bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Evaluating Practice Education Models in Occupational Therapy: Comparing 1:1, 2:1 and 3:1 Placements
Authors: Martin Marion , Morris Jane , Moore Ann , Sadlo Gaynor , Crouch Victoria 
Published: April 2015

Practice education is an essential part of the education of health professionals, yet in spite of this there is an acknowledged shortage of placements. At the same time, educational research indicates that peer learning, and in particular problem-based learning, has advantages for students. Studies that have investigated models of placements where more than one student at a time share an educator have shown that this may bring benefits for both educators and students. This study was carried out with the aim of determining the impact of different models of practice placement (1:1, 2:1 and 3:1) on the quality of education for students and on the quality of the experience for educators, in both occupational therapy and physiotherapy courses at a university in the South of England. This article focuses on the occupational therapy component of the study. Six occupational therapy educators and 11 students took part, providing examples of all three models of placement. The findings indicated that while all three models provided both advantages and disadvantages for educators and students, the 2:1 model offered more opportunities for peer support and enhanced the quality of the educational experience through peer learning. In some settings, however, it is probably the case that only the 1:1 model is possible. The findings also suggest that the success of any placement model depends heavily on how well the placement has been planned.
Piecing Together the Jigsaw: How do Practice Educators define Occupational Therapy Student Competence?
Authors: Duke Lynsay 
Published: April 2015

This study addressed how practice educators define occupational therapy student competence. A qualitative approach was used to gain the beliefs and viewpoints of five occupational therapy practice educators working in neurological rehabilitation through semi-structured interviews and group discussion. Verified thematic analysis was used to structure and describe the information collected. The complexity of the concept of competence was highlighted by the participants, who felt that it was part of their professional responsibility to ascertain whether a student had achieved a sufficiently high level of competence to pass into the professional status. However, the participants found it difficult to articulate explicitly what it was that they searched for. Four main areas were highlighted - observable behaviour, clinical reasoning, continuing development and professional and personal attributes - but the importance of student self-awareness, risk assessment and reasoning skills over theoretical knowledge was identified as a major influencing factor on competence.
Interdisciplinary Collaborative Goal Planning in a Post-Acute Neurological Setting: A Qualitative Study
Authors: Conneeley Anne Louise 
Published: April 2015

The aim of this qualitative study was to explore the use of interdisciplinary collaborative goal planning from the perspective of patients, their relatives and professional staff. Eighteen patients and their relatives who had been involved in collaborative goal planning were interviewed individually after the patient was discharged from the ward of a neurological rehabilitation hospital. The members of the interdisciplinary team responsible for implementing the goal planning process were also interviewed. The findings showed that the majority of the patients and their relatives valued highly the opportunity to become actively involved in their care and discussed the impact of this on motivation, perceptions of control and freedom in decision making. The professional staff also identified benefits, which included giving clarification and direction to treatment and further opportunities for patient-centred practice. Challenges emerged as well, including the question of how to implement collaborative goal planning with people with severe language or cognitive impairment, those with poor insight or those in low awareness states. Further consideration of the issues raised is recommended as a means to promote patient-centred care.
Understanding the Effects of Problem-Based Learning on Practice: Findings from a Survey of Newly Qualified Occupational Therapists
Authors: Reeves Scott , Mann Lynn Summerfield , Caunce Maria , Beecraft Sue , Living Ruth , Conway Maggie 
Published: April 2015

This report presents the findings from a postal survey of five cohorts of graduates who successfully completed a 2-year accelerated problem-based postgraduate diploma in occupational therapy. The study aimed to elicit the graduates' views of how problem-based learning (PBL) had affected their professional practice 8 months after qualification. It was found that the majority of the graduates considered PBL to have equipped them well for their entry to clinical practice. Specifically, it was felt that PBL had made a positive contribution to their problem-solving and teamworking abilities and their clinical knowledge and skills. However, it was also found that some of the graduates were more sceptical about the effects of PBL. For this group, PBL was viewed as having had a limited effect on their abilities, knowledge and skills. The findings are discussed before conclusions and the implications for pre-qualification occupational therapy education are presented.
Participation in Occupations: Some Experiences of People with Parkinson's Disease
Authors: Benharoch Jude , Wiseman Tania 
Published: April 2015

