bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Views from the Inside, Part 2: What the Children with Arthritis Said, and the Experiences of Siblings, Mothers, Fathers and Grandparents
Authors: Britton Carrie A , Moore Ann 
Published: April 2015

This second article in a series of three presents some of the findings from a study involving 46 families of children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). The aim of the study overall was to describe and explore what life was like for families that included a child with JIA in the United Kingdom today. The study deployed a grounded theory approach, collecting different sorts of data over time in order to build up a picture of how these families lived with such a changeable long-term condition. In the first stage, data were collected using a self-completion questionnaire from 46 families, whose children attended a regular outpatient appointment at the paediatric rheumatology clinic. These data formed the contextual landscape to further in-depth data collected in stage two, from a cohesive group of nine families of girls selected from those who had already taken part in stage one. In stage two, the families were interviewed in their own homes, the children wrote diaries and the families recorded a video diary. All the data related to the respondents' recollections of events and their thoughts, feelings and perspectives: they formed the insiders' view of the experiences. This article presents the findings about the common themes that emerged from the data about children with JIA and their siblings, mothers, fathers and grandparents. It also discusses the key elements of the families' experiences and concludes with recommendations for health care practitioners. A distillation of the views of the majority of parents is provided in these two statements by different mothers: ‘Immobility and pain makes the joy of play, just armchair viewing’ and ‘It's a stolen childhood, really, isn't it?’
Pro-Motion: A Positive Way Forward for Clients with Severe and Enduring Mental Health Problems Living in the Community, Part 2
Authors: Heather Frances 
Published: April 2015

This is the second part of a two-part article describing a clinical therapeutic intervention, planned and organised by a senior occupational therapist and mental health nursing staff for clients with severe and enduring mental health problems living in the community. The six participants had a diagnosis of schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder or bipolar illness. Four were receiving the atypical antipsychotic medication, Clozapine. One was receiving Olanzapine, also atypical, and the last was receiving traditional antipsychotic medication, a phenothiazine. These clients were all receiving long-term support from the mental health rehabilitation unit. Participation was voluntary and each client gave written consent to participate and for the findings to be published later. Part 1 described the aims and objectives of the initial group, the selection criteria, and the content and process of the group over a period of 6 weeks. Part 2 describes a subsequent group held with the same clients for another 6 weeks. The outcome measures used in part 1 were the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) (Beck and Steer 1993) and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) (Speilberger 1983) together with verbal and written evaluation. In the second group, it was decided not to repeat the use of the BAI and STAI; instead, a more detailed qualitative questionnaire was issued. The reasons for this are explained. Part 2 goes on to describe the progress of the subsequent group and gives a brief overview of what has happened in further groups since. Client evaluations are illustrated by two case vignettes. The benefits to the other clients are highlighted, together with the possible drawbacks. There is discussion about the possible potential for such groups in the future.
A Survey of Current Occupational Therapy Practice for Parkinson's Disease in the United Kingdom
Authors: Deane K H O , Ellis-Hill C , Dekker K , Davies P , Clarke C E 
Published: April 2015

Little is known about the current character of occupational therapy practice for Parkinson's disease in the United Kingdom. The study aimed to document this in order to inform plans for a future multicentre randomised controlled trial. Two hundred and forty-two occupational therapists that treated people with Parkinson's disease were sent a questionnaire regarding demographics, service organisation and therapy content. One hundred and sixty-nine occupational therapists (70%) responded. They had worked with people with Parkinson's disease for a median of 6 years and personally treated a median of 15 people with Parkinson's disease annually. Most (86%) were at senior grade or above; 87% worked in the National Health Service and 12% in social services. Forty per cent worked in specialist Parkinson's disease clinics. Most (79%) felt that they needed more specialist postgraduate training. Occupational therapists are employed in both health and social care settings. The character of the occupational therapy is often determined by the location in which it is provided. Current occupational therapy appears to focus on functional activities rather than on the wider social and psychological aspects of occupation. Many occupational therapists felt that they needed more specialist postgraduate training to treat people with Parkinson's disease effectively.
Determining the Effectiveness of a Falls Prevention Programme to Enhance Quality of Life: An Occupational Therapy Perspective
Authors: Tolley Louise , Atwal Anita 
Published: April 2015

