Women with a high-risk pregnancy on hospitalized bedrest engaged in relaxation interventions, including guided imagery, visual imagery, and listening to music. Qualitative interviews gathered their perspectives on the effects of hospitalized bedrest on well-being and the subjective experiences related to the relaxation interventions. Benefits identified included improved physical well-being and sleep. Such relaxation interventions were concluded to have the potential to positively influence the occupational well-being of this population, resulting in more positive outcomes for mothers.

OBJECTIVE. We examined the effects of a guided imagery intervention on perceived stress in pregnant adolescents. METHOD. Thirty-five pregnant adolescents recruited from a local alternative education program participated in a guided imagery intervention. Participants listened to a pregnancy-specific guided imagery recording on four separate occasions during their pregnancies. Perceived stress was measured immediately before and after each session using the Perceived Stress Measure–9 (PSM–9). RESULTS. Participants’ pre- and postsession PSM–9 scores for three of the four sessions demonstrated a significant reduction in stress. Participants’ baseline stress levels also decreased significantly across the four listening sessions. The greatest reductions in stress within and between sessions occurred in the early sessions, with effects diminishing over time. CONCLUSION. Pregnant teens experienced initial short- and long-term stress reduction during a guided imagery intervention, supporting the use of guided imagery to reduce stress in pregnant adolescents.

Objectives. This study extends previous research that contrasted occupational forms with elderly persons living in institutions to include elderly women living independently. In addition to differences in number of repetitions elicited, the current study measured heart rate response and perceived rest period duration. Method. Forty-five women over the age of 65 years were randomly assigned to one of three occupational forms: materials based (kicking a balloon), imagery based (kicking an imaginary balloon), and rote exercise (performing a kicking movement without a balloon or imagery prompt). Subjects were instructed to perform the assigned lower-extremity movement until they fatigued and after a self-determined period of rest indicated when they felt able to do another set of movements. Dependent variables included number of repetitions of movement, heart rate (at baseline, at completion of movements, at end of rest period), duration of movement, and self-perceived rest period. Group means for each variable were compared using analyses of variance. Results. Groups showed no significant difference in baseline and demographic data. Subjects in the materials-based occupational form performed significantly more repetitions and required a significantly longer self-perceived rest period than subjects in the imagery-based and rote exercise forms. There were no significant differences among the groups for heart rate response. Duration of movement and number of repetitions variables were strongly correlated (r = .95), indicating lack of independence. Conclusions. The materials-based occupational form elicited a quantitatively different performance than the other forms. Given the relatively fuller experience (i.e., interaction with an object, clear objective) of the materials-based form, an occupational form that has added meaning for the person appears to result in enhanced performance when compared with forms that lack strong meaning and suggest more limited purposes.

Objectives. This study examined, through kinematic analysis, the effect of occupational form on reaching performance. The hypothesis was that reaching performance would show an enhanced quality of movement in materials-based occupation (i.e., pick up a pencil and prepare to write one’s own name) than in imagery-based occupation (i.e., pretend to pick up a pencil and prepare to sign one’s own name) and in exercise (i.e., move the arm forward). It was further hypothesized that imagery-based occupation would elicit better performance than exercise. Method. The reaching performance was measured, using WATSMART^™ (Waterloo Spatial Motion Analysis & Recording Technique), by the variables including reaction time, movement time, number of movement units, total displacement, the amplitude of peak velocity, and percentage of reach in which peak velocity occurred. A repeated-measures counterbalanced research design was used with 37 female college students. Contrast analysis was used to test the hypotheses. Results. Materials-based occupation elicited enhanced quality of movement performance, as compared with imagery-based occupation and exercise. However, exercise seemed to elicit better performance than imagery-based occupation. Conclusion. The practical implication is that materials-based occupation might be used to elicit enhanced quality of reaching movement in occupational therapy intervention.

Materials-based occupation, imagery-based occupation, and rote exercise have been examined individually by several researchers. The present study compares all three approaches with one another (i.e., kicking a balloon, imagining kicking a balloon, and a control rote exercise) in nursing home residents. The dependent variable was the number of exercise repetitions. The subjects were 12 women and 3 men between 56 and 93 years of age residing in two nursing homes. All subjects experienced the three approaches but in different orders. One-way analysis of variance for related measures indicated a significant difference among conditions (p = .004). The Tukey procedure (Stevens, 1986) determined that the materials-based occupation condition elicited significantly more repetitions than the other two conditions. The difference between the imagery-based occupation and rote exercise was not statistically significant. These findings support our profession’s historical emphasis on the use of physical materials to enhance performance.

Many studies have documented the effectiveness of verbally elicited imagery in the enhancement of motor skills in young, nondisabled populations. The present study examined the effects of verbally elicited imagery in the encouragement of two exercises (i.e., reaching up to pick apples and reaching down to pick up coins) in elderly women. The subjects were 27 women between 62 and 96 years of age who were selected from a nursing home, a residential retirement home, and a foster care home. All of the subjects received imagery as well as control conditions, but in a counterbalanced fashion. The Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed rank tests indicated that the imagery condition elicited significantly more repetitions of the reaching-up exercise than did the control condition (z = 2.25, p [one-tailed] = .012). The results in the reaching-down exercise were generally in the same direction but difficult to interpret statistically. The results are discussed in terms of other recent research investigating ways to add purpose to therapeutic exercise through occupation. Clinicians are urged to explore the advantages and disadvantages of imagery-based occupations in treatment.