Evidence suggests that people with Parkinson's disease can experience difficulties participating in occupations. This article describes a qualitative study that explored how seven people with Parkinson's disease perceived their participation in occupations. The analysis of the semi-structured interviews led to the identification of three themes: changes, addressing changes and perspectives on living with Parkinson's disease. Many findings supported the existing literature; for example, difficulties with self-care occupations and the desire to maintain normality. The new findings included the participants describing positive changes in their lives that were attributable to having Parkinson's disease and using occupations purposefully to enhance wellbeing. The results support the use of a client-centred approach to consider the implications of participation in occupations for people with Parkinson's disease, because this may encourage clients to use their own expert knowledge to enhance existing coping strategies. The recommendations for further research include an investigation as to whether the themes identified apply to a larger population and including people with Parkinson's disease in designing future research questions about the impact of occupational participation on wellbeing.
Occupational Therapists as Primary Health Promoters: Opportunities and Barriers
Authors: Scriven Angela , Atwal Anita 
Published: April 2015

Over the last two decades, there has been a growing international interest by some associations of occupational therapy and their respective members in the contribution that occupational therapists can make to the multidisciplinary field of health promotion. More recently, the College of Occupational Therapists in the United Kingdom has recommended that occupational therapists take a more proactive stance in the health promotion arena and has advocated the World Health Organisation's Ottawa Charter principles to inform this professional development. In this paper, a critical assessment is made of the opportunities for and the barriers to the adoption of a primary health promotion role by occupational therapists working in the United Kingdom and how the principles advocated in the charter might reflect a more distinctive occupational therapy approach to the promotion of health. It is argued that a paradigm shift would be required if the profession moved towards a primary health promotion agenda.
Improvement in Upper Limb Motor Performance following Stroke: The Use of Mental Practice
Authors: Bell Alison R , Murray Bridget J 
Published: April 2015

Mental practice is a technique that involves imagery and rehearsal of movement without movement actually occurring. This study considers the evidence that indicates whether mental practice is successful in improving upper limb motor performance after a stroke. The use of mental practice in the traditional fields of sport, music and dance is identified and a theoretical premise for its application in stroke rehabilitation is presented. Eight studies on the use of mental practice in the rehabilitation of motor performance following a stroke are critiqued. These studies suggest that mental practice improves upper limb motor ability and appears to be applicable to a range of participants, especially those with moderate impairment, although good cognitive and communication skills are required. The article suggests reasons that this relatively new approach should be considered by occupational therapists involved in stroke rehabilitation. The limited number of studies and small sample sizes are highlighted. Further research is recommended in order to identify people who will benefit from mental practice, to investigate the generalisation of results and to establish guidelines for the effective provision of mental practice in terms of length, format and content in stroke rehabilitation.
The Active Advice Pilot Project: Leisure Enhancement and Social Inclusion for People with Severe Mental Health Problems
Authors: Heasman David , Atwal Anita 
Published: April 2015

The social and occupational consequences of mental illness have a considerable impact on quality of life. In addition to high levels of unemployment, many users of mental health services experience significant barriers to satisfying leisure participation. The Active Advice project is a systematic client-centred approach to leisure enhancement for adults with severe mental health problems, which involves identifying latent interests, facilitating leisure participation and helping to bring together isolated individuals through a shared interest. This paper reports the findings from the pilot study, which suggest that adults with enduring mental health problems can participate successfully in leisure occupations and achieve greater social inclusion when individualised support is provided to enable the barriers to be overcome. However, it is essential that subsequent programmes devise strategies to maintain participants' initial enthusiasm and motivation since 53% of participants did not carry through their action plan.
Volunteerism as an Occupation and its Relationship to Health and Wellbeing
Authors: Black Wendy , Living Ruth 
Published: April 2015

Occupational therapy philosophy asserts a positive relationship between occupation and health and aims to promote and restore health through enabling occupation. This study aimed to explore volunteerism as an occupation and its possible relationship to health and wellbeing from an occupational science perspective and to consider how this knowledge might be used to inform occupational therapy practice. Qualitative and quantitative methods were used, with a sample of 109 volunteers. The qualitative data are presented here and comprise written responses to two open-ended questions. The first asked the volunteers about their motivations to volunteer (MTVs) and the second asked the volunteers to describe their personal experiences of volunteering (PEVs). These data were analysed to identify patterns of MTVs and themes relating to the costs and benefits of volunteering to health and wellbeing. The findings revealed a range of MTVs, both altruistic and egoistic, as well as many and varied benefits of volunteering, providing some support for a positive relationship between volunteerism and health and wellbeing. Volunteering appeared to exert its positive effects predominantly on aspects of mental health by providing opportunities to increase confidence and self-esteem, gain social support, replace lost roles and feel included in community life. The pattern of benefits seemed to reflect the volunteers' motivations, suggesting that benefits to health may be mediated by the MTV; this was consistent with the occupational therapy philosophy that occupations need to be meaningful and purposeful to hold therapeutic value. The article concludes that engaging in a volunteer role has many potential benefits to health and wellbeing, particularly to aspects of mental health. This may have implications for the occupational therapy profession. For occupational therapists working with clients experiencing mental health problems, there may be some therapeutic value in enabling their clients to engage in a volunteer role. Future research with occupational therapists working in this area could establish if volunteerism has been used as a therapeutic occupation and its outcomes, thereby informing occupational therapy practice.
Writing up Rigour: Representing and Evaluating Good Scholarship in Qualitative Research
Authors: Ballinger Claire 
Published: April 2015

