and directiveness. Children’s playfulness was related to their developmental abilities and to parents’ responsiveness. Therapists are encouraged to consider the interactive styles of both parents, capitalize on the unique strengths of each parent and child, and partner with parents to promote interactions with their children and children’s playfulness

Spanish Cultural Adaptation and Inter-Rater Reliability of the Test of Playfulness

[Abstract] Aim. To adapt the Test of Playfulness (ToP) to the Spanish context (culturally and linguistically) and analyze the inter-rater reliability of the translated version. Methods. Following a specific methodology for cultural adaptation, direct and back translations were carried out, together with cognitive interviews with pediatric occupational therapists, to analyze the comprehensibility of the translated version. The resulting version was analyzed by a linguistic expert to determine its grammatical and linguistic adequacy. Finally, inter-rater reliability was analyzed in a sample of typically developing children aged between 4 years old and 6 years and 11 months (n = 12). Results. Direct and back translation phases showed a good conceptual equivalence with the original version. The cognitive interviews enabled the identification of difficulties surrounding the understanding and the terminology used in several items. The linguistic expert and the research team revision ensured that final grammatical and conceptual improvements were made. Inter-rater reliability analysis showed an almost perfect degree of agreement (0.82 ≤ κ ≤ 1.00; p < 0.001), as well as stability and a strong positive linear correlation (0.81; p < 0.001). Conclusions. The translated version of the ToP fits the Spanish context and can be used in the clinical setting of pediatric occupational therapy in Spain