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Our opening editorial by Duncan Pentland , ‘ Is anything in life simple ? Why we should think about complexity ’, explores complexity in healthcare and its relevance to the occupational therapy profession .
New discussions about complexity provide opportunities to develop and use new approaches to conceptualising and studying health and wellbeing , and how we can influence these by our therapy practices .
We must engage critically with the ideas of complexity if we want to take advantage of the opportunities that these might provide in developing our understanding of occupation and occupational therapy .
Our Editor ’ s Choice article is a randomised controlled trial from Mohammadi et al , titled ‘ The effect of play-based occupational therapy on symptoms and participation in daily life activities in children with cancer ’.
This study aimed to investigate the effect of play-based occupational therapy on symptoms and participation in daily life activities in hospitalised children with cancer undergoing chemotherapy , showing that a two-week course of inpatient play-based occupational therapy is an effective approach in the reduction of cancer symptoms , therapy-related symptoms , and the participation facilitation of children with cancer in daily life activities .
The issue continues with ‘ Effects of a pain management programme on occupational performance are influenced by gains in self-efficacy ’ by Thomas et al , who examined whether changes in self-efficacy or confidence to lift weighted items influences changes in occupational performance and disability levels in patients attending a cognitive behavioural therapy pain management programme .
The level of disability , lifting confidence , self-efficacy and occupational performance all improved over time ; however , only occupational performance and lifting confidence maintained improvements up to the six-month review . Self-efficacy had a greater impact on occupational performance than lifting confidence . ‘ Decisions on driving after brain injury / disease : Feasibility and construct validity of a new simulator assessment tool ’, by Samuelsson and Wressle , evaluated the feasibility and construct validity of a driving simulator tool as a complement to existing driving assessments of patients with cognitive dysfunctions after a brain injury / disease .
The simulator was found to be feasible and valid and found to include components other than those measured in the other tests . In their study , ‘ The feasibility of a combined model of online interventions for adults with cancer-related cognitive impairment ’, Meier et al tested the feasibility of a telehealth intervention combining computerised cognitive training and occupation-based treatment among adult cancer survivors experiencing cancerrelated cognitive impairment .
A combined model of computerised cognitive training and occupation-based treatment delivered remotely to adults with cancer-related cognitive impairment was found to be feasible .
Continuing the issue , in ‘ Relationship between nomophobia and occupational performance among university students ’ Torpil et al aimed to develop an understanding of nomophobic university students ’ problem areas in their daily occupations in a crosssectional study . This study demonstrated a relationship between nomophobia and occupational performance difficulties in university students .
Our final article in the July issue , ‘ The use of everyday technology ; a comparison of older persons with cognitive impairments ’ self-reports and their proxies ’ reports ’, by Jakobssen et al , explored the number of relevant everyday technologies and the ability to use everyday technologies as perceived by persons with cognitive impairment in comparison with their proxies ’ estimates using the Short Everyday Technology Use Questionnaire .
At the group level , no significant differences were found between persons with cognitive impairments ’ perceptions and their proxies ’ estimates .
The CIRCLE Collaboration resources
The Child Inclusion : Research into Curriculum , Learning and Education ( CIRCLE ) Collaboration , is a practice / academic partnership consisting of academics from Queen Margaret University and practitioners from health ( including occupational therapists , speech and language therapists , and physiotherapists ) and education ( including senior leadership , specialist teachers , class teachers , and educational psychologists ).
The overarching aim of CIRCLE has been to support the inclusion and participation of children and young people with additional support needs / special educational needs
and disabilities ( SEND ) in schools , with a focus on enhanced collaborative working .
Since its inception in 2006 , CIRCLE has carried out a series of research studies with a focus on best practice used by allied health professionals and teachers to support children and young people in early years settings ( 0 to four years ), primary schools ( five to 11years ) and secondary schools ( 12 to 18 years ).
From this , CIRCLE has produced a suite of resources to support practice in schools , which are now freely available to download at : www . thirdspace . scot / circle .
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