Date Presented 04/13/21 Children with unilateral cerebral palsy participating in repeat doses of pediatric constraint-induced movement therapy camp augmented with the Hocoma Armeo®Spring demonstrated significant improvements in hand function and bimanual performance for both doses and showed a generalized upward trend in hand function over time. Primary Author and Speaker: Heather Roberts Additional Authors and Speakers: Sara P. Johnston, David Plutschack

Date Presented 04/13/21 Camp staff play a vital role in the occupational and social development of children in residential camps. However, many children with hearing impairments continue to experience exclusion in the inclusive camp environment. Camp staff report that feelings of lack of training and equipment limit their ability to work with this population. This study researched the perspectives of camp staff and parents of children with hearing impairments to develop accessibility and inclusionary strategies. Primary Author and Speaker: Tiffany Lynee Coles Additional Authors and Speakers: Rebecca L. S. Knowles

Importance: Although an essential component of best practice, wheelchair skills training is often inadequate; occupational therapy practitioners’ professional preparation is a contributing factor. Objective: To assess the effectiveness of a boot camp on capacity and self-efficacy in wheelchair skills and self-efficacy in clinical practice, retention of improvements, and effective boot-camp attributes. Design: Concurrent, embedded, mixed-methods cohort design that used blinded, repeated-measures quantitative evaluation with 4-mo follow-up and directed content analysis of a qualitative questionnaire. Setting: University entry-to-practice program. Participants: Convenience sample (N = 42) of final-year students. Intervention: A 4-hr boot camp with demonstration and supervised practice. Content incorporated skill performance, training and motor-learning strategies, and safe supervision. Outcomes and Measures: Skill performance capacity (Wheelchair Skills Test–Questionnaire), self-efficacy with manual wheelchair use (Wheelchair Use Confidence Scale), confidence in provision of manual wheelchair training services (Self-Efficacy in Assessing, Training, and Spotting test), and a boot-camp experience questionnaire. Results: Within-subjects analysis of variance revealed significant improvements on all measures (p < .001) with large effect sizes (η_p² = .68–.88). All measures except skill capacity demonstrated retention; skill capacity decreased 5.3% (95% confidence interval [2.0, 8.5]) but was significantly higher than baseline. Three themes influenced practice confidence: knowledge acquisition, experiential learning, and client empathy. Conclusions and Relevance: Results confirm improved wheelchair self-efficacy, capacity, and self-efficacy with clinical intervention skills. Retention of outcomes suggests the potential impact on future practice. Experiential learning supports performance component acquisition and imparts empathy of client experience, which may improve occupational therapy practitioners’ perceptions of client potential. What This Article Adds: A 4-hr experiential boot camp can increase students’ capacity and confidence to deliver wheelchair skills training to future clients. Experiential learning increased students’ appreciation for clients’ experience and expectation of client potential.

OBJECTIVE. We evaluated the impact of a 1-wk activity program on the health, quality of life (QOL), and occupational performance of community-living women diagnosed with cancer. METHOD. A one-group pretest–posttest repeated-measures design was used. Participants completed a functional health measure (36-Item Short Form Health Survey [SF–36]), a QOL measure (World Health Organization Quality of Life–Brief version [WHOQOL–BREF]), and an occupational performance and satisfaction measure (Canadian Occupational Performance Measure [COPM]) before and 6 wk after program completion. The COPM was also administered on Day 5. RESULTS. Paired t tests for the SF–36 and WHOQOL–BREF showed no significant differences, except for the WHOQOL–BREF’s Social Relationships subscale (p < .008). Repeated-measures analyses of variance showed a significant difference in COPM performance and satisfaction scores (p < .001). CONCLUSION. The activity program effectively improved occupational performance and satisfaction and social relationships of community-living women diagnosed with cancer.