bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Factors That Relate to Good and Poor Handwriting
Authors: Cornhill Heidi , Case-Smith Jane
Published: April 2012

Objective: This study investigated the relationships between specific performance components, eye–hand coordination, visuomotor integration, in-hand manipulation, and handwriting skill.

Method: A sample of 48 typical first grade students were identified as good and poor handwriters by their teachers. Each child completed the Motor Accuracy Test; the Developmental Test of Visual–Motor Integration (VMI); two tests of in-hand manipulation, including a rotation and a translation task; and the Minnesota Handwriting Test (MHT).

Results: All test scores for the subjects with good handwriting were significantly higher than those of the subjects with poor handwriting. Each performance component test was significantly correlated to MHT scores. Translation, VMI, and rotation scores were significant predictors of MHT scores, accounting for almost 73% of variance. A discriminant analysis using the performance components correctly classified 98% of the students as good or poor handwriters.

Conclusion: In-hand manipulation has significant association to handwriting skill.
Community Integration and Life Satisfaction After Traumatic Brain Injury: Long-Term Findings
Authors: Burleigh Susan A. , Farber Ruth S. , Gillard Marian
Published: April 2012

Objective. This study examines the relationship of the degree of community integration to the life satisfaction of persons with traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Method. The responses to two self-administered questionnaires measuring aspects of community integration and life satisfaction were studied for 30 persons with TBI who were 26 to 60 years of age.

Results. A significant relationship (rho = .37, p < .05) was found between life satisfaction and social integration (a component of community integration). No significant association was found between the total community integration score and life satisfaction.

Conclusion. The results suggest the need for rehabilitation programs to provide long-term assistance with community-based social integration as well as more effective treatment strategies to develop these skills in persons with TBI.
Occupational Therapy in Pediatric Lead Exposure Prevention
Authors: Hotz Margaretha , Kniepmann Kathy , Kohn Luci
Published: April 2012

Environmental lead is a toxic substance that is affecting the growth and development of 3 to 4 million U.S. preschool children today, with effects ranging from learning disabilities to death. This review of environmental lead sources and effects on children provides a background for comprehensive prevention of childhood lead exposure. Prevention strategies at the child, family, and community levels allow for widespread protection of child health and development. Prevention begins with an understanding of the person-environment-occupation framework for the factors that contribute to children at risk for lead exposure. An open system model is presented with specific interventions at the child, family, and community levels, providing innovative, integrated contributions by occupational therapy practitioners for lead exposure prevention and health promotion of children who have been exposed to environmental lead.
Preparing Students for Consultation Roles and Systems
Authors: Dudgeon Brian J. , Greenberg Sharon L.
Published: April 2012

Continuing changes in human services confront occupational therapy students with challenges and opportunities not traditionally associated with entry-level practice. Consultation as an approach to occupational therapy practice has become more prominent in many settings. Although consultation is normally associated with skilled or expert practice, new practitioners are expected to provide consultation so that an occupational therapy perspective can be incorporated into interdisciplinary and consumer-based service plans. In this article, we review models of consultation and propose that issues of knowledge, interpersonal skills, and diversity readiness are essential to effectively prepare new practitioners for consultation. Problem-based learning is recommended as a technique to expose students to the complexity and diversity of issues to be addressed in consultation. Examples of instructional units that demonstrate the functions of a consultant are provided.
Parenting Values and Attitudes: Views of Therapists and Parents
Authors: Humphry Ruth , Thigpen-Beck Betty
Published: April 2012

Objective. This study extends our understanding of what characteristics in young children occupational therapists value and their attitudes regarding how a parent should respond to a toddler who refuses to cooperate in a joint occupation.

Method. Using a mailed questionnaire, occupational therapists (n = 201) ranked seven characteristics of preschoolers from most important to least important. Responses to a story about a parent with a noncompliant toddler at mealtime suggested attitudes about managing young children’s behaviors. Through individual interviews, parents (n = 96) with a variety of ethnic and educational backgrounds responded to the same questions about characteristics of preschoolers and parental responses to toddlers.

Results. More occupational therapist respondents than parents placed high value on the characteristic of a preschooler who likes himself or herself. Respondents expressed attitudes that parents should be flexible and let a toddler determine what and when he or she wants to eat. Experience as parents and years in practice contributed to respondents’ valuing self-respect as a characteristic in preschoolers over other characteristics and expressing more support for parents allowing young children to control situations. The greatest differences in values and attitudes were between respondents who were parents and parents in the contrast groups who had less than 1 year of education beyond high school.

