Importance: The recovery model in mental health involves person-driven care and informed decision making to enhance engagement in meaningful activities and inclusion in society. To facilitate the recovery process, occupational therapy practitioners must support their clients in understanding how their participation in meaningful occupation is intimately related to their health and well-being. Objective: To explore whether engaging in an occupational reflection intervention on an inpatient psychiatric unit can support the recovery of adults living with serious mental illness (SMI). Design: Using a phenomenological design, we conducted semistructured interviews to assess whether participation in an occupational reflection intervention supported recovery. Setting: An inpatient psychiatric unit at a university medical center. Participants: We recruited 10 adults living with SMI using purposive sampling. Intervention: Participants engaged in a structured occupational reflection intervention using the Occupational Experience Profile (OEP). The OEP is a time-use diary that captures respondents’ subjective experiences of pleasure, productivity, restoration, and connection in relation to their participation in occupations over 24 hr. Study participants engaged in collaborative analyses regarding their OEP results to explore their subjective experiences in relation to their occupational participation. Outcomes and Measures: Participant self-report during interviews. Results: Engaging in structured reflection affected participants’ experiences of recovery by promoting insight into and awareness of how occupations affect mental health, encouraging positive reframing of occupational experience, and facilitating identification of strategies to support recovery and meaningful participation after discharge. Conclusions and Relevance: Occupational reflection can promote the recovery of adults living with SMI. What This Article Adds: A structured occupational reflection intervention can help adults living with SMI in inpatient psychiatric units to understand the close relationship between their participation in occupations and their health. This process provides valuable insight to clients regarding how to support their recovery through engagement in meaningful occupation.

Date Presented Accepted for AOTA INSPIRE 2021 but unable to be presented due to online event limitations. This qualitative phenomenology explored the lived experiences of cancer survivors in a community-based, interprofessional survivorship program and explains further exploration for inclusion of OT. Personal themes describing impact on the individuals included (1) journey of spiritual and emotional healing, (2) growing into a new sense of self, and (3) moving from survival to life. Relational themes included (1) building a community of caring and connection and (2) embracing the value of altruism. Primary Author and Speaker: Lynne Murphy Additional Authors and Speakers: Kendall Ellis, Nicole Fox, Sarah Lee, Rachel Lennon, and Gloria Norton

Date Presented Accepted for AOTA INSPIRE 2021 but unable to be presented due to online event limitations. We will share methods and lessons learned from engaging stakeholders in five U.S. regions and connecting them nationally to build research capacity and partnerships. Research capacity building is aimed at identifying stakeholder-driven priorities and outcomes in relation to organization-level OT interventions and how these interventions facilitate community participation and ultimately affect health and well-being of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Primary Author and Speaker: Tracy Jirikowic Additional Authors and Speakers: Roxanna Bendixen,Teal Benevides, and Roger Ideishi Contributing Authors: Robert Smythe, Anna Perng

Date Presented Accepted for AOTA INSPIRE 2021 but unable to be presented due to online event limitations. Parenting in the era of coping with the COVID-19 threat can be extremely challenging. For many parents, managing the family’s daily routines under the pandemic restrictions adds a new and significant dose of domestic and emotional labor to families’ lives and health. Differences between family routines and quality of life before and during the pandemic may highlight the unique needs of families and target appropriate intervention as needed. Primary Author and Speaker: Liat Hen-Herbst Additional Authors and Speakers: Yael Fogel

Date Presented 04/23/21 Young adults with learning disabilities and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (LD–ADHD) face difficulties managing time in their everyday lives. This qualitative analysis investigates the in-depth experiences of time-related obstacles across contexts and the impacts on mental and physical well-being. Knowledge of challenges and impacts can be used in informing interventions that support the occupational performance of college students with LD–ADHD. Primary Author and Speaker: Mackenzi Slamka Additional Authors and Speakers: Rebecca Lord, Raphaela Libunao Contributing Authors: Jennie Dyer, Melissa Lees

Date Presented 04/21/21 A community adaptive sports and recreation program promotes social, physical, and emotional health and well-being for people with disabilities. Since the program's inception, many participants have voluntarily submitted letters and stories describing the program's impact on their daily lives. This research qualitatively examined the significance of engagement in this program on participants' health and well-being by analyzing their true lived experiences, expressed in their own words. Primary Author and Speaker: Sandra Brown Additional Authors and Speakers: Carly Peters, Renee Watling

