Ayres sensory integration ® implementation in Malaysian occupational therapists : challenges and limitations

One of the most popular interventions provided by occupational therapists for pediatric clients is Ayres Sensory Integration® (ASI). Strict fidelity measures consisting of procedural and structural elements must be adhered to when using it. These fidelity measures distinguish Ayres Sensory Integration® from other sensory-based interventions. This study involved the development of a survey instrument and outlined the challenges that Malaysian occupational therapists face when using Ayres sensory integration® (ASI). The questionnaire development involved the processes of assessing its validity and reliability. A total of 161 occupational therapists working in various healthcare settings responded to the survey by answering a self-administered questionnaire. The results identified eight themes or issues: (1) Inadequate Training, (2) Resource Issues, (3) Physical Constraints, (4) Time Constraints, (5) Limited Information/ Support Provided By Family, (6) Limited Support From Management, (7) Limited Information/Support Provided By Suppliers, and (8) Issues in Implementing Evidence-Based Practice. Identifying the challenges of implementing ASI is an important aspect of improving occupational therapy assessments and interventions, which would establish the effectiveness of the interventions provided

Students’ experiences on occupational therapy clinical placement : a narrative review

Clinical placement practice is the most significant part of occupational therapy education. It is a place where students can observe and experience how theory and practical understanding are helpful in the real world. This review aims to identify the common experiences of occupational therapy students during their clinical placement. Findings of this study can provide a better understanding of student’s experiences and improve the current clinical placement practice. Methods: This is a narrative review study. Literature searches on English language articles only were conducted on relevant databases, including EBSCOhost, Academic Search Complete, Academic Search Premier, Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) and MEDLINE within the year 2007 until 2018. The final numbers of selected studies were 11. Results and Discussion: Three themes emerged from this review: (1) skills developed during clinical placement refers to students’ understanding of occupational therapy role and ability to integrate academic knowledge into practical skill and to develop clinical core skills, (2) the supervisor’s role during clinical placement, which describes the responsibility of supervisors to establish the student-supervisor relationship, provide feedback to students, and shape students’ attitudes and (3) the challenges that arise during clinical placement, which refer to issues faced by the students during their clinical placement. Conclusion: Students have gained valuable experiences and learning opportunities that directly impacted their professional training. The specific features of clinical placement, including theoretical knowledge, practical skills, clinical reasoning, communication skills and interaction with supervisors and peers, were the definite aspects influencing students’ essential competencies

Video modelling to improve hand dexterity in students with learning disabilities : special education teachers' perspectives

Proficient hand dexterity (HD) may help students with learning disabilities (LDs) perform various hand tasks efficiently. Video modelling (VM) is a strategy that uses a model to improve desired skills. However, the limited study focuses on VM to improve HD among students with LDs. Therefore, this study explores VM implementation in the learning and teaching process to improve the HD of students with LDs. Five Special Education (SE) teachers who taught the Hand Manipulative Component lessons in two different states were purposefully selected and invited to participate in this study. A one-to-one interview was conducted with individual SE teachers. The interview sessions were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim, and the data was analysed through thematic analysis. Rigorous approaches were performed to ensure the findings' trustworthiness, such as triangulation, member checking, and an audit trail. Four key themes emerged: conventional learning and teaching methods, challenges faced by students with LDs in improving HD, and the advantages of implementing VM in learning and teaching to improve HD and develop a video module. This study suggests SE teachers can implement VM in their learning and teaching processes to improve the HD performance of students with LDs. This current study concludes that VM can be a supportive strategy in the teaching process to improve HD performance among students with LDs

Understanding work-related intentions using the theory of planned behaviour: a systematic review

Work can guarantee financial stability and quality of life, foster identity and self-confidence and ensure social well being. Thus, it is vital to understand the motivation and intention to work. The theory of planned behaviour (TPB) has been used extensively in theory and research in a wide range of human behaviours. However, research on the efficacy of the TPB in the vocational realm remains limited. This study aims to review the applications of the TPB in work-related intention. Relevant studies were systematically searched using standardised keywords across two databases. Three hundred and sixty-six research articles (n=366) were identified, however, only seven articles (n=7) were eligible to be evaluated in this study using the Assessment for Cross-Sectional Studies (AXIS) tool. All studies confirmed the efficacy of the TPB in explaining work intentions. The explained variance in intention varied from 10% (post-retirement work intention) to 59% (to work with older adults). However, the underlying core constructs of TPB namely attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control (PBC) do not always altogether consistently predict the intention to work. Besides, few review studies have reported variables that are not included in TPB, such as moral obligation, identity, and tenure, which contributed to a significant amount of variance in intention. Overall, the findings of this review indicated that TPB is helpful in understanding work intention. However, further investigation is needed to estimate the extended variables’ performance in explaining intentions and to cover a broader aspect of work intentions