Conclusion. Shared and differing ideas about what characteristics are most important in a child and how to respond to children’s noncompliant behaviors can shape how therapists and parents respond to each other. Occupational therapists recognizing that they may not hold the same basic ideas about children as do parents of children with special needs may be more inclined to approach the families they work with as a unique social system.
The Relationship Between the Allen Cognitive Level Test and the Life Skills Profile
Authors: Keller Suzie , Hayes Robyn
Published: April 2012

Objectives. The purpose of this study was to further evaluate the validity of the Allen Cognitive Level Test (ACL-90) as a measure of the construct of “adaptive functioning” and to determine its effectiveness in discriminating between persons who live in the community and persons who are institutionalized.

Method. Forty-one persons with schizophrenia living in the community and 17 persons with schizophrenia living in a long-term psychiatric hospital were assessed with the ACL-90 and the Life Skills Profile (LSP). Scores on the two measures were compared, as was the effectiveness of the two measures in discriminating between the participant groups.

Results. The ACL-90 scores correlated moderately with the LSP total r (56) = .54, p < .01, and Self-Care Subscale, r (56) = .53, p < .01. Only the Nonturbulence subscale of the LSP discriminated between the community and institutionalized participant groups. The behavior of the participants living in the community was less turbulent than that of the participants who were institutionalized, F(1,54) = 15.24, p < .001.

Conclusion. Although the moderate correlations between the ACL-90 and the LSP measures support the ACL as a measure of adaptive functioning and reflect its theoretical perspective, additional information is needed to predict the community functioning and support needs of persons with schizophrenia.
The Miller Assessment for Preschoolers: Construct Validity and Clinical Use With Children With Developmental Disabilities
Authors: Daniels Linda E.
Published: April 2012

Objectives. This replication study examined the construct validity of the Miller Assessment for Preschoolers (MAP) for clinical use with children with developmental delays.

Methods. The MAP was administered to 132 children with known or suspected developmental delays who had been referred to one of four child development center programs in British Columbia, Canada. On the basis of physician or team diagnosis, participants were assigned either to one of four groups identified in an earlier pilot—study-speech-language problems, motor output problems, speech-language and motor output problems, developmental delay-neurological diagnosis (Daniels & Bressler, 1990)—or to a no-diagnosis group or a prenatal drug exposure (neonatal abstinence) group. The MAP total score, five index scores and nine behavior during testing observations for this sample were examined with analysis of variance procedures.

Results. Significant between-group differences were identified with the total score and the five index scores, but not on the behavior during testing variables. The MAP score patterns that emerged for this sample were similar to those of a previous pilot study for comparable diagnostic groups.

Conclusions. The findings support the validity of using the MAP for children with moderate to severe developmental delays. Discrete as well as more generalized developmental delay problems were differentiated by MAP score patterns.
Use of Aides in Occupational Therapy Practice
Authors: Russell Kyle V. , Kanny Elizabeth M.
Published: April 2012

Objectives. This study examined the use of aides in occupational therapy practice, the supervision and training of aides, and practitioners’ attitudes toward the use of aides.

Method. A questionnaire was mailed to a systematically selected sample of 510 occupational therapists and occupational therapy assistants. The response rate was 74%.

Results. The use of occupational therapy aides is prevalent in a variety of settings. Forty percent of respondents reported that they currently work with aides, whereas 23 % reported that they have never worked with aides. Occupational therapy aides perform a variety of tasks and receive various levels and amounts of supervision and training. Of those respondents who delegated specific skilled tasks to aides, 76% reported daily contact for purposes of supervision and training. Nineteen percent who currently work or have worked with aides reported being in a situation where an ethical issue arose related to aide use.

Conclusion. On the basis of the data, it is suggested that occupational therapy practitioners would benefit from taking a proactive role in determining how aides can be used to maximize service delivery while maintaining quality services. There also appear to be ethical concerns related to appropriate delegation of tasks to aides and to their supervision and training.
Clinical Reasoning Case Studies as Teaching Tools
Authors: Neistadt Maureen E. , Wight Jennifer , Mulligan Shelley E.
Published: April 2012

Objective. Students are taught how to apply clinical reasoning methods through a variety of teaching methods, including the use of case studies. Various types of case studies have been described in the literature: paper cases, videotape cases, simulated client cases, and real client cases. This study examined the effectiveness of a new type of paper case study—the clinical reasoning case study—in teaching the clinical reasoning process to occupational therapy students.

Method. Four seniors in an undergraduate occupational therapy program completed intervention plans in response to both traditional medical model and clinical reasoning paper case studies. Qualitative methods were used to analyze intervention plans and videotaped discussion about this learning experience.

