Date Presented 4/16/2015 Through interviews and group discussion with those invested in survivorship, essential elements for conversion of a self-management program to Facebook were discovered. Program components, facilitator skills, Facebook features, and general concerns for using social media are described.

People who experience the toxic stress of recurrent traumatic events in childhood have a higher risk for mental and physical health problems throughout life. Occupational therapy practitioners have a remarkable opportunity to be involved in addressing this significant public health problem. As health care practitioners already situated in the community, we have a responsibility to lead and assist in establishing and implementing occupation-based programs and to nurture the links between the child welfare system and existing intervention systems. In this article, we review the current research on toxic stress and recommendations made by other health care disciplines and offer strategies for occupational therapy practitioners to begin a dialogue on this critical, emerging issue.

OBJECTIVE. We compared abilities and strategy use of at-risk youth aged 16–21 yr with those of a community sample of high school students using a performance measure of executive function, the Weekly Calendar Planning Activity (WCPA). METHOD. We recruited students from an alternative school for at-risk youth (n = 113) and from community high schools in the same region (n = 49). We collected demographic information from and administered the WCPA to both groups. RESULTS. The at-risk group made more errors, used fewer strategies, and broke more rules than the community group; however, the groups were similar in average time for planning and task completion. Moderate relationships were found between WCPA and academic performance in the at-risk group. CONCLUSION. Comparison of at-risk and community youth provides support for discriminant validity of the WCPA and indicates that the WCPA is useful in identifying adolescents who are at risk for occupational performance deficits.

OBJECTIVE. We piloted the Weekly Calendar Planning Activity (WCPA), a performance-based measure of executive function (EF), to establish a baseline for at-risk adolescents. METHOD. Participants were 113 youths ages 16–21 who were enrolled at a charter school for youth returning to high school after dropping out. We administered the WCPA and collected demographic information. RESULTS. On average, participants spent 15.9 min on the WCPA, made 7.9 errors, and followed 4.0 of 5 possible rules. No ceiling effect was observed in overall accuracy. Participants used a mean of 3.1 strategies (standard deviation = 1.9) while completing the WCPA. Participants who used more strategies spent more time planning and completing the task and were more accurate. CONCLUSION. The WCPA may be useful to occupational therapists as a performance measure of EF. This assessment allows evaluation of complex task performance, strategy use, self-evaluation of performance, and error patterns, which can be used in developing intervention strategies.

OBJECTIVE. This study developed and explored the validity of the Children's Kitchen Task Assessment (CKTA), a performance assessment of executive function. METHOD. The development of the CKTA is described. Children were given the CKTA and neuropsychological assessments of executive functioning. Parents completed the Parent Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (Parent BRIEF). RESULTS. Forty-nine typically developing children ages 8 to 12 years participated in this study. Interrater reliability and internal consistency were established. Preliminary evidence of discriminant validity was reflected in significant differences on neuropsychological tests and the Parent BRIEF between high- and low-scoring CKTA groups. Age-related differences in CKTA performance further supported discriminant validity. Support for concurrent validity was observed in moderate correlations with established neuropsychological tests. CONCLUSION. Preliminary results suggest the CKTA is a valid performance assessment that evaluates the level of cognitive assistance children require to complete a challenging functional activity.