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Individuals experiencing mental health disorders are susceptible to impairments in occupational functioning due to decreased concentration, memory, thought processes, insight, judgement, decision-making, reality orientation, regulating emotions, understanding perception, motivation, and psycho-motor activity. This is a quantitative study out of the South American Journal of Occupation Therapy that studied the effects of slow vs. fast tempo of music on symptoms of psychosis during occupation. There were 160 individuals with diagnosed psychological disorders in a psych hospital in South Africa. The subjects participated in a leatherwork activity while listening to either fast paced/upbeat music or low tempo/slow music. Attention/focus, ability to follow instructions, directedness towards the activity, and motivation were measured in groups of individuals who had psycho-motor agitation or psycho-motor inhibition psychosis. The study found that listening to music during an activity has the ability to improve all three variables in both agitation and inhibited-motor psychosis. Fast-paced tempo significantly improves attention in individuals with inhibited motor-psychosis. The ability to follow instructions improved in both fast and slow tempo music for both agitated and inhibited individuals. Directedness and motivation did not significantly improve in any of the groups. This study indicates that music can improve the ability to perform occupations and activities in individuals with mental health disorders. Music is very individualized and it may be difficult for OT practitioners to work with groups of individuals when introducing music. IT is important for an OT to gather a good understanding of a patient's preferences and determine if they would be a good candidate for the use of music during therapy. More research is recommended in this area to further determine the effects of music on occupation in this population.

This blog contains 16 motivational techniques to help engage difficult or resistant patients in the therapeutic process.

Beckie, T., Beckstead, J. (2010) aimed to study was to focus on the quality of life among women in a traditional cardiac rehabilitation program compared to those completing a tailored program that included motivational interviewing of behavior changes. The study included 252 participants over that age of 21 with myocardial infarction, Angina, CABG, and PCI were studied 3 days a week for 6 months. The participants were divided into two groups. The experimental group included the tailored program and motivational interviewing and the control group used a traditional cardiac rehabilitation program. The study had multiple limitations that included all women were of one ethnicity from a single institution in southeastern U.S. Lastly, studying the efficacy of a program like this is difficult and it is unaware to know if the treatments observed would persist beyond the 6 months. The tailored group showed a positive influence on the subjects QOL. Women with CHD may be better served by first identifying the important psychological and psychosocial variables that influence QOL.

This study aimed to focus on the quality of life among women in a traditional cardiac rehabilitation program compared to those completing a tailored program that included motivational interviewing of behavior changes. The study included 252 participants over that age of 21 with myocardial infarction, Angina, CABG, and PCI were studied 3 days a week for 6 months. The participants were divided into two groups. The experimental group included the tailored program and motivational interviewing and the control group used a traditional cardiac rehabilitation program. The study had multiple limitations that included all women were of one ethnicity from a single institution in southeastern U.S. Lastly, studying the efficacy of a program like this is difficult and it is unaware to know if the treatments observed would persist beyond the 6 months. The tailored group showed a positive influence on the subjects QOL. Women with CHD may be better served by first identifying the important psychological and psychosocial variables that influence QOL.

This 2000 Slagle lecture discusses EBP in OT. The lecture begins by breaking down the 5 levels of evidence used in research as well as provides scenarios for use of EPB. It also stresses the importance of continuing education and staying up to date with the latest research so that you can defend that what you are doing works. The lecture also posed five questions that you can ask yourself to determine if you are being an EBP practitioner: Do I examine what I do by asking clinical questions? Do I take time to track down the best evidence for guidance? Do I appraise evidence or take it at face value? Do I use evidence to do the right thing correctly? and Do I evaluate the impact of the evidence?. The biggest barrier to EBP was described as each individual's own attitude and motivation towards implementing EBP.

In the role of fieldwork educator, it is essential to match a student's desired learning and skill development expectations with the student's capabilities. A professional development model, Situational Leadership (SL), is often utilized to assist the student's supervision by effectively matching the learning task to the student's capabilities. The SL model believes that supervising a student requires the ability to balance the demands of the situation with the motivation and skills of the student in order to maximize learning and support the desired performance outcomes. In order to be a successful clinical instructor, one must not be consistent in their supervising style, but rather be versatile and responsive to the learning in all situations.

This study examined occupational performance issues amongst soldiers who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. The researches focused on ways to motivate these individuals to participate in their daily occupations. Getting back to civilian life after serving in the military and experiencing war is the most challenging and most common mental health and brain injury. Thirty 20-29 year olds were interviewed using the COPM. These individuals were also screened for PTSD, depression, TBI, and alcohol abuse. The top five challenges of occupational performance from using the COMP were relationships, school physical health, sleeping and driving. The role of occupational therapy is vital for their individuals to reintegrate them into the communities and to the daily occupations.

This is a great resource to check out regarding the treatment of patient's with Huntington's disease. Occupational therapists play an important role in the treatment of individuals with Huntington's by implementing strategies to support physical, cognitive, and behavioral factors which may impact engagement, motivation, and learning.