Falls are common in older people and become more frequent with advancing age. Falling in older people is associated with mortality, decreased mobility, premature nursing home admissions and a reduced ability to perform activities of daily living. In an attempt to reduce the incidence of falls, the National Service Framework for Older People has emphasised the need to develop falls services that provide support for older people who have fallen and use health promotion initiatives. While there is evidence to suggest that home modifications can reduce falls in older people, there has been little research to evaluate the effectiveness of occupational therapy falls prevention programmes. This paper reports the findings of an evaluation of a multifaceted falls prevention programme, which aimed to determine whether occupational therapy could enhance quality of life by educating people aged 65 years and over about the risk of falls. A pre-intervention and post-intervention non-standardised self-administered questionnaire was completed at week 1 and at week 14. Of the 172 older people attending the falls prevention programme, 78 (45%) completed both questionnaires. The findings from this study suggest that an occupational therapy falls prevention programme can reduce the impact of falls on older people by enhancing confidence to perform activities, which in turn can increase quality of life. However, further research is needed to determine the effectiveness of anxiety management techniques.
A Systematic Review of the Effects of Stress and Coping Strategies Used by Occupational Therapists Working in Mental Health Settings
Authors: Edwards Deborah , Burnard Philip 
Published: April 2015

A systematic review of the research literature published in the United Kingdom between 1966 and 2000 was carried out to determine the effectiveness of stress management interventions for occupational therapists working in mental health settings. Studies from other countries were examined as potential models of good practice. The review was limited to primary research papers that involved occupational therapists working in the mental health arenas, where the health outcomes measured were stressors, moderators and stress outcomes and where sufficient data were provided. The initial search identified 30 papers, of which 13 met the inclusion criteria. One study has been reported since the completion of the review and has been included in this article. All the papers focused on the stressors, moderators and stress outcomes. There was no paper that specifically investigated the effectiveness of stress management interventions for occupational therapists working in the mental health arena. The only literature available was aimed at the occupational therapy profession as a whole and was in the form of a number of recommendations at an organisational and an individual level. Methodological flaws, however, detracted from the rigour of many of the studies. The review demonstrated that a great deal is known about the sources of stress at work, about how to measure stress and about the impact of stress on a range of outcome indicators. What was found to be lacking was a translation of these results either into practice or into research that assessed the impact of interventions that attempted to moderate, minimise or eliminate some of these stressors.
Food Cent$: Educating Mothers with a Mental Illness about Nutrition
Authors: Bassett Hazel , Lloyd Chris , King Robert 
Published: April 2015

People with a mental illness can have deficits in a range of areas, including food skills. Mothers who have a mental illness and have residential care of their children are particularly vulnerable to experiencing food insecurity. The food skills programme known as Food Cent$ is a new way of spending money on food using the 10-plan, so that people can learn to balance their diet and their food budget. Occupational therapists in a mental health rehabilitation service incorporated the use of Food Cent$ into a parenting programme for mothers with a mental illness. A pilot study was conducted to identify whether the Food Cent$ programme influenced behaviours and attitudes towards food and food selection and preparation and reduced grocery expenditure. The participants were six mothers with a mental illness who had children under 5 years of age in their care. A focus group was conducted to gain insight into the experiences of mothers who had attended the programme. Supermarket receipts were collected before and after the project to determine changes in dietary practices. The results indicated that attending Food Cent$ contributed to an improvement in dietary intake, food selection and preparation, and grocery expenditure. Further research is required into the effectiveness of this programme with other target groups likely to experience food insecurity.
Doing Systematic Reviews in an Occupational Therapy Department
Authors: Massy-Westropp Nicola , Masters Margot 
Published: April 2015

The occupational therapy department of a teaching hospital wanted to review the evidence for the treatments that they used regularly. A temporary occupational therapist project officer was appointed to introduce the systematic review process to the staff. This report describes the process of performing the systematic reviews. The occupational therapists gained skills in forming an evidence-seeking question, identifying sources of bias within studies and deciding whether the findings of the study were applicable to their clients. They found it most difficult to understand research design, statistical principles and how to synthesise the findings. Suggestions are made for other departments that wish to implement the systematic review process.
‘Named in the Lexicon’: Meanings Ascribed to Occupation in Personal and Professional Life Spaces
Authors: Denshire Sally , Mullavey-O'Byrne Colleen 
Published: April 2015