Results. Themes discovered in the data sources suggest that compared with traditional case studies, the clinical reasoning case studies increased the quality of participants’ intervention plans, participants’ confidence levels about their plans, and participants’ understanding of the clinical reasoning process. Participants also reported preferring clinical reasoning case studies over traditional paper case studies.

Conclusion. The clinical reasoning case studies are effective teaching tools because they provide students with a holistic picture of the client and his or her occupational therapy treatment. In addition, these case studies model the clinical reasoning process by organizing client information according to the types of clinical reasoning that would be used to gather that information. Occupational therapy educators may find this type of paper case study useful in introducing students to the intervention planning process.
Eliciting Functional Extension in Prone Through the Use of a Game
Authors: Sakemiller Lisa M. , Nelson David L.
Published: April 2012

Objective. Although occupationally embedded exercise is becoming a recognized topic in occupational therapy research, study of this phenomenon in children has been limited. The present study examined whether play elicits therapeutic patterns of movement through the use of two ABA single-case experiments. It was predicted that in two children with hypotonic cerebral palsy, the addition of a favorite game to the occupational form, or treatment environment, would increase functional vertical neck and back extension.

Method. Each subject was positioned in prone on a wedge. During the A phases, each was given verbal directions to hold her head up. During the B phase, a favorite game was introduced. It was predicted that each subject would extend her back and neck in a functional way in order to manipulate and observe the game. The dependent variables were the mean range of neck extension and the mean range of back extension, which were measured by a videotaped, two-dimensional kinematic analysis.

Results. The addition of a favorite game to the occupational form improved vertical neck and back extension while discouraging nonfunctional neck hyperextension and fixing postures in both children.

Conclusion. Embedding exercise within a play occupation enhanced the prone extension of two children with hypotonic cerebral palsy.
Maternal Endocrine Activation During Pregnancy Alters Neurobehavioral State in Primate Infants
Authors: Roughton Elizabeth C. , Schneider Mary L. , Bromley Lyn J. , Coe Christopher L.
Published: April 2012

Objectives. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether maternal endocrine activation during pregnancy would affect the neurobehavioral state of primate offspring in a manner similar to that observed in human infants from pregnancies involving maternal substance abuse or maternal stress.

Method. Twenty-two rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta) infants were derived from females administered either adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH), which increased the mother’s endocrine activity, or saline solutions for 14 consecutive days during mid-pregnancy. On days 15 and 30 postpartum, infants underwent brief separations from their mothers and were Videotaped for later evaluation of neurobehavioral state.

Results. Infants from mothers administered ACTH spent significantly more time in a drowsy state than did controls (p < .04), and the increased drowsiness tended to be most pronounced during the post separation period, when acute stress was highest. In contrast, controls remained in a more active alert state (p < .03), presumably searching for their mother, a species-typical adaptive response to maternal separation. Female infants spent more time in distressed state than did males on day 15, and the proportion of time in distressed state decreased in all infants after administration of. 2 ml of 24% sucrose solution.

Conclusion. The results demonstrate that neurobehavioral state alterations are found in infants from mothers with increased endocrine activity during pregnancy. Neurobehavioral state disorganization can have an adverse impact on the human infant’s concurrent and subsequent occupational performance. These findings establish the usefulness of the nonhuman primate model for advancing knowledge on early contributions to the development of human infant occupational behavior.
The Relationship of Cumulative Motor Asymmetries to Scoliosis in Rett Syndrome
Authors: McClure Marjorie K. , Battaglia Carmela , McClure Richard J.
Published: April 2012

Objectives. Interrelationships between Rett syndrome scoliosis and symmetric and asymmetric motor pull, ambulation, and advancement of age were investigated in order to provide a treatment rationale for slowing the progression of scoliosis.

Method. Questionnaires (N =262) completed by International Rett Syndrome Association families were analyzed with logistic regression, odds ratio, Kruskal-Wallis one-way, and Fisher's exact test analyses.

Results. Rett syndrome scoliosis was found to be significantly related to orthopedic risk factors of asymmetric movements and positions (odds ratio =4.5, p <.001). The odds ratio for asymmetric upper body positioning (4.4), nonambulation (3.1), and age advancement (14.1) indicated that each was a significant predictor of scoliosis by logistic regression analysis. Univariate Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis identified a significant relationship between scoliosis and asymmetric higher shoulder positioning (p < .001) and bodyside movements (p =.03). Hemisyndrome aspects of Rett syndrome were identified as the increased prevalence of symptoms in either right or left bodyside.

