Date Presented Accepted for AOTA INSPIRE 2021 but unable to be presented due to online event limitations. The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to evaluate the impact of an interprofessional educational (IPE) activity on students' attitudes and perceptions of IPE across five health care academic programs. OT students and students with previous IPE experiences demonstrated a statistically significant change after participation in IPE. This study identifies considerations when developing IPE for these groups of students in an academic setting. Primary Author and Speaker: Casey Humphrey Additional Authors and Speakers: Leah Shea Simpkins Contributing Authors: Christen Page, Karina Christopher, Aaron Sciascia, and Lisa Jones

Date Presented Accepted for AOTA INSPIRE 2021 but unable to be presented due to online event limitations. Practitioners were surveyed about knowledge, preparedness, and attitudes toward treating LGBT clients. Multivariate analysis was used to compare LGBT–Development of Clinical Skills Scale scores and characteristics of respondents (N = 558). Type of degree, setting, experience, religiosity, and hours of education contributed to significant differences in knowledge and preparedness, but not attitudes. Findings suggest even minimal practitioner education has potential for improving equity and inclusion for LGBT population. Primary Author and Speaker: Deborah J. Bolding Additional Authors and Speakers: Angela Acosta, Brigitte Butler, April Chau, Brenna Craig, and Fiona Dunbar

Date Presented 04/12/21 As OT practitioners work less with individuals with serious mental illness, educational programs are placing students in nontraditional fieldwork settings to fulfill accreditation psychosocial competencies. This study compares how traditional versus nontraditional psychosocial fieldwork placements impact students' attitudes toward working with this population. Primary Author and Speaker: Tiffany Benaroya

Date Presented 04/12/21 Poverty attributions of health professionals affect how care is provided to this population. Literature indicates a gap in OT student learning to effectively work with individuals living with low income. This study found that a community action poverty simulation was an effective educational tool to address the initial first step of increasing OT students' awareness of their attitudes and their implicit bias of the challenges faced by this population. Primary Author and Speaker: Priya Bakshi Contributing Authors: Abigail Herman, Mairead Gormley, Erica Di Meo, Jessica Leonard

Date Presented Accepted for AOTA INSPIRE 2021 but unable to be presented due to online event limitations. Sexuality is a fundamental human occupation, yet research shows practitioners and clients rarely address these issues within OT practice. This presentation discusses the results of a web-based survey of 80 entry-level OT educators regarding attitudes and perceptions about teaching topics related to sexuality. The researchers aim to encourage future research and educational practices focusing on increasing the delivery of sexuality content within entry-level OT education. Primary Author and Speaker: Nada Metti Additional Authors and Speakers: Angela Swindell, Rachel Walling, Kalyn Justice, and Shaunna Kelder Contributing Authors: Jennifer Summers, Kathryn Barnhart

Date Presented 04/12/21 Stigma is a barrier to health care access for people with mental illness; OTs work with these individuals in all treatment settings. This study explored how a Level II fieldwork setting affects students' attitudes toward mental illness. Mental health settings were related to positive attitudes; pediatric settings were related to stigmatizing attitudes. Integrating mental health into the broader OT curriculum or classroom and clinic, in any fieldwork setting, may positively affect students' attitudes. Primary Author and Speaker: Christine A. Linkie Contributing Authors: Abigail Herman, Mairead Gormley, Erica Di Meo, Jessica Leonard

Date Presented 04/13/21 Racial bias is defined as the negative evaluation of a group and its members relative to another and can exist on explicit and implicit levels. This is an exploratory study to examine the presence of implicit and explicit racial bias among OT professionals across the United States. The results (N = 201) highlight the presence of implicit and explicit racial biases among OT professionals in the United States and the need for further education on racial bias. Primary Author and Speaker: Alaa Abou-Arab Additional Authors and Speakers: Alee Leteria, Kristina Zanayed, and Susanne Higgins

Date Presented Accepted for AOTA INSPIRE 2021 but unable to be presented due to online event limitations. A correlational study determined if personal contact with transgender individuals and amount of transgender-specific education are correlated with OT students' and practitioners' attitudes and knowledge of transgender communities. Results indicate that contact and hours of education have a significant association with knowledge. Research into factors that relate to preparedness in working with transgender clients is a step toward addressing transgender health disparities. Primary Author and Speaker: Yan-hua Huang Additional Authors and Speakers: Nicole Villaescusa, Kendira Villalobos, and Laura Yamaguchi

