Rasch Analysis of the Norwegian Version of the Occupational Balance Questionnaire in a Sample of Occupational Therapy Students

Background. Recently, the Occupational Balance Questionnaire developed in Sweden was translated into Norwegian. No studies to date have examined the measurement properties of the Norwegian version of this questionnaire. Aim. The study is aimed at examining the psychometric properties of the Norwegian version of the Occupational Balance Questionnaire, the OBQ11-N. Methods. Along with sociodemographic data, 180 occupational therapy students enrolled at two Norwegian universities completed the OBQ11-N as well as one question each related to health and quality of life and some sociodemographic variables. Rasch analysis was employed for examining rating scale functioning, item and person validity, dimensionality, and differential item functioning. Results. Item categories were ordered, but there were potential gaps in the measurement of the construct. Person reliability was fair, whereas item reliability was low. Point biserial correlations were positive, indicating that all items contributed to the construct. Factor loadings were low for two items, and there were indices of a second underlying dimension and item redundancy. Many people were not aligned with the items, and some items functioned differently across various demographic variables. Conclusion and Significance. The OBQ11-N did not function as an adequate measure of occupational balance in a sample of students. Potentially, the detected measurement problems may be solved by adding more relevant items to a larger item pool, from which the best fitting items should be selected

Effects of PREPARE, a Multi-component, School-Based HIV and Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) Prevention Programme on Adolescent Sexual Risk Behaviour and IPV : Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial

Young South Africans, especially women, are at high risk of HIV. We evaluated the effects of PREPARE, a multi-component, school-based HIV prevention intervention to delay sexual debut, increase condom use and decrease intimate partner violence (IPV) among young adolescents. We conducted a cluster RCT among Grade eights in 42 high schools. The intervention comprised education sessions, a school health service and a school sexual violence prevention programme. Participants completed questionnaires at baseline, 6 and 12 months. Regression was undertaken to provide ORs or coefficients adjusted for clustering. Of 6244 sampled adolescents, 55.3 % participated. At 12 months there were no differences between intervention and control arms in sexual risk behaviours. Participants in the intervention arm were less likely to report IPV victimisation (35.1 vs. 40.9 %; OR 0.77, 95 % CI 0.61-0.99; t(40) = 2.14) suggesting the intervention shaped intimate partnerships into safer ones, potentially lowering the risk for HIV

Evidensbaserad praxis inom arbetsterapi : en litteraturstudie

Att arbeta evidensbaserat innefattar både ett förhållningssätt och en process, vilket ställer krav på den enskilde arbetsterapeuten att kontinuerligt ompröva olika arbetsmetoder. Syftet med denna uppsats var att belysa arbetsterapeuters kunskap om och attityd till evidensbaserad praxis. Vidare att undersöka vilka hinder som angavs och förslag till lösning av eventuella hinder för att arbeta evidensbaserat. Metoden litteraturstudie användes och artiklarna valdes utifrån systematisk litteratursökning. Tio artiklar, publicerade 2000-2005, från fyra olika länder granskades avseende olika aspekter av evidensbaserad praxis. Resultatet visade att arbetsterapeuter har en positiv inställning till evidensbaserad praxis men arbetar förhållandevis litet evidensbaserat och på en låg nivå. Bristande kunskap/färdighet och tidsbrist var de största hindren som arbetsterapeuter angav för att implementera ett evidensbaserat arbetssätt. I de granskade artiklarna gavs också förslag till lösningar för att möjliggöra en evidensbaserad praxis och dessa lösningar fanns på flera organisatoriska nivåer

Conceptualizing life balance from an empirical and occupational therapy perspective

Introduction: Although it is an important concept in occupational therapy, there is a need for further knowledge about life balance. This thesis explores the concept oflife balance - how people think about it and how it is used in occupational therapy. Aim: The overall aim of the present thesis was to conceptualize life balance from an empirical and occupational therapy perspective in order to contribute to knowledge regarding the use of the concept in occupational therapy. The specific aims were to: explore the perceptions of life balance among working people who had not recently been on long-term sick leave explore what is considered important for life balance and whether or not this differs between people use perceptions of life balance data from men and women in a healthy population to validate the Model of Lifestyle Balance clarify the content in the concept of occupational balance as used within published articles related to occupational therapy Methods: In Study I, 19 participants were interviewed about their perceptions of lifebalance. In Study II, 32 participants sorted statements about life balance according to their importance. In Study III, data from Study I were reanalysed in relation to Matuska and Christiansen’s Model of Lifestyle Balance. In Study IV a concept analysis of occupational balance in occupational therapy was conducted, encompassing 43 articles. Results: Life balance was shown to be a subjective, dynamic, health-related and multidimensional concept. Similarities and differences between what the participants consider to be important for their life balance were revealed. Occupational balance was, in the concept analysis, shown to be a subjectively defined perception of having the right amount and variation of occupations. Conclusions: The results of the thesis indicate that life balance and occupational balance are two separate concepts. While life balance includes occupational balance, it goes beyond it and also includes other aspects. Future research is requried to investigate the generality of the findings.

