beneficial . This may be due to the self-soothing nature of sensory strategies and improvement in mood , but also could be due to the experience of engaging with a therapist for several sessions and the benefits of a therapeutic rapport .
Work : 85 % of patients noted improvements at work due to engaging in sensory strategies or adaptations , although 15 % rated this non-applicable , possibly due to being off work sick at the time of intervention and not being able to trial strategies in the workplace .
Relationships : 93 % of patients found improvements in their relationships , due to an understanding of sensory preferences and sensory intervention . While 7 % rated this as non-applicable , potentially due to not being in a relationship , living alone , or being socially withdrawn or avoidant .
As part of the introduction of the sensory modulation service , a sensory room was established for experiential use of sensory strategies and equipment and 83 % of patients that utilised the sensory room found it beneficial to be able to trial sensory strategies .
Some of the comments given by the patients included : ‘ Sensory work really helped / continues to help with my anxiety ’; ‘ Sensory modulation intervention highlighted issues that could interfere with my rehabilitation ’; ‘ Sensory strategies helped me to manage my panic attacks ’; ‘ The biggest help to me was understanding my sensory preferences , the more information I have the better ’; ‘ I can now explain how I ’ m feeling , what I can do about it and what triggers me in the first place ’; and ‘ Sensory modulation has helped with family life ’.
Measures of success
In addition to patient benefits , this intervention has opened opportunities for co-working with other professions , in trauma cases and functional neurological disorder cases , whereby the sensory modulation intervention has acted as preparatory , stabilisation or grounding work . It has also offered an additional element of occupational therapy to be delivered unit wide .
Moving forwards
Future plans for the sensory modulation service involve introducing the utilisation of outcome measures , to objectively measure the effectiveness of the sensory modulation service which will provide more robust evidence of the efficacy of the service , while demonstrating clear change to the patients experiencing the intervention .
Due to the success of the one-to-one sensory modulation service , a further service development is in the workings to introduce a six-week sensory modulation group programme to enable psychoeducation of sensory modulation to be completed in a cost-effective manner , while the peer support and learning element will likely add additional benefits to for the patients .
Key messages
Overall , the introduction of the sensory modulation pathway has had a positive effect on most of the patients who responded to the questionnaire , which indicates valid use of this intervention within a typical adult population and within the armed forces community .
There is currently limited evidence base for this population and it would be beneficial to capture the effectiveness in future occupational therapy research .
Barbic S , Chan N , Rangi A , Bradley J , Pattison R , Brockmeyer K ( 2019 ) Health provider and serviceuser experiences of sensory modulation rooms in an acute inpatient psychiatry setting . PLoS One , 21 ; 14 ( 11 ): e0225238 . DOI : 10.1371 / journal . pone . 0225238 .
Brown A , Tse T , Fortune T ( 2019 ) Defining sensory modulation : A review of the concept and a contemporary definition for application by occupational therapists . Scandinavian Journal of Occupational Therapy , 26:7 : 515-523 .
Royal College of Occupational Therapy ( 2021 ) RCOT Informed View – Sensory Integration and sensorybased interventions . London . Available at www . rcot . co . uk / about-occupational-therapy / rcotinformed-views [ accessed 14 February 2023 ].
Stoller C , Gruel J , Cimini L , Fowler M , Koomar J ( 2012 ) Effects of sensory-enhanced yoga on symptoms of combat stress in deployed military personnel . The American Journal of Occupational Therapy , 66 ( 1 ): 59-68 . DOI : 10.5014 / ajot . 2012.001230 .
Sutton D and Nicholson E ( 2011 ) Sensory modulation in acute mental health wards : a qualitative study of staff and service user perspectives . Auckland , New Zealand : Te Pou o Te Whakaaro Nui .
Words NICOLA TWEED , Band 7 Occupational Therapist , Ministry of Defence ( MOD ) Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre , Stanford Hall ,
Nicola . Tweed102 @ mod . gov . uk
22 OTnews April 2023