Principles of Occupational Therapy Group Outcome Assessment in Mental Health

In today's penurious health care climate, occupational therapists must scrutinize their practice and substantiate their interventions in order to remain viable service providers. This article proposes a method of occupational therapy outcomes assessment in mental health care that is rooted in client-centered functional outcomes. Since little consensus exists on which instruments are most effective, this article begins with an outline of broadly accepted principles for assessment of patient outcomes in mental health. Next, we describe a practical method for selecting outcomes measures in interdisciplinary settings. Finally, we offer pragmatic solutions to address barriers to outcome assessment.     

Occupational Therapy Intervention in the Treatment of Alcoholics

The first section of this article will provide the rationale for all occupational therapists to learn extensively about the isease of alcoholism regardless of area of practice or type of agency where employed. It will offer su estions on how this learning can take place. The second section will take an historic look at occupational therapy literature documenting the use of occupational therapy in alcoholism rehabilitation from 1941 to the present. It will describe modalities currently being used by occupational therapists in alcoholism rehabilitation and discuss expansion of occupational therapy in this practice area.     

Occupational Therapy Student Experiences and Transformations During Fieldwork in Mental Health Settings

The purpose of this study is to better understand the transformative experiences of occupational therapy students during fieldwork. In occupational therapy education, fieldwork provides students with an in-depth experience in the field. Thirty-one students submitted narratives following completion of Level II fieldwork in a mental health setting. Concepts from transformative learning theory guided the analysis. The themes that emerged were: (1) understanding clients with mental illness; (2) understanding occupation and occupational therapy; (3) feeling like a professional; and (4) changing as a person. The results highlight the importance of understanding the transformative process and fieldwork in mental health settings.     

Beyond Hopelessness

Abstract

The researchers conducted a needs assessment survey of practicing school-based occupational therapists to determine the incidence of grief within existing caseloads, current awareness of the issue, related concerns, and willingness or resistance to address grief in the intervention environment. The survey was administered to a representative sample of 150 school-based therapists throughout the state of Ohio. Fifty-six therapists responded with usable data.

The results suggest that the students who are currently on occupational therapy (OT) caseloads face a large number of grief issues. Although a majority of therapists reported addressing grief issues, only a small percentage typically do so for a variety of reasons. The school therapists offered a number of explanations for the limited follow-through on this issue. These findings support the profession's recent efforts to further establish occupational therapy as a well-recognized and respected provider of interventions to address the mental health and psychosocial needs of children in school settings.     

Standard Scores for the Bay Area Functional Performance Evaluation Task Oriented Assessment

This paper presents normative data for the Bay Area Functional Performance Evaluation Task Oriented Assessment using a sample of 266 patients drawn from five psychiatric in-patient hospitals in Western New York and Canada. Use of the means, standard deviations and standard scores is discussed and related to treatment planning.     

Developing Roles and Skills in Community-Living Adults With Severe and Persistent Mental Illness

People with severe and persistent mental illness often experience a disruption in the development of social roles, and the skills within these roles. Role Development, a set of guidelines for practice, is an intervention to develop roles and skills. The purpose of this study was to continue to examine the efficacy of this intervention. Ten people attending two community mental health programs participated in evaluation and treatment based on Role Development. Quantitative pretest and posttest measures were used. Qualitative components were incorporated to get a sense of the experience involved in developing roles and skills. Quantitative results indicated statistical significance (p < .05) in the development of roles and skills. Qualitative data revealed multiple trends experienced by the participants. This study contributes to the evidenced-based knowledge regarding development of roles and skills for persons living with severe and persistent mental illness.     

Advancing the trait EI content domain: Further evidence for the distinctiveness of interpersonal facets

This investigation sought to assess the congruence of the trait emotional intelligence (EI) sampling domain, reflected in the short form of the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (TEIQue; Petrides & Furnham, 2006), with the theoretical content of trait EI—namely, the range of personality traits implicated in emotions. First, associations of the TEIQue factors with Emotion-Oriented Coping (EOC) and Social Coping (SC) were compared. Three of the four TEIQue factors were stronger predictors of EOC than SC; only the Emotionality factor was a stronger predictor of SC. Also, Emotionality did not add to the prediction of EOC in a simultaneous regression with the other factors. Secondly, by means of Structural Equation Modelling, the 30-item composite and a theoretically altered 16-item composite were compared as mediators between the Big Five and the emotion-laden dimension of mental health. Even though all interpersonal items (i.e., those pertaining to Sociability and Emotionality) were omitted for the altered composite, it outperformed the original composite in predicting a latent mental health composite of Stress, Anxiety, and EOC. The results highlight the distinct nature of Emotionality and Sociability facets and have implications for the refinement of the trait EI content domain.     

Perceived threat of infectious disease and its implications for sexual attitudes

A study (n = 411) investigated the relationship between chronic individual differences in germ aversion and sociosexual attitudes (short-term mating orientation, long-term mating orientation, and anticipated future sexual promiscuity), and also tested whether the magnitudes of these relations differ depending on the temporary perceptual salience of disease threat. Results revealed person-by-situation interactions. When the threat of disease was temporarily salient, germ aversion correlated negatively with short-term mating orientation and with future sexual promiscuity, and correlated positively with long-term mating orientation; these effects were either weaker or nonexistent under control conditions. These effects emerged most clearly among women.     

Personality and social attitudes: Evidence for positive-approach motivation

Extensive research has linked general personality factors to social attitudes, but there has been comparatively little work on the roles played by specific approach-avoidance personality factors, especially positive-approach ones. Here we relate such factors to the two main clusters of social attitudes (Right-Wing Authoritarianism, RWA; and Social Dominance Orientation, SDO), and related cognitive constructs (Need for Cognition and Need for Closure). Results revealed: (a) positive-approach motivation is consistently related to both RWA and SDO, with little contribution from negative-avoidance motivation; and (b) negative-avoidance motivation played a part in Need for Cognition (negatively related) and Need for Closure (positively related). These data challenge previous theorizing concerning the role of fear/anxiety in social attitude formation and prejudice more generally. We conclude that, to a larger extent than previously thought, approach-related personality factors underpin the positive reinforcement of social attitudes and prejudice. Our results may help to account for the failure of programmes designed to reduce prejudice which have been based on the reduction of negative emotion and motivation.     

Financial capability,money attitudes and socioeconomic status: Risks for experiencing adverse financial events

The risk of experiencing adverse financial events (e.g. bankruptcy) depends on the world economy and on individual differences in financial and psychological variables. Analysing data from 109,472 British survey respondents, this study reports the risks associated with financial capabilities, money attitudes, and socio-economic status for suffering negative financial outcomes. The results show that (1) socio-economic status is associated with financial capabilities but not with money attitudes; (2) money attitudes and financial capabilities are largely independent; (3) money attitudes and financial capabilities each contribute independently to the risk of experiencing adverse financial outcomes, even after adjusting for socio-economic status; and (4) financial capabilities are greater risk factors of adverse financial outcomes than money attitudes; the latter, however, are likely to be promising targets for interventions.