Occupational Therapy

Pasando la mayor parte de las veces desapercibidas, aunque existen ya desde hace ya mucho tiempo, no es raro encontrar en los más diversos entornos asistenciales psiquiátricos, ciertas publicaciones, en formato de periódico, revista o fanzine, realizadas por las personas allí atendidas. Nacidas primero en los hospitales psiquiátricos, más recientemente dieron un paso fuera y ampliaron su difusión a otros entornos comunitarios, impresas primero en papel para, en la actualidad, aprovecharse también de las potencialidades y economía del formato digital a través de Internet. Pero, a pesar de su amplia difusión y utilización, parecería que su existencia queda relegada a una especie de subproducto ocupacional, que apenas ha merecido la atención de la literatura académica y especializada, incluso obviando que su existencia se remonta a un ya muy lejano primer tercio del S. XIX. Solo las más recientes corrientes historiográficas son las que han empezado a considerar dichas publicaciones como una importante fuente de información y documentación desde la perspectiva de los propios pacientes. Este tipo de boletines resultan, además, un reflejo práctico de las diferentes modas y tendencias asistenciales predominantes a lo largo de sus ya casi dos siglos de vida, con una evolución que es la que intentaremos esquematizar en esta presentación, resumiéndola en diferentes etapas con sus matices diferenciales entre sí, en cuanto a su presentación formal, contenidos y objetivos.

This paper expands the current concept of volition in the Model of Human Occupation. The present version views personal causation, values, and interests as traits that determine choices to engage in occupations. Through a detailed investigation of the life histories of two persons with psychiatric disorders, this paper illustrates how volition is embedded in a personal narrative. Two features of narratively organized volition are highlighted: (a) how narrative places decisions and actions within a plot, thus giving them meaning in the context of a whole life, and (b) how the personal narrative motivates the person by serving as a context for choosing and action. Thus, the paper illustrates how persons seek to narrate their lives and live their life narratives.

As atividades são instrumento privilegiado das ações dos terapeutas ocupacionais e
constituem o elemento orientador na construção complexa e contextualizada do processo terapêutico.
No entanto, diferentes formas de conceber e definir atividades convivem, atualmente, na produção
teórica na área, o que fica explicitado na variação em relação aos termos utilizados pelos terapeutas
ocupacionais para nomear sua ferramenta de trabalho e seu objeto de estudo. Este artigo apresenta
uma pesquisa bibliográfica desenhada para avaliar o estado da arte da produção científica dos
terapeutas ocupacionais brasileiros a respeito das atividades e ocupações, considerando o uso dos
termos, as concepções a eles vinculadas, suas definições, categorias e contexto e as diferentes
abordagens na Terapia Ocupacional brasileira contemporânea. O recorte inicial, cujos resultados
são aqui apresentados, delimitou artigos publicados em periódicos nacionais da área de 1990 a
2008. 206 artigos foram encontrados em cinco publicações nacionais na área e foi realizada análise
quantitativa deste material. Com a realização do levantamento bibliográfico e a análise dos dados
foi possível apontar tendências e interesses na produção dos terapeutas ocupacionais no Brasil,
mapear os termos mais utilizados, os domínios das atividades mais freqüentemente abordados e
sua articulação com as perspectivas teórico-metodológicas.

To determine whether the multi-modal web-based rehabilitation 'Move it to improve it' (Mitii) is more effective than wait list control (usual care) to improve occupational performance, upper limb function, and visual perception in children with acquired brain injury (ABI). Fifty-eight randomly allocated children (53% males; mean age 11y 11mo, SD 2y 6mo; Manual Abilities Classification Scale equivalent I=32, II=24, III=2; mean Full-scale IQ 75.8, SD 16.2) received either 20 weeks of Mitii (n=29) or usual care (n=29). Mitii comprised upper limb, cognitive, visual perception, and gross motor tasks, recommended for 30 minutes per day, 6 days per week, over 20 weeks. Outcomes were the Assessment of Motor and Process Skills (AMPS), Melbourne Assessment of Unilateral Upper Limb Function, Jebsen-Taylor Test of Hand Function, Test of Visual Perceptual Skills, Assisting Hand Assessment (AHA), and Canadian Occupational Performance Measure. The primary comparison at 20 weeks between gro...