Date Presented Accepted for AOTA INSPIRE 2021 but unable to be presented due to online event limitations. This study surveyed 101 Asian-American caregivers of elderly people on factors that influence perceived caregiver burden. Spirituality was found to be a statistically significant predictor of caregiver burden. Furthermore, mental health help-seeking attitudes were negatively correlated with caregiver burden. This research informs OTs of the value of incorporating spirituality and mental health education with family caregivers to provide holistic, culturally competent services. Primary Author and Speaker: Yan-hua Huang Additional Authors and Speakers: Ciara Nagao, Kelsey Michelle Santos, and Madison Werchowsky

Date Presented Accepted for AOTA INSPIRE 2021 but unable to be presented due to online event limitations. The purpose of this quantitative survey study is to examine elementary, middle, and high school teachers' sense of self-efficacy and attitudes toward mental health needs. The results indicate a statistically significant positive correlation between teachers' attitudes and self-efficacy toward effecting change for students with mental health needs. OTs are well suited to help teachers address mental health needs of students in their classroom. Primary Author and Speaker: Yan-hua Huang Additional Authors and Speakers: Patricia Ling, Yola Lin, Rianna Wong, Megan Lee, and Michelle Wong

Importance: Discrimination based on disability—ableism—is pervasive and affects the opportunities of people with disabilities to fully engage in society. Objective: The aim of this study was to explore the impact of occupational therapy graduate education on students’ explicit and implicit disability attitudes throughout their graduate education. Design: Longitudinal observational study, measuring occupational therapy students’ attitudes on an annual basis. Setting: Three Midwestern graduate occupational therapy programs. Participants: Occupational therapy students (N = 67). Outcomes and Measures: Participants completed the Symbolic Ableism Scale (to measure their explicit disability attitudes) and the Disability Attitude Implicit Association Test (to measure their implicit disability attitudes) on an annual basis, from when they entered their occupational therapy program to when they graduated. Results: The students’ explicit attitudes decreased (i.e., became more favorable) throughout their education; however, their implicit attitudes did not change. In fact, most students (68%) were implicitly ableist at graduation. Conclusions and Relevance: Occupational therapy education programs have an important role to play in terms of intervening with students’ beliefs and preconceived assumptions about disability. Our finding suggests that occupational therapy programs may fail to intervene with students’ ableist attitudes. What This Article Adds: Little longitudinal research has examined how students’ implicit disability bias may be affected by their academic experience. Our findings about ableism among occupational therapy students should open the door for further dialogue on the existence of ableism in program content, its potential impact on future client interactions, and the development of approaches to address it.

Social participation in schools is critical to student academic and psychosocial outcomes. Neurodivergent students, however, often experience environmental barriers to social participation, such as lack of awareness and negative attitudes among peers and school staff, including teachers. Although authentic social participation is composed of dynamic interactions between a person and the external environments, occupational therapy’s role in addressing student social participation primarily focuses on internal social characteristics. Barriers within school environments often remain unaddressed, with no clear role for occupational therapy practitioners. We advocate an expansion of occupational therapy’s role to address school environments, especially the social, physical, and policy aspects, to promote social participation and inclusion. We also discuss the need for change and present a framework guiding intervention in school environments.

Importance: People with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) express a clear interest in intimate relationships but face many barriers to receiving sex education (SE) that would support their engagement in these relationships. Objective: To understand barriers to, the context of, and recommendations for SE for people with IDD. Design: Qualitative study design with interviews and focus groups with four key stakeholder groups. Data were analyzed using a constant comparative approach. Participants: Participants were 8 youths with IDD, 9 parents, 12 health care providers, and 8 educators. Results: Four barriers to SE were identified: (1) values and cultural issues, (2) parental attitudes toward their child’s sexuality, (3) a lack of organizational policies and standards, and (4) limited professional education or societal biases. These barriers contribute to a SE context primarily initiated by people with IDD or provided reactively. The participants recommended proactive, formal SE provided by multiple stakeholders throughout adulthood. Conclusions and Relevance: Stakeholders should advocate for policies, standards, and additional training for parents, educators, and health care providers to support SE for people with IDD throughout adulthood. What This Article Adds: Barriers to SE contribute to the current context in which SE is shared with people with IDD. Stakeholders can advocate for policies, standards, and training to overcome these barriers and support recommendations for proactive, formal SE provided by multiple stakeholders through adulthood.