Adaptation, validation and reliability testing of sensory processing measure home form Malay version for children with autism

Inappropriate responses towards sensory input received from the environment, also known as sensory processing difficulties (SPD) may affect daily living activities of the children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Sensory Processing Measure Home Form (SPM Home Form) as a parent report measure for SPD is available in English and other foreign languages. To enhance the applicability and meaningfulness of SPM Home Form for the Malay speaking population, a study that focuses on translating, adapting, and validating the SPM Home Form into the Malay language was conducted. The development of the Malay version of the SPM Home Form (SPM-MV Home Form) involved three steps: 1) Item evaluation, 2) Forward and backward translation, and 3) Expert review and content validity. The process of translation and adaptation of the form was performed according to standard guidelines. No item was excluded from the original SPM Home Form as all the items were considered by the expert panel as appropriate and relevance to evaluate the activity and social participation among children in Malaysia. Content validity as measured by 10 experts in occupational therapy is high. The mean of sub-scales I-CVI is between 0.96 and 1.00. The total S-CVI of the form is 0.95 with sub-scales S-CVI range between 0.82 and 1.00. Cronbach’s alpha for internal consistency was reported at 0.80 and ICC for test-retest reliability ranged from 0.80 to 0.97. The SPM-MV Home Form has high potential to be used for assessing SPD among children ages 5-12 years in Malaysia

Challenges, attitudes and skills of occupational therapists towards pre-driving assessments practices in Malaysia

A pre-driving assessment usually involves standardised and non-standardised tests to examine the skills for safe driving of people with disabilities. However, it is still unknown to what extent the pre-driving assessments are being practised among occupational therapists in Malaysia. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the association of challenges, attitudes, and skills of occupational therapists towards practising driving rehabilitation and explore the most used pre-driving assessment. A cross-sectional study had been conducted from July to September 2020. The convenient sampling method was used to recruit experienced occupational therapists in driving rehabilitation. A total of 53 therapists had completed an online survey. According to the results, the bivariate correlation between skills and challenges was positive and strong (rѕ = 0.680, p < 0.05). A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) indicated that workplace variables had a significant effect on the combined dependent variables of challenges, attitudes, and skills, F(3,49) = 4.521 p = 0.007, partial Ƞ² = 0.217. This study found that the most used standardised assessment was the range of motion (n = 39, 73.6 %) and the right and left discrimination (n = 40, 75.5 %). The findings of this study identified that occupational therapists challenges and attitudes are significantly associated with the skills to practice driving rehabilitation. Malaysian occupational therapists working in the government sector reported better skills than those working in the private sector. Furthermore, numerous types of pre-driving assessments were used and vary from setting to setting. This study hopes to benefit occupational therapists and related rehabilitation practitioners towards a holistic understanding of Malaysia's driving rehabilitation practices

Psychometric properties of the malay version of the personal wellbeing index: a preliminary study among caregivers of children with autism spectrum disorder

Caregivers of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) can have a compromised quality of life due to caregiving burden and parenting stress. The Personal Wellbeing Index (PWI) is one of the instruments that measure the subjective wellbeing dimension. This study intended to explore this instrument’s construct validity and reliability and compare the subjective wellbeing among caregivers based on sociodemographic characteristics. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 53 caregivers of children with ASD recruited from occupational therapy clinics at Hospital Canselor Tuanku Muhriz (HCTM) and the Faculty of Health Sciences, UKM. The PWI has one global life satisfaction construct (1 item) and subjective wellbeing (8 items). The rating scale is anchored from 0 (no satisfaction at all) to 10 (completely satisfied). The statistical analysis indicated that the Malay version of PWI has acceptable unidimensionality (outer loadings >0.5 for all items), convergence validity (Average Variance Extracted (AVE)=0.5781), constructs validity (r=0.812, p<0.001), and construct reliability (ρA=0.8864, ρc=0.9046, α=0.8761). Marital status is significant in achieving life and personal relationships while health issues are significant only in personal health. The Malay version has good construct validity and reliability and can measure the subjective wellbeing of the caregivers of children with autism in Malaysia. The psychometric properties of the PWI Malay version can be further established with a larger sample size. In the future, a national norm of Malaysians’ wellbeing could be developed to interpret their wellbeing level

Driving rehabilitation by occupational therapists in Malaysia : what are the current practices?