In this chapter we discuss both social inclusion and participation broadly and consider multiple perspectives through which they may be understood. Most significantly, we draw upon the conceptual work of Sen and Nussbaum. To inform the discussion, we draw upon data from Pereira's study of poverty and participation to highlight the need for such work from an occupational perspective.

To investigate the effects of an intensive, inpatient rehabilitation programme on individuals affected by Huntington's disease. A pilot study. Within-subjects design. Inpatient rehabilitation home of the Italian welfare system. Forty patients, early and middle stage of the disease, were recruited to an intensive, inpatient rehabilitation protocol. The treatment programme included respiratory exercises and speech therapy, physical and occupational therapy and cognitive rehabilitation exercises. The programme involved three-week admission periods of intensive treatment that could be repeated three times a year. A standard clinical assessment was performed at the beginning of each admission using the Zung Depression Scale, Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Barthel Index, Tinetti Scale and Physical Performance Test (PPT). Tinetti and PPT were also used at the end of each admission to assess the outcomes in terms of motor and functional performance. Each three-week period of trea...

The role of psychosocial occupational therapy with AIDS patients is explored. The clinical picture is defined, information regarding the transmission, incidence, diagnosis, and treatment is presented, and the impact of the illness on the developmental life cycle is described. The occupational behavior framework is used to guide evaluation and intervention and case examples are provided. Finally, fears and issues affecting therapists working with these patients are explored.

Cognitive reserve has been implicated as a possible protective factor in multiple sclerosis (MS) but to date no study has compared reserve-building activities across disease course or to healthy controls. This study aims to describe differences in reserve-building activities across the MS disease course and healthy controls. Secondary analysis of a cross-sectional cohort study that included 276 healthy controls, and subjects with clinically isolated syndrome (CIS; n = 67), relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS; n = 358) and secondary progressive MS (PMS; n = 109). Past reserve-building activities were operationalized as occupational attainment and education. Current activities comprised 6 strenuous and 6 non-strenuous activities, including 5 reserve-building activities and television-watching. Multivariate Analysis of Variance models examined group differences in past and current activities, after adjusting for covariates. There were group differences in past and current reserve-building act...

Changes in the health system require occupational therapy practitioners to focus their concerns on the long-term health needs of people and to help them develop healthy behaviors not only to improve their health, but also to minimize the health care costs associated with dysfunction. Occupational therapy practitioners must initiate efforts in the community to integrate a range of services that promote, protect, and improve the health of the public. This article shares the experiences of Canadian occupational therapy practitioners, who were challenged by their government nearly 15 years ago to establish a system that demonstrates effectiveness by improving the health of occupational therapy clients. By focusing on occupational performance, occupational therapy practitioners assist clients in becoming actively engaged in their life activities. This requires client-centered and family-centered practice and services that span from the agency or institution to the community. Occupational...

In 1995 occupational therapy programmes in Europe founded a network in Aalborg, Denmark, with the aim of advancing the education of occupational therapists and the body of knowledge of the discipline. The European Network of Occupational Therapy in Higher Education (ENOTHE) is one of 43 other academic networks supported by the European Commission. The achievements, impact and obstacles in the work of ENOTHE will be discussed. Copyright © 2001 Whurr Publishers Ltd.

Medically underserved rural communities struggle to meet challenging needs in response to the opioid crisis. The purpose of this study was to measure any benefit of an occupational therapy (OT) intervention group with participants in an addiction recovery program. Supervised OT graduate students implemented a five-week program at a faith-based non-profit organization in a small metro community. A weekly time management occupational-based intervention group based on the Action Over Inertia (AOI) manualized protocol focuses on motivating and providing strategies to successfully reintegrate individuals into the community by using meaningful activity and positively influencing levels of occupational balance and engagement (Krupa et al., 2003). Outcome measures included self-report of time use, occupational balance, occupational engagement, and goal identification, satisfaction, and performance. The need to effectively treat individuals with SUD is a public health priority. Results demon...

