Date Presented Accepted for AOTA INSPIRE 2021 but unable to be presented due to online event limitations. This study will provide knowledge for OTs in the United States about how OTs can potentially assist survivors to reintegrate into society as well as how OT can contribute to the prevention efforts in the antitrafficking movement. Increased understanding of OTs' role in providing services to human-trafficking survivors will contribute to the advancement of care provision to human-trafficking survivors overall. Primary Author and Speaker: Sarbinaz Bekmuratova Contributing Authors: Nicole Amato, Taran Pottebaum, Amanda Ruether, Madeline Smith, and Monica Williams

Date Presented 04/7/21 A pilot for integrating OT into a Department of Corrections Community Supervision Center was implemented. This pilot sought to use OT assessment and intervention for justice-involved individuals to address skill building, increase problem solving, and further explore the needs and barriers to re-entry, including maintenance of supervision to prevent recidivism. This pilot highlighted a gap in life skills training for this population and this program's impact. Primary Author and Speaker: Ariana Gonzalez Additional Authors and Speakers: Megan Davis, Emily Gralinski, Stephanie Monforte,and Jacqueline Strausser

Lung cancer claims more lives than any other cancer in the world and remains difficult to diagnose in the early stages. This article examines the current state of lung cancer detection and screening via low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) in Alaska and considers potential opportunities for occupational therapy practitioners in primary care settings. Medicare requires at least one documented shared decision-making encounter between provider and patient before LDCT lung cancer screening occurs. As a result of time constraints, documentation requirements, and the plethora of preventive health services they provide, primary care physicians often lack the time and training to conduct this essential service. This provides an opportunity for occupational therapy practitioners to perform these services as part of their practice and to play a role in this area as patient educators and prevention specialists in primary care settings. What This Article Adds: This article explores the national health crisis of lung cancer and describes how occupational therapists can participate in providing care in primary care settings.

OBJECTIVE. We examined the effectiveness of interventions within the scope of occupational therapy to improve the performance of instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs) for community-dwelling older adults. METHOD. We searched and examined the literature (2008 through 2016) using four electronic databases. Fourteen studies met the inclusion criteria and were critically appraised and synthesized. RESULTS. Analysis revealed four thematic areas: cognitive, self-management, prevention, and home-based multidisciplinary rehabilitation interventions. Strong evidence supports the use of tailored, multidisciplinary, home-based care programs to support older adults to maintain IADL improvements over time and the use of cognitive interventions to improve memory, executive function, functional status, and everyday problem solving. In addition, strong evidence indicates that tailored home-based preventive sessions were beneficial to mediate functional disability and satisfaction with performance. CONCLUSION. Evidence supports tailored interventions designed to enhance IADL performance. More studies are needed that focus on IADLs specifically and that use IADLs in their interventions.

An estimated 313 million workplace accidents resulting in injury occur worldwide every year. Therefore, the burden of workplace injury and disability is present at the individual and the societal level and involves several stakeholders. There has been a shift in paradigm from workplace disability and injury treatment to workplace disability prevention. Occupational therapy practitioners are well positioned to address this multifaceted societal issue. Opening communication lines among stakeholders allows for a more holistic, collaborative, and comprehensive approach to disability, injury, and pain management. The positive results researchers have found at the individual level when using a holistic approach translate to benefits for all of the stakeholders involved. Occupational therapy practitioners may espouse a work disability prevention approach to reduce work disability rates and provide timely return-to-work outcomes for clients. The transition to the preventative model requires collaboration among stakeholders but would be beneficial to all stakeholders involved in the workplace.

More than 2 million U.S. military servicemembers have deployed to Afghanistan or Iraq since September 11, 2001. Unlike during prior conflicts, many servicemembers leave spouses and children behind. Long, multiple deployments cause strain on family at home, with new challenges arising when servicemembers return from combat and reintegrate into family and civilian life. In World Wars I and II, occupational therapy practitioners played a significant role in supporting servicemember reintegration. However, their presence in program delivery in this practice area is limited. Occupational therapy researchers and practitioners can make a valuable contribution by helping families tailor daily activities and routines to address challenges and optimize health and wellness. However, barriers such as reimbursement for services, workforce availability, and access to military families have limited the profession’s full engagement. Advocacy is needed to help establish occupational therapy as a key component of the mental and preventive health care teams serving military servicemembers.