The research undertaken by the primary author into the phenomenon of reflection in occupational therapy focused on the relation of personal and professional life spaces. A combination of lexicography-based analysis and metaphor analysis was used to explicate the autobiographical knowing within her published writings. The main method reported in this paper is a lexicography-based analysis derived from the style of dictionary making based on historical principles, as epitomised by the Oxford English Dictionary (OED). A broader rather than a narrower meaning was found to be ascribed to the key word ‘occupation’ in the literature of occupational therapy and, more recently, in that of occupational science. However, the present OED entry for ‘occupation’ does not adequately track these changes in meaning. The combination of language-based methods used offers a new strategy for exploring implicit knowledge in the human-related professions. By integrating personal and professional life through the concept of occupation, the research has produced a deeper understanding of reflective practice. It contributes to the literature that suggests that congruent use of the term ‘occupation’; (and related terms) may interpret a person's life experiences in a more coherent way than the use of language with clinical connotations. Future research into language for practice is proposed.
Fool's Gold: Examining the Use of Gold Standards in the Production of Research Evidence
Authors: Hyde Paula 
Published: April 2015

Research designs, and the methods that they dictate, normally arise from the nature of the questions being asked. However, in most medical research, a hierarchy of evidence is in common use that influences choice in favour of research designs that include methods with a higher ranking. The acceptance of superior research methods consequently limits the types of question that can be asked. The randomised controlled trial (RCT) has enjoyed a long reign as the gold standard in health research methodology. The RCT is used here as a case example of how hierarchies of research methods can distort the production of evidence relating to health care. The acceptance of the RCT as a superior method in the hierarchy of evidence production has been promoted by claims that RCTs offer reliability, objectivity and levels of certainty about treatment effectiveness (inferred through statistical significances) that other methods do not. These statistical significances depend upon mathematical probabilities that imply a level of uncertainty. Mathematical significance has been confused with the substantive or practical importance of research results. The importance of research findings cannot be determined by hierarchies, nor by statistical techniques alone; other types of method can provide findings that are equally valid, true or useful to evidence production in occupational therapy.
Occupational Therapy in Nursing and Residential Care Settings: A Description of a Randomised Controlled Trial Intervention
Authors: Sackley Catherine M , Atkinson Jo Copley , Walker Marion F 
Published: April 2015

This article describes an occupational therapy intervention for stroke that was provided as part of a randomised controlled trial in order to evaluate the effects of the intervention of an occupational therapist in a nursing and residential home setting. The intervention was developed and described to enable it to be reproduced in further evaluations, as recommended by the Medical Research Council's guidelines for clinical trials. Initially, the published evidence was reviewed and advice was sought to identify the process, content and recording methods needed to treat clients in a care home setting. This resulted in a clearly defined, evidence-based treatment package and a predetermined recording system. Sixty residents received occupational therapy: the mean number of visits was 8.5 and the mean total time per participant was 4.7 hours. During 508 visits, the majority of time was spent on activities of daily living training and mobility practice (40%), followed by assessment and goal setting (31%), communication with residents, staff, relatives and other agencies (15%), adaptive equipment (10%) and the treatment of impairments (4%). It is possible to develop evidence-based targeted occupational therapy interventions to be used in the context of a controlled clinical trial. Further work is required to examine the validity of the recording methods and the reproducibility of the intervention.
Reporting Patients' Work Abilities: How the Use of Standardised Work Assessments Improved Clinical Practice in Fife
Authors: Jackson Margaret , Harkess Janet , Ellis John 
Published: April 2015

Reporting patients' work abilities accurately is essential in the rehabilitation process. Work assessment and rehabilitation require occupational therapists to be skilled in the use of valid and reliable assessment tools to support clinical reasoning. The aim of this study was to ascertain if the use of two standardised work assessments (SWAs) improved the quality of the information recorded about patients' work abilities. Case note review using a local standard and audit tool was carried out before (n = 42) and after (n = 41) use of the Valpar Component Work Samples and the Worker Role Interview. Anecdotal evidence was also collected. The results demonstrated an improvement in the reporting of most of the areas matched against the standard and the anecdotal evidence was supportive of the use of SWAs. It was concluded that the use of SWAs by skilled occupational therapists improved the reporting of patients' work abilities.
Attachment Styles and Factors affecting Career Choice of Occupational Therapy Students
Authors: Roney Anita , Meredith Pamela , Strong Jenny 
Published: April 2015