Depression is inactivity. So stay active, no matter whether you feel you are sliding into a depression, are already in it or are recovering from it.

Go see a friend. Do some volunteer work. Exercise. Go see a football match with your brother.

It is not so important what you do. As long as you just don´t sit at home alone all day long watching YouTube-videos and checking what other people are doing on Facebook.

Resumo: Este artigo tece reflexões sobre os desafios de instauração de práticas na interface da terapia ocupacional e da cultura, e toma como referência estudos de um campo problemático, definido pela biopolítica enquanto regime de poder hegemônico, que compõe os domínios dessas áreas de atuação. Aponta, assim, questões para a construção de estratégias de participação social e cultural de pessoas que, por múltiplas razões, vivem situações de vulnerabilidades. Essas populações, tradicionalmente atendidas no campo da terapia ocupacional, vivem de forma singular a circulação nos diferentes espaços da cidade e desafiam a criação de ações inovadoras e transversais, que afirmem encontros e projetos de vida coletiva. As práticas artísticas engendradas numa determinada perspectiva crítica destacam-se enquanto alternativas para ativar experimentações que possibilitam a produção de subjetividades a partir da heterogênese. São contribuições ao conjunto de estudos interdisciplinares que dão sustentação às ações complexas e intersetoriais, que operam a produção da autonomia e a efetuação das políticas culturais.

Palavras-chave: Terapia Ocupacional, Tendências, Cultura, Vulnerabilidade Social, Subjetividade, Arte.

Between the devices lines: challenges of contemporary practices in occupational therapy and culture interface

Abstract: This work discusses the challenge of establishing practices on the interface of occupational therapy and culture. It is based on studies on the problematic field defined by biopolitcs as a regime of hegemonic power composed by the domains of both these areas. It points out topics for the construction of social and cultural participation strategies for people who, for several reasons, live in vulnerable situations. These populations, traditionally received in the field of occupational therapy, circulate differently in the city and challenge the creation of innovative and transversal actions that affirm collective encounters and projects. The artistic practices engendered in certain critical perspective, appear as alternatives to activate experiments that make possible the production of subjectivities from heterogenesis. They are contributions to the set of interdisciplinary studies supporting complex and intersectorial actions which produce autonomy and cultural policies.

Keywords: Occupational Therapy, Trends, Culture, Social Vulnerability, Subjectivity, Art.

Introduction: Fine motor and graphomotor skills are essential for children's healthy development, as well as for successful participation in everyday activities. The Gilboa functional test (GIFT) is a newly developed norm-referenced screening instrument for use with children 3–6 years old. The aim of this study was to develop and validate the GIFT as a new measure for preschool graphomotor screening. Method: A community-based sample of 611 children aged 3–6 years was screened. Findings: Content validity was established via a panel of experts. The GIFT demonstrated good test–retest (0.95) and inter-rater reliability (0.94), demonstrating good concurrent validity in scores which significantly correlated with the Beery-VMI (r ¼ 0.32, P < 0.05), the Beery-MC (r ¼ 0.33, P < 0.05), the 'manual dexterity' subcategory of the movement assessment battery for children (r ¼ –0.364, P < 0.05) and the total score of the developmental coordination disorder questionnaire '07 (DCDQ'07)/little DCDQ (r ¼ 0.41, P < 0.01). A significant difference in total GIFT scoring was found between children from mainstream versus special education preschools (t ¼ 3.99, P < 0.001). Conclusion: The GIFT is a unique tool that measures performance skills based on preschool children's everyday activities. It can be used by paediatric occupational therapists as a first step for early identification of children potentially at risk for graphomotor/fine motor developmental delay.