Occupational therapists are ethically bound to provide quality care to assist all people across the life course to engage in meaningful occupations. This sense of purpose, however, is challenged by institutional, systemic, and attitudinal barriers to equitable care for racial and ethnic minorities and other marginalized identities. Future practitioners must learn how to provide culturally appropriate care characterized by awareness, humility, and dexterity in client interactions. This guide offers information, strategies, and resources for enhancing learner knowledge, skills, and attitudes through intentional and effective curriculum design practices. It is intended to assist educators with integrating cultural awareness, humility, and dexterity into intended learning outcomes; course topics; formal, informal, and hidden curricula; teaching approaches; and instructional strategies.

OBJECTIVE. The objective of this study was to describe the effects of curriculum activities on changing attitudes of health professional students toward people with intellectual disabilities (IDs). METHOD. A nonrandomized, pretest–posttest design was used. Participants were college students assigned to one of three groups: two groups of students from different years in the occupational therapy program and one group of public health students. Each group completed the Attitudes Toward Intellectual Disabilities Questionnaire before and after each intervention. RESULTS. No significant differences were found in change of attitude after a lecture on the effects of stigma on people with disabilities. Length of time in program, age, and amount of experience with people with IDs affected changes in attitude for occupational therapy students after a fieldwork intervention. CONCLUSION. Level I fieldwork significantly improved the attitudes of occupational therapy students toward people with IDs, whereas a lecture did not.

OBJECTIVE. We evaluated the impact of a curriculum revision that emphasized experiential use of evidence in clinical environments on occupational therapy graduates’ attitudes, perceived knowledge and skill, and use of evidence in practice. METHODS. We used a retrospective cohort design to compare two curriculum cohorts of recent graduates exposed to different evidence-based practice (EBP) educational approaches. Responses on a validated survey of attitudes, knowledge/skill, and use of evidence in practice were compared using t tests and Mann–Whitney U tests for Cohort 1 (n = 63) and Cohort 2 (n = 62) graduates. RESULTS. Findings suggest similar attitudes and use of evidence between cohorts; Cohort 2 reported statistically greater perceived knowledge of and skill in EBP. CONCLUSIONS. Emphasis on experiential learning in school with reinforcement of skills in clinical learning environments is not sufficient to change graduates’ use of evidence. Although the curriculum revision improved perceived knowledge/skill, our study suggests systems or other factors may influence use after graduation.

St. Catherine University and North Memorial Medical Center conducted an Interprofessional Clinical Scholar Program (ICSP) involving five teams of staff, students, and faculty. The aim of the case study was to determine how the interprofessional teams implemented evidence-based projects. We triangulated data from interviews, field notes, and surveys to produce themes: learning to value interprofessional teams, working as a team, and being evidence-based practitioners. We found significant differences pre- and post-ICSP on the Attitudes Toward Interprofessional Teamwork and Education scale, t(14) = −5.48, p < .005, and the Terminology subscale of the Evidence-Based Practice Profile, t(15) = −4.04, p = .001. We found no change in scores on the Evidence-Based Practice Belief Scale, t(14) = −1.49, p = .156. The study supported predicted patterns of benefits from ICSP. Not all participants benefited because of variability in attendance.

Practitioners’ preparation for, attitudes toward, and experience of the therapeutic relationship and use of self were explored using a survey study with a random sample of 1,000 American Occupational Therapy Association members. Participants reported a high value for the therapeutic relationship and use of self; most felt that they were inadequately trained and that the field lacks sufficient knowledge in these areas. Regardless of practitioners’ age, gender, experience level, setting, treatment intensity, and client impairment, those who placed higher value on the use of self and had more training related to the therapeutic use of self were more likely to report interpersonal difficulties and feelings of positive regard for clients and were more likely to report concerns about clients. The findings suggest that more attention needs to be paid to the therapeutic relationship and to the therapeutic use of self in education and in research.

Community-based practice has always been a central domain of occupational therapy, and evidence supporting its increasing importance is growing. Preparing occupational therapy students for community practice has received considerable attention in professional literature, but students’ voices have seldom been heard concerning this issue. This study sought to investigate attitudes, intentions, and behaviors regarding community service among occupational therapy students enrolled in one professional program using the Community Service Attitudes Survey. We present the Theory of Planned Behavior as a conceptual framework linking students’ attitudes and intentions with behaviors. Results indicate that these occupational therapy students’ attitudes and intentions regarding community service tended to be more strongly positive than those of their counterparts in other allied health disciplines; however, the community service behaviors of occupational therapy students were not significantly different from those of other allied health students, possibly because occupational therapy students perceived high costs to community service.