Unpaid caregivers are often expected to help family members or friends overcome activity limitations and participation restrictions to successfully age in place. Caregivers assume multiple responsibilities, such as managing their own physical and psychosocial needs and navigating a complex health care system, and many feel ill equipped to fulfill the necessary health care responsibilities for their care recipients. Underprepared caregivers may cause poor outcomes for care recipients. Federal and state policy proposals call attention to the need to better support caregivers, especially as their numbers increase. Occupational therapy practitioners are well positioned to effectively engage caregivers as they navigate the health care system. The occupational therapy process looks broadly at the functional abilities, environmental contexts, and occupational demands that play a pivotal role in successful aging in place for clients and better outcomes for their caregivers. Now is the time to define occupational therapy’s distinct value to this area.

Date Presented 04/19/21 Because drug and alcohol addiction remains a significant societal concern, it is important to understand the experiences and the daily lives of those affected. The results of this research add to the growing knowledge of the potential role for OT for individuals with substance-related disorders. Additionally, the results emphasize the distinct value that OT has in fostering an interdisciplinary approach to the treatment of substance-related disorders. Primary Author and Speaker: Roshni Patel Additional Authors and Speakers: Hyun Kyoon Lim Contributing Authors: Il Doh

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

This systematic review presents research on the effectiveness of occupation- and activity-based interventions to improve everyday activities and areas of occupation and social participation for people with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Nineteen studies identified through a comprehensive database search were reviewed and synthesized into five themes: (1) multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary treatment approaches, (2) community-based rehabilitation programs, (3) treatment approaches using client-centered goals and relevant contexts, (4) social skills training and peer mentoring interventions, and (5) community mobility interventions. Evidence supports the use of multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches across a variety of settings, with no single treatment approach or setting clearly superior to another. The specific contributions of occupational therapy practitioners and the nature of occupational therapy interventions have not been well studied, making it difficult to determine the extent to which occupation- and activity-based interventions provided by occupational therapy practitioners improve occupational performance and social participation after TBI.