Conclusion. A significant relationship was found between the prevalence of Rett syndrome scoliosis and orthopedic risk factors. These findings suggest a treatment approach for Rett syndrome scoliosis that focuses on balancing bilateral muscular pull.
Use of a Computer Simulator for Training Children With Disabilities in the Operation of a Powered Wheelchair
Authors: Hasdai Aya , Jessel Adam S. , Weiss Patrice L.
Published: April 2012

Objective. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the ability of a basic driving simulator program to evaluate and train children with disabilities in their ability to operate a powered wheelchair.

Method. With a rating scale of skills considered essential for safe and efficient wheelchair operation, 22 children 7 to 22 years of age with either progressive muscular dystrophy or cerebral palsy were evaluated in their ability to drive a powered wheelchair through a driving course. They were divided into two groups: one without prior experience driving a powered wheelchair and the other with experience. After the driving assessment with an actual powered wheelchair, the inexperienced drivers were trained on a joystick-controlled computer game in which they navigated through labyrinths similar in layout to their own school environment. A test maze was administered before and after this training. Both groups were then evaluated on their ability to drive a powered wheelchair through the driving course.

Results. The inexperienced drivers significantly increased their simulator scores over the training period. Their wheelchair driving performance was significantly better after the simulator training, although their performance remained poorer than that of the experienced drivers.

Conclusion. A simulator program can assist in the development and evaluation of the skills required to operate a powered wheelchair.
Occupation-Centered Assessment of Children
Authors: Coster Wendy
Published: April 2012

The past 5 years have seen increasing calls to reexamine our assessment and intervention practices to ensure that they reflect the profession’s basic focus on occupation. Although a number of noteworthy efforts in this direction have been presented for adult practice areas, implementation of occupation-centered assessment in pediatrics has been hampered by the Lack of a consistent frame work to guide this process.

This article will present an adaptation of the functional assessment model proposed by Trombly (1993) designed to better reflect the unique needs and situations of children. It is a multilevel model that examines the pattern of a chiLd’s occupations in a particular environment as well as the performance of important tasks and activities that are part of these occupations. It is proposed that this model can serve as an organizing framework for an occupation-centered assessment process by helping to identify the critical questions that need to be addressed at each level of analysis and the kinds of members that might be used to obtain relevant information. The newly completed School Function Assessment will be used to illustrate application of the framework to examine occupational performance of children in elementary school.
Meaning and Misunderstanding in Occupational Forms: A Study of Therapeutic Goal Setting
Authors: Kielhofner Gary , Barrett Laura
Published: April 2012

Objective. This study examined occupational therapists’ use of the occupational form of goal setting as therapy and its impact on clients.

Method. The study method was qualitative, using participant observation and interviewing as the main source of data.

Results. The findings illustrated that therapists work both to give substance to the occupational form and to create the context of an implied narrative that imbues it with particular meanings. Simultaneously, clients’ experience of meaning is influenced by a personal volitional narrative. When the two narratives do not coincide, therapists’ efforts to maintain the occupational form intensify as they encourage clients toward attitudes and performances that do not resonate with the clients’ experience of reality.

Conclusion. The findings underscore the importance of recognizing that occupational forms are embedded in social processes and perspectives that inevitably come into play when occupational forms are used as therapy.
Occupation: The Keystone of a Curriculum for a Self-Defined Profession
Authors: Yerxa Elizabeth J.
Published: April 2012

The idea of occupation is proposed as the basis for constructing a curricular renaissance for occupational therapy in preparation for a new millennium. Implementing an occupation-centered curriculum could create a more integrated profession in which practice, ideas, scholarship, and education nurture and support one another, increasing the autonomy of both the occupational therapy profession and recipients of its services. A practice-oriented rationale for curricular design includes explication of the idea of occupation, a view of the person as an occupational being embedded in that concept, and the thought process of occupational therapy. Recommendations are provided to create an integrated curriculum that will contribute to future-oriented practice and a self-defined profession.
Uniting Practice and Theory in an Occupational Framework
Authors: Fisher Anne G.
Published: April 2012

The term occupation conveys the powerful essence of our profession—enabling people to seize, take possession of, or occupy the spaces, time, and roles of their lives. Occupation is activity that is both purposeful and meaningful to the person who engages in it. Our uniqueness lies in our use of occupation as a therapeutic agent, but our unique focus on occupation is not always apparent in practice. Four global groups of activities that occupational therapy practitioners use in practice are described—exercise, contrived occupation, therapeutic occupation, and adaptive occupation. Therapeutic occupation and adaptive occupation are proposed as the legitimate activities of occupational therapy. The Occupational Therapy Intervention Process Model is then presented. This model stresses a top-down approach to evaluation and provides a framework for implementing adaptive occupation for purposes of compensation as well as therapeutic occupation for purposes of remediation.
Communicating With Clients About Treatment Outcomes: The Use of Meta-Analytic Evidence in Collaborative Treatment Planning
Authors: Tickle-Degnen Linda
Published: April 2012