Date Presented 04/20/21 OT contributes to productive aging by facilitating occupation-based groups, such as volunteering, in order to increase older adults' participation in the community. This poster will address the effectiveness of a volunteer program on community-dwelling older adults' self-perceptions. Volunteer exploration and participation may serve to promote an individual's psychosocial well-being and quality of life. Primary Author and Speaker: Bridget Houghton Additional Authors and Speakers: Margaret Wilhelm, Sara Crandall, Angela Deblasio, Hannah Manczka, and Jeanette Koeth

Date Presented Accepted for AOTA INSPIRE 2021 but unable to be presented due to online event limitations. This study explored the effectiveness of playgroups as part of comprehensive early intervention services using a team-based approach. OTs have a unique role in fostering an inclusive environment in which children participate in play while interacting with their parent and peers. Results from this mixed-methods study indicate that playgroups have potential to build parent competence, increase parent responsiveness, and support the social–emotional development of the child. Primary Author and Speaker: Sarah Fabrizi

Importance: Societal stigma gravely impedes occupational justice for transgender and gender-nonconforming (TGNC) people, producing vast health disparities for this population. Objective: To test the feasibility of an intervention to reduce stigma and improve the well-being of TGNC people. Design: A parallel, mixed-methods design was used to test feasibility in the areas of acceptability, demand, and limited efficacy. Setting: Community. Participants: Forty-two audience members and 5 TGNC interviewees. Intervention: Virtual, narrative-informed play reading and moderated discussion about gender diversity and affirmative care. Outcomes and Measures: The valid and reliable Acceptance and Action Questionnaire–Stigma was used to assess stigma beliefs. An open-ended, qualitative question assessed TGNC interviewees’ experiences. Results: Recruitment and participant responses to the intervention indicated feasibility in the areas of acceptability, demand, and limited efficacy. However, future efforts at obtaining a diverse TGNC sample are needed. Conclusions and Relevance: The intervention decreased stigma beliefs in audience members and offered a positive experience for TGNC participants. Feasibility outcomes warrant future efficacy testing. What This Article Adds: This article adds an innovative intervention for promoting occupational justice to support the health and well-being of TGNC people. The community-based intervention facilitates change in societal attitudes and stigmatizing beliefs.

Now more than ever, the lack of racial and ethnic diversity must be addressed within the health care system, specifically in occupational therapy. This change starts with the successful completion of educational programs by underrepresented minority (URM) occupational therapy students. To increase diversity in the profession, accrediting bodies should mandate support for students of all backgrounds to be successful in higher education. As addressed in the American Occupational Therapy Association 2020 Code of Ethics, the Vision 2025 statement and its pillars, current knowledge on health disparities and occupational therapy demographic data, and other health professional programs’ accreditation standards, there is a need for an addition to, or revision of, the Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE^®) standards to support the recruitment and retention of URM occupational therapy students. What This Article Adds: This column provides an evidence-based rationale to address the need for an ACOTE standard requiring documented efforts to support racial and ethnic diversity within occupational therapy education.

Importance: Occupational therapy students must master knowledge of occupation, yet how educators assess such knowledge has not been explored. In this study, we elucidate robust assessment practices that can help students master knowledge of occupation. Objective: To examine practices that educators use to assess knowledge of occupation. Design: Basic qualitative research. Using inductive and constant comparative methods, we coded 25 interviews and 82 educational artifacts for assessment practices, categorized practices as direct or indirect, and analyzed their alignments with features of robust assessments. Setting: Twenty-five randomly selected occupational therapy and occupational therapy assistant academic programs in the United States, stratified by geographic region and institution type. Participants: Twenty-nine educators who represented selected programs. Results: We found occupation at instruction and program levels primarily in relation to practice using indirect more than direct practices. Assignments were often highly creative and experiential, yet varied in their alignments with established criteria of robust assessments. Conclusions and Relevance: Knowledge of occupation was often intertwined with practice-oriented learning experiences and skills; hence, it was not assessed as a distinctly indispensable learning outcome. Educators can build on current practices to design robust assessments that require students to demonstrate knowledge of occupation in practice contexts and everyday life. What This Article Adds: In this study, we elucidate a continuum of prevalent educational practices used to assess knowledge of occupation; we also review best practices for robust assessments of such knowledge not only related to practice but also as a dynamic instrument of individual and societal well-being more broadly.