Qualitative research is a mode of inquiry with which many occupational therapists engage and which some claim is particularly suited to researching the complexity and richness of occupational therapy practice. This paper, written as part of a research series in this journal, has a dual purpose: first, to encourage qualitative researchers to identify their own ontology and use recognised strategies for ensuring high quality work which are consistent with their own world-view of research and, secondly, to consider how best to represent those strategies within their written accounts of their research. Three researcher positions ranged along a continuum are proposed – realist, subtle realist and relativist – and alternative criteria for each of these positions are suggested. Occupational therapy and health examples are used to illuminate each of these traditions. It is hoped that the paper will assist qualitative researchers both to clarify their own position along the research continuum and remain coherent within it and to identify the key features relating to quality and rigour that they should consider including in papers submitted for publication.
Is Questionnaire-Based Screening Part of the Solution to Waiting Lists for Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder?
Authors: Green Dido , Bishop Tracie , Wilson Brenda N , Crawford Susan , Hooper Richard , Kaplan Bonnie , Baird Gillian 
Published: April 2015

This study was undertaken to determine whether questionnaire-based screening could be part of the solution to a long waiting list of referrals for occupational therapy assessment by identifying the requirement for clinical assessments. The performance of two questionnaires – the Developmental Coordination Disorder Questionnaire (DCDQ) completed by parents and the Checklist of the Movement Assessment Battery for Children (C-ABC) completed by teachers – was compared with a more traditional clinical assessment for the identification of DCD in children already referred to occupational therapy. It was found that the parent report was quite reliable in the identification of DCD if no other developmental problem was present. However, there was little benefit to using the teacher report to screen children. Several confounding variables, including an unequal proportion of children with DCD in the sample and the inclusion of children who were younger than the age range of the DCDQ, may have influenced how well the questionnaires performed. Although questionnaires cannot replace a full clinical assessment, the results showed that there may be some value in including the parent report in the identification of DCD.
Witnessing Spirituality in Practice
Authors: Beagan Brenda , Kumas-Tan Zofia 
Published: April 2015

In the midst of continuing debates about the role of spirituality in occupational therapy, this research asked how descriptions of the daily work of occupational therapists and pastoral care professionals indicate attention to spiritual concerns in similar and distinctive ways. Qualitative interview data revealed therapist commitment to holistic practice, accompanied by a deep respect for client values, desires and dreams, the individual meanings of occupations and the importance of relationships to effective therapy. All of these aspects of practice have been identified in the literature as relating to spirituality. The pastoral care professionals indicated similar understandings of the importance of holism, the centrality of meaning and the significance of relationships, but also suggested noteworthy differences. While the therapists appeared to focus on identifying meaning, the pastoral care professionals concentrated on the search for or creation of meaning; and while the therapists drew on relationship as a tool for effective therapy, the pastoral care professionals viewed relationship as a site for healing work. Pastoral care also extended the understanding of interrelatedness to include a community dimension. The findings suggest important distinctions between two professions that both situate spirituality at the centre of their practice. These distinctions may prove useful for clarifying the scope of occupational therapy practice in this domain.
Supporting Success in Diverse Student Populations
Authors: Watson Jo 
Published: April 2015

Government agendas seek to widen participation in university education. Reforms of the National Health Service incorporate a commitment to increase the number of occupational therapists being educated. As a result, the nature of recruitment is changing, with an increasing number of students commencing occupational therapy pre-registration programmes with non-traditional entry qualifications. In response to the apparent difficulty with meeting academic requirements experienced by some of these students, the School of Health Professions and Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of Southampton developed an innovative short course known as ‘Summer School’, aimed at easing the transition into higher education. The evaluation of participant feedback gathered through questionnaires at two points during their first year indicates the potential of the course for preparing students with non-traditional entry qualifications for study at undergraduate level.
Publication Practices of English Language Occupational Therapy Journals
Authors: Brown G Ted , Rodger Sylvia , Brown Anita 
Published: April 2015