Occupational balance from the interpersonal perspective : A scoping review

Background: Occupational balance is an important concept in occupational science but it has mostly been studied from an individual rather than an interpersonal perspective, i.e. the extent to which one individual’s occupational balance affects and is affected by others. The aim of this review was to describe the extent to which occupational balance has been recently considered from an interpersonal perspective. Methods: A scoping review methodology was used. Articles published between 2014 and 2017 that met the following inclusion criteria were included: full articles reporting primary research; published in English; using “occupational balance”, “balance in everyday life”, or “life balance” in the abstract, key words, or title; having an occupational focus on balance; and providing relevant information in relation to the interpersonal perspective. Results: Nine articles were included. The interpersonal perspective was mostly seen in relation to partners or families, showing the positive impact of support and the negative impact of meeting other’s needs in mothers. One article addressed aspects related to organizations and attitudes at the workplace in parents with young children. Conclusion: The findings reveal the importance of considering the occupational balance of both the individual and those around him or her while also showing some of the complexity of occupational balance. The limited number of articles identified indicates that there is still a lack of research using an interpersonal perspective, suggesting that further examination of the interpersonal influence on occupational balance may be a fruitful avenue to pursue

Introducing the Occupational Balance Questionnaire (OBQ)

Objective: The concept of occupational balance is frequently used in occupational therapy but the fact that it has been defined and measured differently is a limitation. This article introduces the Occupational Balance Questionnaire (OBQ), which focuses on satisfaction with the amount and variation of occupations. It consists of 13 items measured on six-step ordinal scales. It has shown good content validity in a sample of 21 occupational therapists but other psychometric properties have not been investigated. The aim was to investigate the OBQ regarding internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and floor/ceiling effects. Methods: The OBQ was administered twice to a sample selected through convenience sampling. Internal consistency was investigated by Cronbach's alpha and test-retest reliability analysed with Spearman's Rho correlation for the total score and weighted kappa on each item. Potential floor/ceiling effects were explored by checking for the percentage of participants who scored lowest and highest. Results: The results demonstrated that the OBQ has good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha 0.936) and sufficient test-retest reliability (Spearman's Rho for the total score was 0.926) and, thus, seems stable over time. No floor or ceiling effect was detected. Conclusions: The OBQ therefore showed promising reliability, although further instrument development studies to examine its construct validity are required

Hannah Arendt’s vita activa : A valuable contribution to occupational science

Occupational science is undergoing dynamic development and claims have been articulated that human occupation must be understood from multiple ontological standpoints. Hannah Arendt (1906–1975) is known for her work The Human Condition in which she explored human occupation from a philosophical and political standpoint. She distinguished the modalities labor, work and action, and labelled them vita activa. The aim of this paper is to present Arendt and her vita activa, in order to provide examples of its relevance for occupational science, showing how vita activa can assist occupational scientists to take a deeper perspective on human occupation. According to Arendt, human occupation is always conditioned. The condition for labor is necessity, which reflects human biological needs and represents the basics of life. The condition for work is utility, as something persistent and durable is produced. Action is the activity that takes place between people without the intermediary of things. Similar to occupational science, vita activa is concerned with human doing but their origins differ. Arendt also emphasized the public sphere as an arena for human occupation, a viewpoint that is shared with recent occupational science literature. The need to expand the scope of occupational science to encompass all aspects of human occupations, including the deleterious, has been expressed and vita activa can contribute to broadening this perspective. Examples of the need for sustainability in working life are also presented in this paper

Exploring occupational balance in adults in Sweden

Aim: The aim of this study was to describe the relationship between occupational balance (measured by the occupational balance questionnaire [OBQ]) and self-rated health and life satisfaction. A secondary aim was to explore differences in occupational balance among adults in Sweden. Methods: The 153 participants (63% women), recruited using convenience sampling, answered a questionnaire comprising demographic questions, the OBQ, one item about self-rated health, and one about life satisfaction. The OBQ was analysed for correlation with subjective health and life satisfaction. The OBQ and its individual items were also analysed for correlations with age and for differences between men and women and participants living with children younger than 18 years versus not. Results: The OBQ was significantly positively correlated to self-rated health and life satisfaction, supporting the relationship between occupational balance and health. No significant correlation between age and the total OBQ was identified but some differences in occupational balance, related to whether the participant was living with or without children at home, were revealed. Conclusions: The results should be interpreted with caution due to the nature of the sample and data but they can serve as a point of departure for further studies and hypotheses regarding occupational balance in different populations

Occupational balance : A scoping review of current research and identified knowledge gaps

This article reports a comprehensive review of the research conducted regarding occupational balance. A scoping study method was used to explore and describe current research about occupational balance and to identify research gaps. Twenty-two articles published between 2009 and 2014 met the inclusion criteria. The articles reported studies conducted in eight countries on four continents, but the majority were conducted in Europe and North America. The articles contributed to knowledge about the concept itself, its importance, levels of occupational balance, and the relationship between occupational balance and health and well-being. They also described what is important for occupational balance or how to enhance/create/recreate it and differences between people. Several research gaps were identified which include the need for studies about perceptions of occupational balance among people beyond western societies. Furthermore, systematic research is warranted with regards to levels of occupational balance, and how to enhance it