The purpose of this article is to describe how therapists can use information from the research literature, specifically from meta-analyses, to inform clients and their fami1y members about probable outcomes of participating, or not participating, in treatment. Meta-analyses are particularly useful to clinicians because they summarize findings from a large number of outcome studies in a rigorous, comprehensive, and concise format. The quantitative presentation of meta-analyses may be daunting to those who are not familiar with meta-analytic procedures and statistics. Therefore, this article describes a simple method for making clinically relevant interpretations of meta-analytic results. Furthermore, specific examples that are based on actual meta-analyses are given as models for communicating with clients and their family members about treatment outcomes in order to facilitate collaboration during treatment planning.
Development of a Measure of Adolescent Leisure Interests
Authors: Henry Alexis D.
Published: April 2012

Objective. Two studies examined the internal consistency and test-retest reliability of the Adolescent Leisure Interest Profile (ALIP), an 86-item measure of adolescent leisure activity interest, leisure participation, and feelings about leisure. In addition, leisure activity interests and participation f adolescents with and without disabilities were described, and the ability of the ALIP to discriminate among four groups of adolescents was examined.

Method. After preliminary item development, two separate reliability studies of the ALIP were conducted. The ALIP was administered twice to 88 adolescents with psychiatric, learning, and physical disabilities and to 28 adolescents without disabilities. In both studies, the second administration took place from 7 days to 14 days after the first. In addition, data from the first administration in both reliability studies were combined to examine the ability of the ALIP to discriminate among adolescents with and without disabilities.

Results. Using Cronbach’s alpha to estimate internal consistency and Pearson product-moment correlations to examine test-retest reliability, acceptable levels of reliability for total scores derived from the ALIP were found in both studies. Virtually all test-retest reliability coefficients for the six total scores exceeded. 60 for all participants except those with learning disabilities. Internal consistency estimates for a total score of overall level of interest in the activities exceeded .90 in both studies. Although there were few differences among the four study groups in terms of activity leisure interests or participation, there was some evidence that total scores on the ALIP can discriminate among adolescents with and without disabilities.

Conclusion. The ALIP appears to have good reliability and may be useful as a clinical and research tool.
Parents’ Report of Sensory Responsiveness and Temperament in Preterm Infants
Authors: Case-Smith Jane , Butcher Linda , Reed Diana
Published: April 2012

Objectives. Although most infants born prematurely do not have major developmental problems, those with perinatal medical problems and lengthy stays in the neonatal intensive care unit are at risk for sensory modulation problems and developmental sequelae. This study compared sensory responsiveness in preterm and full-term infants and examined the relationship of sensory responsiveness to temperament and developmental function.

Method. Caregivers of infants with (n = 45) and without (n = 22) prematurity were asked to complete the Sensory Rating Scale. The preterm infants were also evaluated with the Bayley Scales of Infant Development, Second Edition (BSID-II).

Results. The preterm infants exhibited more frequent behaviors indicating tactile defensiveness and difficult temperament than did the full-term infants. When specific items were examined, the preterm infants displayed sensory-seeking behaviors and high activity levels. As measured by caregivers report, sensory responsiveness was significantly related to temperament. It was not related to BSID-II Mental and Psychomotor scale scores.

Conclusion. This study supports the findings of others that preterm infants have mild problems in sensory responsiveness and temperament. Correlational results do not support a definitive relationship between parents reports of their infants sensory responsiveness and developmental function.
Physiological and Perceptual Responses During Household Activities Performed by Healthy Women
Authors: Andrew Mavis , Bhambhani Yagesh , Wessel Jean
Published: April 2012

Objective. The purpose of this study was to describe the physiological and perceptual responses during two physically demanding household tasks: cleaning the bathroom and vacuuming the living room. It also examined the relationship between predicted aerobic fitness and the physiological responses during the two tasks.

Method. Seventeen healthy women between 30 and 50 years of age volunteered as participants. They were interviewed to gather demographic information required for prediction of aerobic fitness and observed while performing each task for 17 min to 20 min in their own home.

Results. The heart rate, an index of circulatory strain, varied considerably among the participants and was moderately high during both tasks. Vacuuming the living room had a higher level of circulatory strain and perceived exertion than cleaning the bathroom. An inverse relationship existed between the predicted aerobic fitness and heart rate responses during the two tasks.