Occupational therapists have a significant role in driving rehabilitation by helping clients with disabilities to return to driving. To date, the services for driving rehabilitation are still limited in Malaysia. Furthermore, the current practice of driving rehabilitation in Malaysia is still underreported. Therefore, this study aims to assess occupational therapists’ challenges, attitudes, and skills towards driving rehabilitation, the sociodemographic differences, and associations between the developed constructs. A cross-sectional study was conducted from June to September 2020. A convenience sampling method was used to recruit 177 occupational therapists with at least one year of working experience in Malaysia. The questionnaire consists of three constructs: the challenges, attitudes, and skills related to driving rehabilitation. The content validity of the questionnaire was good (S-CVI/Ave= 0.992; S-CVI/UA= 0.950; modified kappa= 0.812 to 1.000). Based on the Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), three items had been deleted due to low communalities. The Cronbach’s alpha for all constructs was acceptable (Cronbach’s alpha > 0.7). Experience in practicing driving rehabilitation, workplace settings, and educational level had significant differences in at least one of the constructs. Age and years graduated had a significant positive correlation with skills. This questionnaire proved to be a tool with good content validity and reliability to assess occupational therapists’ challenges, attitudes, and skills related to driving rehabilitation. In the future, qualitative studies are recommended to better understand the occupational therapists towards driving rehabilitation, especially from their personal experience

Tahap kefungsian aktiviti kehidupan harian asas dan kualiti hidup warga tua penghidap diabetes

Diabetes merupakan penyakit kronik yang sering dikaitkan dengan aktiviti kehidupan harian asas yang terjejas, terutamanya dalam kalangan warga tua. Kemasukan ke wad bagi tujuan mendapatkan rawatan menjadi salah satu faktor penyumbang kepada kemerosotan tahap kefungsian aktiviti kehidupan harian sehingga menjejaskan kualiti hidup warga tua selepas discaj. Oleh itu, kajian in bertujuan untuk mengenalpasti tahap kefungsian melakukan aktiviti kehidupan harian asas, hubungan dengan kualiti hidup serta faktor yang mempengaruhi kualiti hidup di kalangan warga tua penghidap diabetes dalam wad. Kajian keratan rentas dilakukan ke atas 104 orang warga tua penghidap diabetes (min umur: 67.5 ± 9.2 tahun) yang sedang menerima rawatan pesakit dalam wad. Soal selidik bersemuka dijalankan dengan menggunakan instrumen Modified Barthel Index (MBI) untuk menilai tahap kefungsian aktiviti kehidupan harian asas manakala instrumen World Health Organization Quality of Life – BREF (WHOQOL-BREF) digunakan untuk menilai kualiti hidup. Hasil kajian mendapati hanya 37.5% (n = 39) responden dikategorikan pada tahap berdikari sepenuhnya. Domain menaiki tangga diikuti dengan ambulasi mencatatkan skor terendah berbanding dengan domain aktiviti kehidupan harian asas lain. Domain fizikal dalam penilaian kualiti hidup mencatatkan skor terendah berbanding domain lain. Terdapat korelasi positif yang signifikan (p < 0.05) di antara skor keseluruhan MBI dengan kesemua domain kualiti hidup; fizikal (rs = 0.70), psikologikal (rs = 0.50), sosial (rs = 0.33) and persekitaran (rs = 0.25). Analisis regresi berganda herarki menunjukkan skor MBI mempunyai pengaruh yang signifikan ke atas kesemua domain kualiti hidup, dengan pengaruh yang terbesar dalam domain fizikal iatu sebanyak 36.0% [F(1, 92) = 82.14, p < 0.01, R2 = 0.36]. Secara kesimpulan, kemasukan ke wad menjejaskan tahap keberdikarian dalam melakukan aktiviti harian asas serta aspek fizikal dalam kualiti hidup pesakit diabetes warga tua. Oleh itu, adalah penting bagi menyediakan rehabilitasi dalam perlaksanaan aktiviti kehidupan harian asas bagi warga tua sambil menjalani rawatan dalam wad bagi mengekalkan kualiti hidup selepas discaj

Preschool teachers' knowledge on dyslexia: a Malaysian experience

Introduction: Teachers play a vital role in identifying students with dyslexia. The acquisition of this knowledge will help teachers to classify students who are at risk of dyslexia. The objective of this study is to identify the level of teachers’ knowledge about dyslexia that comprises of its general knowledge, diagnosis, symptoms and treatments. A cross sectional study was done upon 138 preschool teachers. This research was conducted by using ‘Knowledge and Beliefs about Developmental Dyslexia’ questionnaire, which consists of 36 items with 3 Likert scale questions. Findings revealed that the level of general knowledge possessed by the pre-school teachers was relatively different based on the construct even though they have respectively received the Diploma in Early Childhood Education. On the same hand, most of the respondents were found to be having higher understanding on the general knowledge about dyslexia compared to their understanding on the symptoms, diagnosis and the treatments