Mentorship experiences in a group of occupational therapy leaders.

OBJECTIVES: The development of occupational therapy leaders is a long-held goal of many members of the American Occupational Therapy Association and of state associations. The initiation of mentor programs is a common means to accomplish this goal. These programs take time and effort, and, although occupational therapists have described how mentorship programs work in the literature, there are few articles that describe the actual mentorship experiences of occupational therapy leaders. METHOD: To study the experiences of elected occupational therapy leaders, a 30-item questionnaire was distributed at the annual meeting of the Committee of State Association Presidents and completed by 53 respondents. Results were analyzed, and cross tabulations were run between selected items. RESULTS: Respondents were frequently exposed to role models, were assisted by sponsors, were mentored by other occupational therapists, and served as mentors themselves. There was little evidence that the respondents were mentored by high-powered individuals who helped launch their careers. CONCLUSION: More than half of the respondents were mentored by other occupational therapists, and only 29% of the respondents reported that they surpassed the status and position of their mentors. Plans to initiate mentorship programs should include activities that promote powerful leaders who move beyond the status and position of their mentors, so that occupational therapists can represent the interests of the profession to others

How occupational therapists teach older patients to use bathing and dressing devices in rehabilitation.

OBJECTIVE: This article describes the methods occupational therapists use to teach bathing and dressing device use to older patients in rehabilitation programs. The relationship of three patient characteristics to five aspects of assistive device instruction was examined. METHOD: The study sample included 86 patients and 19 occupational therapists who provided the assistive device training. Patients were 55 years of age or older and in rehabilitation for an orthopedic deficit, cerebrovascular accident, or lower limb amputation. Therapists recorded information on teaching methods, perceptions of patient knowledge, and expectations for future device use after each treatment session. RESULTS: Patients received an average of three dressing and two bathing devices for home use. Therapists devoted an average of two and a half sessions (10 min average duration) to teach dressing device use and an average of one session (9 min average duration) to teach bathing device use. Teaching occurred mostly in the clinic setting through oral instruction and demonstration. At discharge, patients who evaluated devices positively and were evaluated as having a positive affect were perceived by the therapists as having greater knowledge of device use. More time was spent teaching those patients with lower Functional Independence Measure scores, less positive evaluations of devices, and lower affect scores. Family caregivers were involved in one or more dressing sessions for 26% of patients and one or more bathing sessions for 36% of patients. CONCLUSION: Assistive device training in rehabilitation centers consists largely of simulated sessions in the occupational therapy clinic, and patients in the study described the instruction they received as satisfactory. More research is needed to study the long-term effectiveness of assistive device training after patients return home