Conclusion. Routine household tasks result in a significant circulatory strain in healthy women. Persons with high levels of aerobic fitness experience a lower degree of circulatory strain.
The Ramifications of Regulatory Reform
Authors: Moyers Penelope A.
Published: April 2012

This article examines the regulatory reform proposals for the health care workforce recently proposed by politicians and members of the Pew Health Professions Commission. These proposals attempt to address issues related to state practice acts, competence, advanced practice, “boundaryless” practice, the disciplinary process, consumerism, and umbrella legislation. Questions are presented for each issue to guide practitioners when deliberating about possible actions professional organizations can take in proposing legislation at the state level Various external forces shape each issue and lead to the need to seek such regulatory reform as improving disciplinary processes and activity, assessing competence beyond the entry level, and increasing involvement of consumers. However, there are risks associated with any proposed regulatory reform, particularly if one realizes the potential financial costs associated with competency assessment and advanced-practice regulation. We must also carefully examine any reform proposals that advocate title protection and the licensing of invasive procedures in place of licensing professionals. The fact remains that the impact on quality of care and long-term cost-effectiveness from the unrestricted use of less qualified professionals and unlicensed aide-level personnel to provide skilled services has not been adequately determined.
The Competent Scholar
Authors: Mosey Anne Cronin
Published: April 2012

Scholars in occupational therapy are responsible for ensuring that the profession’s body of knowledge is so formulated that it provides the foundation for carrying out the work of the profession effectively, compassionately, and ethically. This article delineates the knowledge, skills, and typical personal attributes of competent scholars. Some suggestions are offered about how the occupational therapy profession might increase its number of competent scholars.
Alleviating Gender Role Strain in Adult Men With Traumatic Brain Injury: An Evaluation of a Set of Guidelines for Occupational Therapy
Authors: Gutman Sharon A.
Published: April 2012

Objective. A set of guidelines to assist men with traumatic brain injury (TBI) to alleviate gender role strain was assessed to determine its effectiveness and acceptability to participants.

Method. Four adult male participants with TBI received the intervention (the set of guidelines) for 4 months. The intervention consisted of rebuilding self-identified gendered social roles and activities. Focused interviews and participant observation were used to determine whether gender role strain changed after intervention.

Results. The participants reported that the intervention enabled them to (a) enhance their gender role satisfaction through newly rebuilt roles and activities, (b) attain certain long-held personal goals, (c) feel more like members of society, (d) perceive a greater congruency between their internal self-images and external postinjury roles, (e) learn more about personal skills and values as men, (f) feel more comfortable using help-seeking behaviors, (g) feel a sense of shared experience and affinity, (h) feel more understood and accepted, and (i) contribute to others through community member roles.

Discussion. The set of guidelines for alleviating gender role strain was effective in assisting these participants to enhance their gender role satisfaction through rebuilding desired male-gendered social roles and activities. Dating, courtship, extended family member, community member, friend, and mentor–protege roles, lost as a result of TBI, were rebuilt through gender-neutral activities that facilitated a sense of volitional control, competency, and normalcy. Nonetheless, the men continued to lack desired rites of passage leading from male adolescence to adulthood.
Teaching Portfolios: An Effective Strategy for Faculty Development in Occupational Therapy
Authors: Zubizarreta John
Published: April 2012

The special challenge of the occupational therapy practitioner embracing the role of faculty member is discovering a formative process of continual improvement that will also serve as an authentic assessment of teaching and learning within the particular disciplinary boundaries of occupational therapy. Although other means achieve such complex aims, the teaching portfolio is a powerful tool for fostering reflective practice and for creating an ongoing record of substantial evidence. A teaching portfolio is an evidence-based, written document in which a faculty member, working in collaboration with a mentor, concisely organizes selective details of teaching accomplishment and effort and uses such information to document his or her teaching enterprise. More importantly, the faculty member uses the information for reflective analysis, leading to improvement of teaching and student learning. The emphasis on reflection, analysis, evidence, and mentoring suggests that the teaching portfolio can set the stage for meaningful collaboration in a system of evaluation that is based appropriately on recorded evidence of improvement and demonstrated positive outcomes of student learning.
Issues in Developing a Faculty Evaluation System
Authors: Arreola Raoul A.
Published: April 2012