The aim of this study was to determine the characteristics and publication practices of English language occupational therapy journals. An adapted version of the Survey of Editors Regarding Publishing Practices was posted to the editors of English language occupational therapy journals (n = 14) in September 2001. The response rate was 92.9% (n = 13). Journals were published on average 4.77 times per year and comprised 89% text and 10% advertising. The preferred average length of manuscripts was 20 pages using American Psychological Association format. The average acceptance rate of unsolicited manuscripts was 46.6%. All the journals were peer-reviewed publications and 80% were research oriented. The most frequently cited reasons for rejection of manuscripts were methodology problems, poorly developed idea, poorly written and data interpretation problems. The professional focus of published manuscripts was on research and the clinical foci were on paediatrics, gerontology and physical medicine. The study concludes that there are a variety of publishing opportunities available to occupational therapists. It is essential that prospective authors consult the journal guidelines for authors, including the types of manuscript accepted.
Uptake of Standardised Hand Assessments in Rheumatology: Why is It so Low?
Authors: Blenkiron E Lucy 
Published: April 2015

Occupational therapists are under increasing pressure to incorporate standardised assessments into clinical practice, but little evidence of the actual uptake has been published to date. This paper begins to address this knowledge gap by reporting the results of a United Kingdom survey of the uptake of standardised hand assessments by occupational therapists in hospital-based rheumatology services. A purpose-designed postal questionnaire was mailed to ‘The Senior Occupational Therapist in Rheumatology’ at every hospital in the United Kingdom where a consultant rheumatologist was known to practise, seeking information on participants' knowledge about, use of and attitudes towards standardised hand assessments. The overall response rate was 80% (160/200). The 118 respondents who returned completed questionnaires reported a very low uptake of standardised hand assessments, with fewer than 10% using measures of observed task performance. The reasons for preferring non-standardised instruments clustered under six themes: advantages of non-standardised measures, access, delivery of care, training, barriers and exceptions. The barriers to increasing the uptake of standardised hand assessments by occupational therapists working in rheumatology need to be addressed. Initiatives are recommended to assist clinicians in selecting suitable standardised hand assessments, but occupational therapists must also accept their individual responsibility for implementing standardised assessments.
Measuring Outcomes using the Australian Therapy Outcome Measures for Occupational Therapy (AusTOMs-OT): Data Description and Tool Sensitivity
Authors: Unsworth Carolyn A 
Published: April 2015

Although there is increasing demand for greater accountability from occupational therapists for the outcomes of their practice, there are few quick, simple and psychometrically sound tools available to measure these outcomes. This paper reports on the first data collection exercise using a new outcome measure, the Australian Therapy Outcome Measures for Occupational Therapy (AusTOMs-OT). The aims of this paper are to present the scales, describe the data set and examine whether the scales are sufficiently sensitive to detect change over time in client status. Data were collected with 466 clients at 12 metropolitan and rural health care facilities using the 12 AusTOM-OT scales, which rate the client in relation to the four domains of Impairment, Activity limitation, Participation restriction and Distress/wellbeing. The findings indicated that the most frequently used scales were Self-care, Upper limb use, Transfers and Functional walking and mobility, and that all scales were successful in demonstrating statistically significant client change over time. The AusTOMs-OT can be used to document client outcomes in relation to four important practice domains and thus be of value in research and quality assurance activities seeking to provide evidence that occupational therapy does make a difference to the lives of clients.
Variability in Response of Older People with Dementia to Both Snoezelen and Reminiscence
Authors: Baillon Sarah , van Diepen Erik , Prettyman Richard , Rooke Nan , Redman Julie , Campbell Rowena 
Published: April 2015

Snoezelen and reminiscence are interventions commonly used by occupational therapists in dementia care. Snoezelen is reported to have a positive effect on patients' mood and their behaviour, in particular on agitated behaviour. A study was designed to assess the effects of Snoezelen on agitated behaviour in dementia. Reminiscence therapy was selected as a suitable comparison intervention, which would enable the benefits of Snoezelen other than those attributable to receiving one-to-one attention from staff to be evaluated. There was found to be considerable variation in the direction and magnitude of change in individual participants' agitated behaviour and heart rate during and after the sessions. This article considers the possible explanations for these individual differences and the practical implications of this research.