Guidelines to the Occupational Therapy Code of Ethics This is a really handy resource that provides a quick glance at the different elements of the Occupational Therapy Code of Ethics. It lists ten sections of professional behaviors under the code of ethics and each have a subset of behaviors which are appropriate under that section. The first professional behavior listed is honesty. "Professionals must be honest with themselves, must be honest with all whom they come in contact with, and must know their strengths and limitations" (AOTA, 2005). The second behavior listed is communication. "Communication is important in all aspects of occupational therapy. Individuals must be conscientious and truthful in all facets of written, verbal, and electronic communication" (AOTA, 2005). The third area of professional behavior is ensuring the common good. "Occupational therapy personnel are expected to increase awareness of the profession's social responsibilities to help ensure the common good" (AOTA, 2005). The fourth professional behavior is competence. "Occupational therapy personnel are expected to work within their areas of competence and to pursue opportunities to update, increase, and expand their competence" (AOTA, 2005). The fifth area of professional behavior is confidential and protected information. "Information that is confidential must remain confidential. This information cannot be shared verbally, electronically, or in writing without appropriate consent. Information must be shared on a need-to-know basis only with those having primary responsibilities for decision making" (AOTA, 2005). The sixth professional behavior area is conflict of interest. "Avoidance of real or perceived conflict of interest is imperative to maintaining the integrity of interactions" (AOTA, 2005). The seventh professional behavior area is impaired practitioner. "Occupational therapy personnel who cannot competently perform their duties after reasonable accommodati

The aim of this qualitative study was to describe what characterizes the therapeutic strategies used by occupational therapists during self-care training.Twelve occupational therapists working with clients who had had a stroke (n=6) or spinal cord injury (n=6) were interviewed and asked to tell a therapeutic story focusing on the self-care training process of one client. Data were transcribed and analyzed using the Empirical, Phenomenological, Psychological (EPP) method, a qualitative method. Findings showed that the occupational therapists' strategies focused primarily on how to create a relationship built on trust with their clients, how to find the right way to motivate clients, how to support the setting of goals, and how to provide enabling occupational experience and adjust training to the needs of the client, rather than focusing on teaching clients how to use technical and compensatory strategies.One conclusion from this study is that occupational therapists could, through understanding the individual's unique situation, vary their strategies and adapt themselves to meeting clients' experiences and needs during self-care training.

This 1991 AJOT article discussed clinical reasoning. The article stressed the importance of not allowing our clinical reasoning to biomechanical and biomedical focused. Rather, as occupational therapists, our clinical reasoning should focus on human world of motives, values, and beliefs.

This document provides a broader definition of clinical reasoning that is associated and expected from occupational therapists. Due to the nature of our profession as being client-centered and a mix of artistic and scientific rationale, OT's are expected to provide clinical reasoning that expands beyond the medical model into a meaning-centered, interpretive model. The reason for this expanded clinical reasoning for OT's is that we are not just looking at an individual in terms of their disability, rather we look at an individual in a holistic manner.

This document provides a broader definition of clinical reasoning that is associated and expected from occupational therapists. Due to the nature of our profession as being client-centered and a mix of artistic and scientific rationale, OT's are expected to provide clinical reasoning that expands beyond the medical model into a meaning-centered, interpretive model. The reason for this expanded clinical reasoning for OT's is that we are not just looking at an individual in terms of their disability, rather we look at an individual in a holistic manner.

Self-perceptions of the everyday consequences of TBI can influence motivation for therapy and emotional adjustment to postinjury circumstances is important to meet the overall needs of patients with TBI.This article explores the Self-Perceptions in Rehab Questionnaire and found preliminary support for the SPIRQ scales' reliability and construct validity. This questionnaire will be useful with TBI patients in our practice.

Educational of practitioners in psychology, saying we are lacking in this part of education...Do you agree?!

Educational of practitioners in psychology, saying we are lacking in this part of education...Do you agree?!

According to this author, occupational therapy practitioners lack the appropriate knowledge and education concerning how to address psychosocial needs. The author states that two of the most common complaints occupational therapy practitioners have is motivation and compliance issues with patients, which is directly linked to therapeutic use of self, which is fundamental to psychosocial skills. Having training in psychosocial services is one of the biggest differences that separate occupational therapists from physical therapists. The author highlights that without adequate knowledge in addressing psychosocial needs occupational therapy practitioners cannot effectively treat patients from a holistic standpoint.

Occupational therapists are required, from superiors, to reach functional outcomes in shorter durations of rehab and use EBP. Many clinicians do not use EBP due to lack of motivation, the fear that it will make the profession "cookie cutter", and or limited time or resources to gain information. The following steps can assist clinicians with EBP: 1. Formulate a clinical question 2. Locate the best evidence 3. Appraise the evidence for validity and applicability 4. Integrate the evidence with clinical expertise into practice 5. Evaluate the performance of the intervention.

This blog post, written by a pediatric occupational therapist, highlights the push for occupational therapy practitioners to utilize evidenced based practice interventions. The therapist highlights some of the common reasons individuals choose not to utilize evidenced based interventions in their practice. Some common reasons practitioners choose not to use evidenced based practice include limited access to new research due to an unwillingness to purchase research articles, lack of motivation after a hard day's work, not enough time to interpret new research and draw conclusions to alter one's practice, and unwillingness to alter one's routines/intervention techniques. However, the therapist eloquently highlights the fact that if we want patients and their families to shell out money for co-pays and insurance companies to reimburse us for the services we provide we must be able to prove that the services we provide are effective. Thus, we must utilize interventions that have research to back their effectiveness.

This study evaluated the effects of therapeutic horseback riding on social functioning in children with autism. Autistic children exposed to therapeutic horseback riding exhibited greater sensory seeking, sensory sensitivity, social motivation, and less inattention, distraction, and sedentary behaviors.