The increasing demands for accountability in higher education are resulting in calls for important personnel decisions— such as promotion, tenure, pay, and continuation—to be based directly on the outcomes of systematic faculty evaluations. This article provides a step-by-step procedure for developing a fair and meaningful faculty evaluation system on which such personnel decisions can be based. The procedure systematically involves faculty and administrators in the design and development of a faculty evaluation program that reflects the unique values, priorities, and heritage of an institution. The resultant faculty evaluation system integrates data from students, peers, and administrators to provide meaningful evaluative information for both faculty use in self-improvement efforts and administrative use in making personnel decisions that are based on a valid and reliable faculty performance record.
A Historical Cross-Disciplinary Perspective on the Professional Doctorate in Occupational Therapy
Authors: Pierce Doris , Peyton Claudia
Published: April 2012

Clinical doctorates are emerging in occupational therapy. By examining the development of clinical doctorates in medicine, dentistry, psychology, pharmacy, nursing, and physical therapy, implications can be drawn for the future of occupational therapy education. These histories offer us a sense of the distinct purpose and curricular structure of the professional doctorate, its successes and problems, its general sequence of unfolding, the political dynamics surrounding it, and the potential it holds for supporting the profession’s capacity for service to patients.
Discharge Planning in Mental Health: The Relevance of Cognition to Community Living
Authors: McAnanama Edward P. , Rogosin-Rose Marci L. , Scott Elizabeth A. , Joffe Russell T. , Kelner Merrijoy
Published: April 2012

Objective. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between cognitive disability and performance of daily living skills and stability of cognitive level after discharge in a sample of adult psychiatric inpatients (N = 40).

Method. The Allen Cognitive Level Test-90 (ACL-90) was administered at time of discharge (Time I) and at 21 days to 28 days after discharge (Time II). The self-report version of the revised Routine Task Inventory (RTI-2) was also administered at Time II.

Results. No significant correlation was found between the ACL-90 at Time I and the RTI-2 scores; however, significant correlations were found between the ACL-90 scores at both times and between the ACL-90 score at Time II and the RTI-2 scores.

Conclusion. The findings suggest that cognitive level remains relatively stable over a 1-month period in the postacute stage of a psychiatric illness. Cognitive level and performance of daily living skills are related, but the relationship is sensitive to time. Implications for occupational therapy assessment include recognizing the temporal constraints of functional assessments and refining instruments to be more sensitive to performance of familiar tasks, taking into consideration client adaptation to exigencies.
The Effect of Context on Skill Acquisition and Transfer
Authors: Ma Hui-ing , Trombly Catherine A. , Robinson-Podolski Carolyn
Published: April 2012

Objective. A major concern of occupational therapy is the identification of context characteristics that optimize performance. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of context on skill acquisition and transfer.

Method. Forty college students without disabilities (12 men, 28 women) were randomly assigned to the task of learning to use chopsticks in either a natural or a simulated context. Each participant practiced 60 trials in an acquisition phase on 1 day and was tested on a transfer task 24 hr after the acquisition phase. Their performances in the acquisition and transfer phases were measured with the variables of success rate and reaching kinematics.

Results. The natural context elicited significantly larger improvement of success rate in the acquisition phase and a significantly higher success rate in the transfer phase than the simulated context. No major difference was found in kinematic variables between the two contexts.

Conclusion. These results suggested the use of natural contexts to facilitate the outcome of motor skill learning.
The Effect of Keeping an End-Product on Intrinsic Motivation
Authors: Murphy Susan , Trombly Catherine , Tickle-Degnen Linda , Jacobs Karen
Published: April 2012

Objective. According to literature in occupational therapy and psychology, intrinsic motivation is thought to be enhanced if people can keep the end-product of an activity. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of keeping an end-product on intrinsic motivation.

Method. Fifty participants chose one of four activities (painting a ceramic vase, decorating cookies, stringing beads for a necklace, creating stationery) and performed two conditions (keep, no-keep) in counterbalanced order. Participants were timed in each condition and, after each condition, ranked their self-determination and competence, which are psychological needs underlying intrinsic motivation. Participants were interviewed at the end of the study to examine their experiences.

Results. Participants worked significantly longer on a chosen activity when the end-product could be kept and rated themselves significantly more self-determined and competent after performing the keep condition. However, further analysis revealed that these results depended on the activity chosen.

Conclusion. The findings support that keeping an end-product can enhance performance of an activity. However, because results were not consistent across all activity choices, further research is needed to characterize the meaningfulness of particular activities.
Factors Influencing Compliance With Home Exercise Programs Among Patients With Upper-Extremity Impairment
Authors: Chen Chiung-Ying , Neufeld Peggy Strecker , Feely Christine A. , Skinner Celette Sugg
Published: April 2012

Objective. Patient cooperation and satisfaction with home exercise programs are important for successful outcomes of intervention. This study investigated factors from three models to predict increased compliance and satisfaction with home exercise programs: the Model of Human Occupation (MOHO), including the volition subsystem (interests), habituation subsystem (roles), and performance subsystem (reported physical capacity); the Health Belief Model (HBM), including perceived barriers, benefits, self-efficacy, and severity; and the Health Locus of Control (HLOC).

