Occupational science and social complexity

Final, peer-reviewed manuscript.Includes bibliographical references (pages 90-91).Applications of complexity science, including dynamic systems and chaos theories, have become ever-present in the social sciences. Diverse academic fields have begun to explore their central constructs from a complexity perspective. Occupational science has also begun to discover complexity science as an explanatory framework to aid in the study of occupation. Theoretical models, principles and empirical findings from a number of scholars of occupation suggest that the tenets of complexity may serve an important role in explicating the nature of occupation. However, applications of complexity science in the field of occupational science have almost exclusively focused on the system level of the human as a dynamic or chaotic system. In this article, I propose that the study of occupation should also be informed by adopting a social complexity perspective. This shift in analytic levels, in part, situates the study of occupation at the nexus of human-to-human interaction. Though a social level of analysis may restrict the attention given to any one individual, the resultant understanding of the manner by which individuals mutually influence each other via occupation would likely extend our views of the form, function and meaning of human occupation

Convergent validity of the engagement in meaningful activities survey in a college sample

Final, peer-reviewed manuscript.Includes bibliographical references (pages 30-32).The Engagement in Meaningful Activities Survey (EMAS) (Goldberg, Brintnell, & Goldberg, 2002) demonstrated sufficient psychometric properties in a sample of 122 adults. The EMAS was found to have adequate test-retest (r = .71) and internal consistency (α = .88) reliability; significant positive correlations between the EMAS and the subscales of the Basic Psychological Needs Scale and the Sources of Meaning Profile and negative zero-order correlations were found with short form versions of the Boredom Proneness Scale and the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scales. Step-wise multiple regression analysis results showed the Sources of Meaning Profile, Boredom Proneness Scale, and Competence subscale of the Basic Psychological Needs scale best predicted the EMAS. These results lend additional construct validity evidence in support of the EMAS as a brief measure of meaningful activity participation

Measurement characteristics of the engagement in meaningful activities survey in an age-diverse sample

Includes bibliographical references (pages e28-e29).OBJECTIVE. This study evaluated the measurement characteristics of the Engagement in Meaningful Activities Survey (EMAS) in an age-diverse sample. METHOD. The sample included 154 older adults and 122 college students (age range = 18-100 yr). A Rasch-Andrich rating scale model was used to evaluate the EMAS. Analyses addressed rating scale design, person and item fit, item hierarchy, model unidimensionality, and differential item functioning. RESULTS. Category functioning was improved by reducing the EMAS item responses to four categories. Adequate person response validity was established, and all but one EMAS item demonstrated an ideal fit to the Rasch measurement model. After establishing the item hierarchy, I found the EMAS to be a unidimensional measure. Differential item functioning was not detected using Bonferroni-adjusted statistical criteria. CONCLUSION. The results confirm the potential to validly measure subjective qualities of meaningful activity participation. The EMAS can be used to evaluate processes and outcomes central to occupational therapy practice and to aid in the design of therapeutic occupations

Growth requirements for multidiscipline research and development on the evolutionary space station

The NASA Space Station Freedom is being designed to facilitate on-orbit evolution and growth to accommodate changing user needs and future options for U.S. space exploration. In support of the Space Station Freedom Program Preliminary Requirements Review, The Langley Space Station Office has identified a set of resource requirements for Station growth which is deemed adequate for the various evolution options. As part of that effort, analysis was performed to scope requirements for Space Station as an expanding, multidiscipline facility for scientific research, technology development and commercial production. This report describes the assumptions, approach and results of the study

Integrating Sleep Promotion Education into Acute Care Orthopedics Occupational Therapy Practice: A Case Series Study

Background: The occupation of sleep is frequently under-addressed by occupational therapists with their clients. This may be in part because of a lack of general training on addressing this occupational domain or a lack of education about the basics of sleep. The domain of sleep has been in the Occupational Therapy Practice Framework since 2008. However, it remains unclear how to address the domain of sleep in occupational therapy practice. Therefore, the purpose of this case series is to describe the practical application of sleep promotion education. Methods: A practicing occupational therapist with sleep training provided sleep promotion education to five clients following an orthopedic surgery in an acute care setting. A client interview was performed to gather sleep concerns and inform specific content of the sleep promotion education. The clients were asked their motivation, satisfaction, and likelihood to use the education. Results: A detailed description of each client and how the education was tailored is provided in conjunction with the occupational therapist response to concerns. Overall, the clients reported that sleep promotion education was useful, satisfying, and that they were likely to use the education. Conclusions: This case series describes the practical application of sleep promotion education in occupational therapy practice in an acute care setting

ISO LWS Spectra of T Tauri and Herbig AeBe stars

We present an analysis of ISO-LWS spectra of eight T Tauri and Herbig AeBe young stellar objects. Some of the objects are in the embedded phase of star-formation, whereas others have cleared their environs but are still surrounded by a circumstellar disk. Fine-structure lines of [OI] and [CII] are most likely excited by far-ultraviolet photons in the circumstellar environment rather than high-velocity outflows, based on comparisons of observed line strengths with predictions of photon-dominated and shock chemistry models. A subset of our stars and their ISO spectra are adequately explained by models constructed by Chiang & Goldreich (1997) and Chiang et al. (2001) of isolated, passively heated, flared circumstellar disks. For these sources, the bulk of the LWS flux at wavelengths longward of 55 µm arises from the disk interior which is heated diffusively by reprocessed radiation from the disk surface. At 45 µm, water ice emission bands appear in spectra of two of the coolest stars, and are thought to arise from icy grains irradiated by central starlight in optically thin disk surface layers

Mental health fieldwork education

Final, peer-reviewed manuscript.Includes bibliographical references (pages 17-19).Fieldwork is essential for training future mental health practitioners. In this study, the authors identified factors predicting the number of students engaged in mental health fieldwork education. Proactive efforts (e.g., setting up structured fieldwork programs), such as offering both Level I and Level II fieldwork experiences, and perceiving no challenge to accepting Level II fieldwork students, predicted greater numbers of students participating in fieldwork. Clinicians who had set up structured fieldwork programs were more likely to have guest lectured in an occupational therapy education program and met with interested students. This is the first study to identify factors that predict participation in mental health fieldwork