Occupationally embedded exercise versus rote exercise in terms of psychosocial effec ts on college- age females

Objective The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of occupationally embedded exercise in comparison with rote exercise in thirty college-age females on the following aspects of the psychosocial being: level of meaning, stress and anxiety, and affinity. Methods Each participant completed both an occupationally embedded exercise and a rote exercise on different days and in varying orders. While participating in the occupationally embedded exercise condition they stirred cookie dough for the dual purpose of exercise and making cookies. While participating in the rote exercise condition they stirred an unknown substance with no additional environmental stimuli. Basic demographic information such as age, ethnicity/race, and educational program was collected from each of the participants upon completion of each condition of the independent variable. The Osgood short-form semantic differential (Osgood, May & Miron, 1975) was used to measure level of meaning and three, tenpoint scales were used to measure levels of happiness, stress, and anxiety. Results Paired t-tests and Wilcoxon signed ranks tests were used to determine any significant differences between the two conditions on the dependent variables. Statistical significance was found across all of the dependent variables indicating that participants in the study completed more repetitions and stirred for a longer duration of time, reported higher levels of happiness and lower levels of stress and anxiety, and reported higher scores in the areas of evaluation, power, and action regarding level of meaning when participating in the occupationally embedded condition. Occupationally Embedded versus Rote Exercise 3 Conclusion This study is one of the first to provide evidence that occupationally embedded exercise elicits a more positive psychosocial response when compared to rote exercise. The results of this study imply that by engaging clients in occupationally embedded exercise as a means of meeting their goals during occupational therapy treatment sessions, an occupational therapist can elicit a more positive psychosocial response from the client than if he or she were to engage in rote exercise in order to meet their occupational therapy goals. The results of this study imply that future occupational therapy clients will be happier, less stressed, less anxious, and find a higher level of meaning in their occupational therapy sessions if engaged in occupationally embedded exercise as a means to their end result. Occupationally Embedded versus Rote Exercise 4 Occupationally Embedded Exercise Versus Rote Exercise in Terms of Psychosocial Effects on College-Age Females The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of occupationally embedded exercise in comparison with rote exercise in college-age females on the following aspects of the psychosocial being: level of meaning, stress and anxiety, and affinity. Prior to reviewing the current study, the importance of occupationally embedded exercise to the profession of occupational therapy, followed by a brief literature review describing past studies that promote the use of occupationally embedded exercise will be addressed. The current study will then be discussed. Importance of Occupationally Embedded Exercise Occupationally embedded exercise is of vital importance to the field of occupational therapy. Occupation is defined in Thomas and Nelson (2000) as “the relationship between an occupational form and an occupational performance. ” Occupationally embedded exercise is a type of activity with added meaning that the client takes part in for therapeutic reasons. The added meaning in occupationally embedded exercise adds a very important component to the therapy session. While occupationally embedded exercise, dual-purpose activity, and purposeful activity can be used interchangeably, these terms refer to the type of exercise that embeds occupation, or some sort of meaning or added purpose in order to both please and motivate the client. As the following research studies illustrate, occupationally embedded exercise is very important, and contributes a great deal, to occupational therapy as a profession. As noted in the following research studies, occupationally embedded exercise has been proven to elicit an improved physiological response in many populations and during many different occupations in comparison with rote exercise. By using occupationally embedded exercise in place of rote Occupationally Embedded versus Rote Exercise 5 exercise in occupational therapy treatment sessions, an occupational therapist can improve a client’s physiological response during therapy and therefore increase the value of occupational therapy as a profession. There have been many occupational therapy research studies conducted in the past that have examined the effects of rote exercise in comparison to occupationally embedded exercise (Bloch, Smith, & Nelson, 1989; Dolecheck & Schkade, 1999; Lang, Nelson, & Bush, 1992; Yoder, Nelson, & Smith, 1989; Miller & Nelson, 1987). For example, Bloch, Smith, and Nelson (1989) researched jumping with a rope (occupationally embedded) in comparison to jumping without a rope (rote exercise) at a given level of exertion in terms of heart rate and duration in thirty college women. The researchers asked the participants how they felt about the jumping activities and which activity they preferred. The affective meaning of each of the occupations also was assessed using Osgood’s Semantic Differential (Osgood, May & Miron, 1975). The authors reported that the increase in heart rate was significantly higher for jumping with a rope in comparison with jumping without a rope. The findings of this study support the notion that occupationally embedded exercise elicits positive physiological effects in those who engage in the occupation. The authors also recommended future research into the affective dimensions of occupationally embedded exercise. Dolecheck and Schkade (1999) researched whether personally meaningful goal-directed therapeutic occupations for six older adults post cerebral vascular accident (CVA) would facilitate greater improvements in the dynamic standing endurance of the individuals as opposed to the use of occupations that were not personally meaningful. An interest questionnaire and checklist was used to allow the participants to identify their most preferred activity for inclusion in their treatment. This allowed the researchers to be sure that the participant was engaging in an Occupationally Embedded versus Rote Exercise 6 occupation that he or she found meaningful. The results of the study indicated that the participants showed a statistically significant increase in standing time with personally meaningful activities versus nonmeaningful activities. The authors reported that the older adults stood longer when performing meaningful tasks as compared to their time spent standing during nonmeaningful tasks. This study supports the notion that including meaning in occupations elicits better results in comparison with rote exercises. Hsieh, Nelson, Smith, and Peterson (1996) researched whether two added-purpose occupations (one added-materials occupation and one imagery-based occupation) would elicit more exercise repetitions than a rote exercise in twenty-one men and women with hemiplegia. The added-materials occupation involved throwing small balls and the imagery-based occupation involved imagining that they were picking up a small ball from the ground and throwing it at a target. The rote exercise simply involved touching the ground with their hand, standing up, elevating the arm, flexing the elbow, and stretching the arm forward quickly. The authors reported that the persons with hemiplegia elicited significantly more exercise repetitions in the two added-purpose occupations as compared with the rote exercise. This study provides evidence that added purpose can enhance motor performance in persons with hemiplegia. Lang, Nelson, and Bush (1992) compared materials-based occupation, imagery-based occupation, and rote exercise in fifteen nursing home residents. The conditions involved either kicking a balloon, imagining kicking a balloon, or a control rote exercise. It was determined that the materials-based occupation condition elicited significantly more kicking repetitions than the other two conditions. The findings of this study support the notion that the use of physical materials in the occupational form will enhance the client’s occupational performance. Occupationally Embedded versus Rote Exercise 7 Nelson et al. (1996) compared an occupationally embedded exercise involving a dice game with a rote exercise in twenty-six men and women with stroke who were experiencing pronator spasticity. In the occupationally embedded exercise, the participant turned a rotary handle attached to an apparatus containing three dice. The purpose of the game was to turn the handle enough to make all three dice fall through the handle and score doubles or three in a row. In the rote exercise condition, the participant was instructed to simply turn the handle for two sets of ten trials with no dice or mention of a game. The results showed that participants in the occupationally embedded exercise performed significantly more handle rotations in comparison with the rote exercise. Despite their pronator spasticity, the participants rotated the handle further in the context of a game than in the rote exercise condition. This study adds to the literature that supports the use of occupationally embedded exercise in place of simple rote exercise by showing that occupationally embedded exercise can enhance a specific pattern of therapeutic exercise in bilaterally assisted supination. Sietsema, Nelson, Mulder, Mervau-Scheidel, and White (1993) tested ten trials of occupationally embedded intervention in comparison with ten trials of a rote arm-reach exercise. The occupationally embedded intervention