Cognitive strategies and school participation for students with learning difficulties.

ABSTRACT Students with learning difficulties comprise one of the main groups of children referred for assessment to Australian occupational therapists. Teachers and parents typically express concern regarding difficulty with participation during school occupations. In particular, teachers and parents describe the cognitive aspects of participation as being a challenge. While much research has focused on the concept of participation for students with physical disabilities, little is known about the impact of cognitive dimensions of a learning difficulty on school participation. There are few ecological assessments which document difficulties with the cognitive aspects of school participation relative to the expectations of task performance. Specifically, there is a lack of standardised assessments which utilise the perspectives of teachers and parents. The initial purpose of this study was to explore the concept of participation and how students with learning difficulties used cognitive strategies to participate successfully in school occupations. The second purpose of the study was to develop a teacher and parent questionnaire that might assist in the occupational therapy assessment of the cognitive aspects of a student’s school participation. A review of the literature was motivated by the need to better understand the construct of participation and to determine how best to measure cognitive strategy use as a component of school participation. The subsequent research was then carried out in three phases. Phase One explored difficulties in school participation using a longitudinal retrospective case study of one student with a learning difficulty over 13 years. In addition, 50 teachers and 44 parents were surveyed regarding participation. Data collected from this phase formed the basis of Phase Two in which a teacher and ii parent questionnaire was constructed following principles of questionnaire construction. An instrument, PRPP@SCHOOL-Version 1(Teacher Questionnaire and Parent Questionnaire), was developed which reflected theoretical and empirical descriptions of cognitive strategies and descriptors used in an existing instrument, the Perceive, Recall, Plan, and Perform (PRPP) System of Task Analysis. These questionnaires, designed to form a companion instrument to the PRPP System of Task Analysis, were trialled on 355 children, referred to a private occupational therapy clinic in Greater Western Sydney. Data were analysed to determine measurement viability. Phase Three of the study comprised reliability and validity testing on the PRPP@SCHOOL-1(TQ & PQ). Intraclass correlations indicated excellent test-retest reliability with a high level of agreement for the PQ. Content validity was determined through consumer review, peer review, and an expert panel review. Discriminant validity testing confirmed that the PRPP@SCHOOL-1(TQ & PQ) was able to differentiate between typically developing students and students with learning difficulties. Construct validity was assessed. Five factors emerged from the analysis which also demonstrated that the PRPP@SCHOOL-1(TQ & PQ) was functioning as a multidimensional measure. Findings indicated that for children in this study, participation in school occupations was undermined by challenges with inefficient cognitive strategy use. Teachers and parents were able to observe and clearly identify these difficulties using the PRPP@SCHOOL-1(TQ & PQ). This research adds a companion instrument to the PRPP System of Task Analysis in the form of teacher and parent questionnaires to be used with students who experience school participation difficulties. In so doing, the research contributes to the expansion of occupation-focused, criterion-referenced ecological instruments recommended by the profession as best practice assessment

Partnership Perspectives: Changing the Image of Physical Therapy in Urban Neighborhoods Through Community Service Learning

Anecdotally, residents of a local inner-city neighborhood have limited perception and understanding of the physical therapy profession. The purpose of this paper is to present the results of a mixed design pilot study intended to investigate this community\u27s perception of physical therapy and Lower Roxbury community members\u27 assessment of Northeastem University\u27s Department of Physical Therapy community service-learning (CSL) program. Community residents who have been exposed to physical therapy through CSL may have a better understanding and perception of the profession than residents who have not participated

Aligning systems science and community-based participatory research: A case example of the Community Health Advocacy and Research Alliance (CHARA).

Partnered research may help bridge the gap between research and practice. Community-based participatory research (CBPR) supports collaboration between scientific researchers and community members that is designed to improve capacity, enhance trust, and address health disparities. Systems science aims to understand the complex ways human-ecological coupled systems interact and apply knowledge to management practices. Although CBPR and systems science display complementary principles, only a few articles describe synergies between these 2 approaches. In this article, we explore opportunities to utilize concepts from systems science to understand the development, evolution, and sustainability of 1 CBPR partnership: The Community Health Advocacy and Research Alliance (CHARA). Systems science tools may help CHARA and other CBPR partnerships sustain their core identities while co-evolving in conjunction with individual members, community priorities, and a changing healthcare landscape. Our goal is to highlight CHARA as a case for applying the complementary approaches of CBPR and systems science to (1) improve academic/community partnership functioning and sustainability, (2) ensure that research addresses the priorities and needs of end users, and (3) support more timely application of scientific discoveries into routine practice

Expanded Competencies: Acknowledging a Context for Rural Teaching Skills

Teacher trainers cannot afford to ignore the need for a specialized set of competencies in preparing teachers for rural settings

Evidence-based implementation practices applied to the intensive treatment of eating disorders: Summary of research and illustration of principles using a case example

Implementation of evidence‐based practices (EBPs) in intensive treatment settings poses a major challenge in the field of psychology. This is particularly true for eating disorder (ED) treatment, where multidisciplinary care is provided to a severe and complex patient population; almost no data exist concerning best practices in these settings. We summarize the research on EBP implementation science organized by existing frameworks and illustrate how these practices may be applied using a case example. We describe the recent successful implementation of EBPs in a community‐based intensive ED treatment network, which recently adapted and implemented transdiagnostic, empirically supported treatment for emotional disorders across its system of residential and day‐hospital programs. The research summary, implementation frameworks, and case example may inform future efforts to implement evidence‐based practice in intensive treatment settings.Published versio