Adult attachment theory, a theory of personality, has been connected to a range of factors that may contribute to one's professional choice, job satisfaction and performance. To date, the implications of this theory for the profession of occupational therapy have not been investigated. This study examined the adult attachment styles of 124 first and fourth year occupational therapy students at The University of Queensland in relation to factors affecting career choice and satisfaction with career choice. The results showed that the majority of the participants had a secure attachment style, were people orientated and were satisfied with their choice of career. In accordance with adult attachment theory, the participants with a secure attachment style rated people-orientated factors as important when choosing occupational therapy as a career and were more satisfied with their choice of career than the participants with an insecure attachment style. The study suggests that adult attachment style might warrant consideration in light of recruitment and retention.
How Successful are We at Getting our Clients Back to Work? The Results of an Audit
Authors: Brewin Jane , Hazell Alexa 
Published: April 2015

Because of changes in clinical practice, it became evident within a rehabilitation unit that there was a need to try to address employment issues with clients in a coordinated multiagency manner. A project was therefore set up in 2000 to develop guidelines in order to assist clients in returning to work. This article describes a retrospective audit, which was carried out in this rehabilitation unit for adults aged 16–65 years who had either a neurological or a rheumatoid problem. The guidelines were used to record and collect data on clients who were receiving occupational therapy between March 2000 and May 2001 and had expressed a wish to look at employment issues. Information from occupational therapy notes and a follow-up phone call to one client were also used to collect data. The audit highlighted several areas where the process had not been successful. However, it did show that when a coordinated multiagency team is involved, a successful return to work can be achieved.
Description of a Substance Abuse Relapse Prevention Programme conducted by Occupational Therapy and Psychology Graduate Students in a United States Women's Prison
Authors: Tayar Shari Gail 
Published: April 2015

Prison inmates who have engaged in substance abuse often have decreased functioning in many areas of activities of daily living. This article describes a unique interdisciplinary substance abuse relapse prevention programme conducted by occupational therapy and psychology graduate students under faculty supervision in a northwestern rural United States women's prison. The psychology students taught the inmates the theoretical bases for the programme, trigger identification and coping skills, social support development and assertive communication. The occupational therapy students used activities to help the inmates to identify their values and interests, develop ideas and resources for leisure and jobs, structure and manage their time, practise assertiveness and identify strengths. Although programme effectiveness was not formally measured, it appeared to both the students and the faculty members that the inmates experienced personal growth and that the student therapists gained professional skills in working with another discipline and in leading groups.
Actual and Preferred Work Activities of Mental Health Occupational Therapists: Congruence or Discrepancy?
Authors: Lloyd Chris , King Robert , McKenna Kryss 
Published: April 2015

The reform of Australian mental health services has resulted in new models of care and changed work practices for all mental health professionals. Occupational therapists today are as likely to be working in multidisciplinary teams performing a range of generic clinical roles as they are to be working in specialist rehabilitation units. These kinds of changes have taken place in other countries, with anecdotal and some empirical evidence that the changes have resulted in concerns about loss of professional identity and roles. This study sought to identify the current work activities carried out by occupational therapists and to determine whether there was a discrepancy between their actual and desired work activities. It was expected that, overall, they would indicate a preference to do more specialist rehabilitation focused work and less generic case management work. A survey of 196 occupational therapists investigated their actual and preferred work activities in 55 specific roles across four broad categories (senior administration, specialist clinical, general clinical and community development). As expected, the participants indicated that they would prefer to be undertaking more specialist rehabilitation oriented work activities than they were actually doing. Contrary to expectations, they also wished to undertake more rather than less generic clinical work activities, to be more engaged in community development work and to take on more senior and administrative roles. They indicated a preference for less rather than more activity on only 5 of the 55 work roles examined. On examining a subset of 113 participants who reported that 50% or more of their time was spent in case management, there was greater evidence of resistance to generic clinical roles. It was therefore concluded that occupational therapists in Australia are seeking to deploy their specialist skills to a greater degree than the current practice environment permits. They have broadly accepted the generic roles required in multidisciplinary community case management, but those who are actually working in these roles are most likely to have reservations about this kind of work.