Importance: Rural-dwelling Latinos are an underresourced population in need of accessible and effective wellness programs. Objective: To evaluate patients’ long-term health-related outcomes after lifestyle intervention. Design: An uncontrolled pilot trial assessing change in health from pretreatment to long-term follow-up (12 mo after intervention completion, no contact) and from posttreatment to long-term follow-up. Setting: Rural, community-based primary care. Participants: Latino and Hispanic safety-net primary care patients, ages 50 to 64 yr. Intervention: A culturally tailored, 4-mo lifestyle intervention co-led by occupational therapy practitioners and Latino community health workers that features telehealth and in-home sessions covering topics such as healthy eating and navigating health care. Outcomes and Measures: Self-reported and physiological outcomes: symptom–well-being (primary), stress, sleep disturbance, social satisfaction, physical activity, patient activation, blood pressure, and weight. Exit interviews addressed health experiences and intervention impact on participants’ lives. Results: Participants (N = 27) demonstrated clinically significant pretreatment to long-term follow-up benefits in all symptom–well-being dimensions (Cohen’s d ≥ 0.8, p ≤ .004), with additional gains from posttreatment to long-term follow-up (d ≥ 0.4, p ≤ .05). Significant improvements from pre- to posttreatment in systolic blood pressure, stress, and social role and activity satisfaction were maintained at long-term follow-up. No changes were observed in weight, physical activity, or diastolic blood pressure. Participants described the intervention’s sustained positive effect on their wellness. Conclusions and Relevance: A lifestyle intervention led by occupational therapy practitioners and community health workers in a primary care context has potential to achieve long-term health benefits in rural-dwelling, late-midlife Latinos. What This Article Adds: This study reveals that rural, late-midlife Latinos showed long-lasting improvements in psychological and physical health after finishing a program that helped them make healthy lifestyle choices. This finding supports the unique contribution of occupational therapy in primary care settings.

The American Occupational Therapy Association’s (AOTA’s) Vision 2025 conveys a strong commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion ( AOTA, 2019 ). AOTA affirms the inalienable right of every individual to feel welcomed, valued, a sense of belonging, and respected while accessing and participating in society, regardless of the internal or external factors that make every individual unique. This statement supports efforts to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion within all aspects of occupational therapy, including practice, education, and research, as well as policy development and advocacy.

OBJECTIVE. This pilot study is the first to examine the effects of an occupational therapist–led African drumming group on mental well-being among adult psychiatric inpatients with mood disorders. METHOD. We used a quasi-experimental, uncontrolled, one-group, pretest–posttest design. We collected data for six different drumming groups (N = 13) using the Stellenbosch Mood Scale, the Primary Health Questionnaire–9, the Generalized Anxiety Disorder–7 scale, and the Enjoyment of Interaction Scale. RESULTS. Participants significantly improved on all six domains of the Stellenbosch Mood Scale, with a large clinical effect. Participants with higher self-reported anxiety and depression benefited the most. According to the Enjoyment of Interaction Scale results, all the participants enjoyed the drumming “a great deal.” CONCLUSION. Our positive findings suggest that drumming may be an effective intervention for adults with acute mood disorders. We recommend further research that uses a control intervention.

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. The purpose of this study was to estimate the effectiveness of theory-based occupational therapy interventions in improving occupational performance and well-being among people with a mental health diagnosis. METHOD. The meta-analysis included 11 randomized controlled trials with a total of 520 adult participants with a mental health diagnosis. Outcomes were occupational performance, well-being, or both. We conducted meta-analyses using Comprehensive Meta-Analysis software (Version 3.0) with occupational performance and well-being as the dependent variables. RESULTS. Results indicated a medium effect of intervention on improving occupational performance (mean Hedge’s g = 0.50, Z = 4.05, p < .001) and a small effect on well-being (mean Hedge’s g = 0.46, Z = 4.96, p < .001). CONCLUSION. Theory-based occupational therapy interventions may be effective in improving occupational performance and well-being among people with a mental health diagnosis and should be an integral part of rehabilitation services in mental health.

Since the inception of the profession of occupational therapy a century ago, a clarion call to link health with occupation and occupational engagement has been heard. For decades, leaders in the profession have emphasized the need for prevention and health promotion as well as for development of assessments and models linking health with occupation. This article addresses the need for an increased presence of occupational therapy in health and wellness, emphasizing participation over performance, to optimize the health, well-being, and quality of life of individuals, communities, and populations.