Importance: Occupational therapy practitioners should use evidence-based practices, such as video modeling, to address work occupations supporting people with autism spectrum disorder, including those with co-occurring intellectual and developmental disabilities. Objective: To examine the evidence and relevance of video modeling supporting engagement in work occupations for people with autism and to translate these findings to occupational therapy practice. Data Sources: Cochrane Collection Plus, CINAHL, PubMed, ERIC, ProQuest, and peer-reviewed occupational therapy literature from 2008 to 2018. Study Selection and Data Collection: This review followed Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. Study selection and data collection focused on occupational therapy scope of practice, autism spectrum disorder, co-occurring intellectual and developmental disabilities, video modeling, and work occupations for people age 16 yr and older. Findings: A total of 464 articles were screened. Six articles met inclusion criteria. Results indicated moderate evidence for video modeling to support work occupations for people with autism, specifically employment seeking and acquisition and specific job-performance skills. Samples were limited to people younger than age 28 yr and represented varied intellectual abilities, indicating potential for benefits across the spectrum of cognitive functioning. Conclusions and Relevance: This systematic review highlights the promising potential of video modeling to address work occupations for people with autism. However, more rigorous effectiveness research is needed, including studies by occupational therapy practitioners. What This Article Adds: Occupational therapy expertise paired with video modeling, as a strengths-based, client-centered, customizable, socially acceptable intervention, can provide meaningful support for work occupations.

Objectives. The purposes of this study were to (a) establish biomechanical and physiological normative data for healthy young women performing three tasks on the Baltimore Therapeutic Equipment work simulator (BTE): wheel-turn, push-pull, and overhead-reach; and (b) compare these data with previously reported values for healthy men of a similar age group. Method. Twenty women completed five test sessions: (a) task familiarization on the BTE to determine the work intensity that was perceived as hard on the Borg scale, (b) incremental test on an arm crank ergometer to measure peak oxygen uptake (VO₂) and peak heart rate (HR), and (c) one of the three tasks in random order for 4 min during the next three sessions. Physiological responses were monitored with a metabolic cart interfaced with an electrocardiogram. Results. Torque, work, and power during the three tasks were significantly higher (p <.05) in men than in women. The absolute VO₂ (L. min^-1) during these tasks was higher in men, but when the VO₂ was calculated relative to body weight (ml.kg^-1 .min^-1). no significant (p > .05) gender differences were observed. Computation of energy expenditure relative to body weight and power output (cal.kg^-1 .W^-1) indicated that women expended significantly (p < .05) more energy than men. No significant (p > .05) gender differences were observed for VO₂ and HR when the values were expressed as a percentage of their respective peaks. Conclusions. Findings indicated that (a) the functional work capacity is significantly lower in women than in men, (b) women are less efficient than men when the energy expenditure is expressed per unit of body weight and power output, and (c) the relative physiological stress in men and women is similar under these conditions.

This study focuses on two basic research questions: 1. Do discrepancies exist between the way hospital-based occupational therapy department directors perceive their managerial leadership and the way their occupational therapy staff members perceive the directors’ leadership? 2. What effect does the managerial leadership of the directors have on staff occupational therapists’ job performance? Mailed questionnaires were completed by 93 occupational therapy directors and 348 nonmanagerial registered occupational therapists who were employed in hospitals throughout the continental United States. The directors and their staff members demonstrated significant differences in their assessments of the directors’ managerial leadership styles; directors generally gave themselves higher ratings than did their staff members. The occupational therapy directors gave their staff high job performance ratings. Also, discrepancies between the directors’ and their staff occupational therapists’ ratings of the directors’ leadership styles correlated negatively with staff job performance. The results of the study suggest some potentially beneficial management training topics for department directors.