Method. Sixty-two outpatients at an orthopedic upper-extremity rehabilitation facility completed a battery of questionnaires and self-report instruments, including a health belief survey to assess HBM factors, the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control Scale, the Modified Activity Profile to assess the performance subsystem of the MOHO, a demographic questionnaire (including roles), a report of home exercise, and a satisfaction scale of their therapist’s treatment. Compliance was determined by comparing participants’ report of exercises performed to exercises specified on their medical chart.

Results. Stepwise regression identified two predictors of compliance: perceived self-efficacy and internal HLOC, R2 = .16.

Conclusion. Results supported the role of the MOHO’s volition subsystem, but roles and physical capacity—representing the habituation and performance subsystems of the MOHO—did not contribute significantly to the prediction of compliance.
How To Detect Effects: Statistical Power and Evidence-Based Practice in Occupational Therapy Research
Authors: Ottenbacher Kenneth J. , Maas Frikkie
Published: April 2012

The findings from 30 research investigations examining the effectiveness of occupational therapy interventions were reviewed and analyzed. The statistical conclusion validity was determined by computing post hoc power coefficients for the statistical hypothesis tests included in the examined studies. Data analysis revealed the median power values to detect small, medium, and large effect sizes were .09, .33, and .66, respectively. These results suggest a high probability of Type II errors in the sample of occupational therapy intervention research examined. In practical terms, this means the intervention produced a potentially useful treatment effect, but the effect was not detected as significant. Examples are provided that illustrate how low statistical power contributes to increases in Type II errors and inhibits the development of consensus through replication in the research literature. The presence of low-power studies with high rates of false negative findings prevents the establishment of guidelines for evidence-based practice and impedes the scientific progress of rehabilitation professions such as occupational therapy.
A Comparison of Two Computer Input Devices for Uppercase Letter Matching
Authors: Durfee Julie L. , Billingsley Felix E.
Published: April 2012

Objective. To determine whether the Touch Window or the mouse with an enlarged on-screen arrow was more effective or efficient for an on-screen letter-matching task completed by a boy 9 years of age with spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy and visual and cognitive deficits.

Method. A single-subject research design of 5 treatment phases, A1, B1, A2, B2, and A & B, was used. The total percentage of correct letter matches per treatment session, the total percentage correct per letter, and the amount of time needed to match 5 consecutive letters correctly were evaluated.

Results. The range and variability of letters correctly matched per session decreased and trends for correct letter matches accelerated when the participant used the mouse interface. Accuracy with matching 18 of 26 (69%) letters of the alphabet increased when selections were made with the mouse interface. The participant was faster when using the Touch Window to match 5 consecutive letters correctly; however, regardless of the interface device used, letter matching remained slow and tedious.

Conclusion. The mouse with an enlarged on-screen arrow and cursor was the more effective interface device with this child. Making a minor adjustment such as increasing the size of the on-screen arrow can make a common piece of equipment accessible to a person with disabilities.
The Relationship Between Playfulness and Coping in Preschool Children: A Pilot Study
Authors: Saunders Irene , Sayer Mary , Goodale Anne
Published: April 2012

Objective. Effective play and coping skills may be important determinants of children’s adaptive behavior. Play and coping have undergone extensive individual study; however, these two variables have not been explored in relationship to each other.

Method. The play behaviors of 19 randomly selected preschool children were rated by researchers using The Test of Playfulness. The children’s coping skills were rated by their teachers with the Coping Inventory.

Results. A positive, significant correlation was found between children’s level of playfulness and their coping skills. Overall, girls were rated as more playful than boys and scored higher in coping skills. Younger children (36–47 months of age) were rated as better players and copers than older children (47–57 months of age).

Conclusion. This pilot study supports occupational therapy intervention in children’s play environments and playful interactions as a way of influencing their adaptability in all life skills.
A Child’s Occupational Performance: Considerations of Sensory Processing and Family Context
Authors: Dunbar Sandra Barker
Published: April 2012

Sensory processing problems can be serious enough to affect a child’s performance in school and home environments but often go undetected or are misunderstood. Poor sensory processing can affect a child’s ability to successfully perform daily activities because of its effect on cognitive, sensory, and motor development. The relationship of sensory processing to children’s occupational performance in their daily lives is an important consideration.