Professional resources
Professional resources
Welcome to the June issue of the British Journal of Occupational Therapy ( BJOT ). Our leading editorial this month is ‘ The role of occupational therapists in mitigating the threats posed by monkeypox : A call to action ’, by Benjamin E Canter .
It explores previous pandemics and demonstrates the global danger that monkeypox poses to occupational performance and calls for the acknowledgment of the role occupational therapists play in monkeypox prevention , treatment , and rehabilitation .
The scoping review by Ruth Williamson et al on ‘ Patient and public involvement in research , published in the British Journal of Occupational Therapy 2015 – 2021 ’, is our editor ’ s choice of the month .
The public and people using health and social care services have knowledge that holds value in research and can help shape critical , evidence-informing , policies , and practices . Using a systematic method , this scoping review was conducted identifying public involvement in research published in BJOT between 2015 and 2021 and found that low levels of reporting on public involvement in research was published in BJOT , prior to the introduction of a requirement by BJOT for authors to report PPI in 2021 .
Continuing the issue , we have five research articles . First , Mary Yvonne Egan et al ’ s article on ‘ Student-led occupational performance coaching ( OPC ) in a university setting ’ reports on a pilot project evaluating a telerehabilitation OPC service for university students within an occupational therapy fieldwork placement .
The student clients demonstrated statistically significant improvement in anxiety and depression following OPC .
Fatemeh Motaharinezhad et al , then discuss ‘ Development and pilot testing of an occupational therapy intervention program based on Occupational Adaptation Model for caregivers of people with multiple sclerosis ( MS )’.
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The preliminary evaluation showed that the occupationbased programme was feasible and acceptable and may be further evaluated in future research and clinical practice .
Meanwhile , Toni Van Denend et al publish a study exploring how participants with MS who were enrolled in a fatigue management clinical trial explain their fatigue experiences , in the paper ‘ Appreciating the experience of multiple sclerosis fatigue .’
The findings will support occupational therapy practitioners to enhance empathy , understanding , and collaboration .
‘ Occupational performance in Huntington ’ s disease ( HD ): A cross-sectional study ’ by Lucía Simón-Vicente et al , aims to describe : the difficulties in self-care , productivity , and leisure activities ; analyse the patients ’ perception and satisfaction ; and the association with sex , age , disability , HD severity , and quality of life .
It concludes that HD patients have problems with their daily life occupations , particularly with self-care , and how it underlined the need for assessment tools that capture the complexity of occupations .
Finally , Kathryn Mathwin et al investigate the impact of cognitive strategy training for children struggling to correctly write alphabet letters , in their research article ‘ Children with handwriting difficulties : Impact of cognitive strategy training for acquisition of accurate alphabetletter-writing .’
The study provided beginning support for the inclusion of cognitive strategy training concurrently with alphabet letter-writing instruction to OT handwriting programmes to assist children struggling to write alphabet-letters . To read the latest and past issues of BJOT visit www . rcot . co . uk / practice-resources / journals / access-bjot .
Call for evidence for major conditions strategy for England
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The government is seeking views and ideas on how to prevent , diagnose , treat and manage the six major groups of health conditions that most affect the population in England . These are : cancers ; cardiovascular disease , including stroke and diabetes ; chronic respiratory diseases ; dementia ; mental ill health ; and musculoskeletal disorders . The views and ideas gathered will inform the priorities and actions in the major conditions strategy .
This call for evidence builds on from the calls for evidence last year on cancer and mental health . These provided the government with useful insights , which it will be considering in the development of the major conditions strategy .
The deadline to submit evidence is 11.59pm on 27 June 2023 . The government ’ s major conditions strategy will apply to England only . Find out more at bit . ly / 3WYOeIs .
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