Professional resources
Welcome to the April issue of BJOT . Our leading editorial this month is ‘ Reflections on occupational science in 2022 ’, by Mandy Stanley and Juman Simaan , where the authors provide their perspectives on current developments within occupational science . These are informed by their active involvement in occupational science scholarship and work with the Journal of Occupational Science .
Our editor ’ s choice article is the Registered Randomised Controlled Trial Protocol , by Emily Somerville et al , titled ‘ Tailored medication management intervention delivered by occupational therapists for older adults : A study protocol ’.
The paper details proposed research to examine a tailored , occupational therapy intervention to improve community-dwelling older adults ’ ability to independently manage medication . The effectiveness of the intervention will be evaluated in future studies .
Continuing the issue , we have several research articles , beginning with Kim Lombard et al . This study aims to refine the Trinity Student Occupational Performance Profile ( TSOPP ) – a self-report measure of occupational performance difficulties within the student role for students with mental health disabilities , which is based on the Person-Environment-Occupation model .
The refined TSOPP provides occupational therapists seeking to support students with mental health disabilities in university with a credible measure to guide their practice .
The next research paper is by Ana Judit Fernández- Solano et al . ‘ Increasing occupational participation : A qualitative analysis within the “ Occupational Self- Analysis ” programme ’, aims to analyse participant ’ s reported benefits about the programme .
The article concludes that the programme allowed participants to increase their knowledge of supports provided for and the barriers against occupational participation .
A paper by Aníbal Báez-Suárez et al aims to identify the factors associated with satisfaction with telerehabilitation in families with children with neurodevelopmental disorders through a programme that included physiotherapy , occupational therapy and speech therapy .
Titled ‘ Implementation of a telerehabilitation programme for children with neurodevelopmental disorders during the lockdown caused by COVID-19 ’, the results showed high levels of participation and satisfaction , with 113 families responding to the survey .
Then Craig Newman et al investigate the effect strength of positive risk-taking barriers on discharge decisions in occupational therapy intermediate care through a factorial survey .
With 74 participants responding to 281 vignettes , the findings of the paper could inform future
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research and pre-registration occupational therapy education .
In ‘ Preliminary inter-rater reliability of “ The observed Off-task Behaviour among School-Children ” ( The OBS- Children ),’ Nicoline L Bech et al developed a study to measure observed off-task behaviour among children aged six to 12 years old with sensory processing difficulties and sensory seeking behaviour .
This study serves as a key step towards the OBS Children becoming a reliable and valid tool , potentially providing objective data to use in measuring paediatric occupational therapy interventions .
The next study , by Fatih Özden et al , aimed to present the psychometric properties of the Turkish version of the life balance inventory ( LBI ) in individuals with multiple sclerosis ( MS ). With 113 individuals with multiple sclerosis enrolled in the study , the article concluded that the Turkish LBI is a reliable and valid inventory in patients with MS and that further studies should focus on the responsiveness of the Turkish LBI .
Finally , an article by Christopher P Dwyer et al , ‘ A qualitative investigation of influences on occupational therapists ’ research involvement in Ireland ’, aims to explore occupational therapists ’ reasons for and for not getting involved in research and to determine potential barriers and enablers to engaging in research .
Findings suggest that although occupational therapists are able to get involved in research , there are still difficulties in doing so .
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April 2023 OTnews 57