Health care reform presents opportunities for occupational therapy professionals to play a key role in improving the health of a population through prevention and wellness.

Objective numerical data on swallowing function are needed to aid in eating and swallowing intervention and preventive rehabilitation. Using noninvasive methods, the influences of age and differences in size of water bolus on laryngeal activity and respiratory activity were examined in healthy young and older women. Swallowing function was influenced by age and bolus size. Influence of bolus size was recognized only in duration of laryngeal movement in younger women, with no apparent influence in older women. Results for older women were thought to be related to declines in swallowing function with the physiological aging of respiratory and swallowing muscles. In the future, noninvasive methods need to be developed for evaluating function and therapeutic effects against swallowing function impairment and to provide objective numerical data for health insurers.

OBJECTIVE. The purpose of this study was to evaluate a pilot occupational therapy wellness program designed to teach elders the importance of participation in meaningful social and community occupations to their quality of life. METHOD. Sixty-five older adults participated in this pilot wellness program held at each of three senior apartment complexes. Measures of health-related quality of life using the SF-36 Health Survey and frequencies of social and community participation from a program-specific intake form were completed by 39 participants before and after the 6-month program. Participants also evaluated components of the program through a satisfaction survey. RESULTS. Scores on the SF-36 Health Survey were significantly higher in vitality, social functioning, and the mental health summary scores following participation in the program. Participants reported an increased frequency of socialization and community participation with an average of 55% participating in at least three or more activities per week before the program to an average of 66% participating after the program. Participants who benefited the most attended more classes, were older, and were nondrivers. Eighty percent of those polled rated the pilot program as good or excellent. CONCLUSION. This pilot study provides additional support for prevention efforts for elders in the community. Wellness programs for seniors may be most effective if targeted to those who are older and non-drivers.

Objective. This clinical study investigated the effects of an individually fabricated prone positioner on heart rate, respiratory rate, and scapular position of premature infants in the neonatal intensive care unit. The prone positioner consisted of dense foam with cutouts to position the shoulders forward and toward midline. Method. Six measurements of scapular rotation, respiratory rate, heart rate, and behavioral state were made with 20 infants on and off the prone positioner. The repeated measures allowed each infant to act as his or her own control. Results. Heart and respiratory rates were not significantly different between the two methods of prone positioning. Upward scapular rotation was significantly greater with the infant on the prone positioner. Behavioral state did not influence the results. Conclusion. These results suggest that a prone positioner can be helpful in the prevention of scapular–humeral tightness and shoulder retraction commonly observed in premature infants.

Objectives. Fifteen subjects with upper extremity, work-related cumulative trauma disorders were involved in a quality improvement study to determine their self-reported degree of follow-through with reinjury prevention regimens. The effect of cuing was also studied. Method. During occupational therapy, subjects were involved in an educational session that focused on recommendations in ergonomic equipment, therapeutic maintenance techniques, body mechanics, and work simplification techniques. Follow-through with reinjury prevention education was evaluated and rated via telephone interviews approximately 2 weeks (T₁ ) and 4 weeks (T₂ ) after the educational session. Subjects did not know the questions they would be asked at T₁, but were cued that their progress would be checked again at T₂. Dependent t tests were conducted to compare the mean number of recommendations for which complete follow-through was expected with the mean number of recommendations at T₁ and T₂ that were implemented completely. Results. A significantly lower degree was found of absolute completion of recommendations at T₁ and T₂ than had been anticipated (p < .002). No significant difference between T₁ and T₂ was found, indicating that cuing at T₁ had little effect on subjects’ actual follow-through rate. Conclusion. The implications of these findings for occupational therapists support the need for further reaserch in reinjury prevention and employer education.

A unique, nontraditional occupational therapy role focusing on primary prevention, community health promotion, and enhancement for a nonpatient population is examined. The purpose of this ongoing consultancy project was to develop a series of life skills and prevocational programs for an ethnic population of native Americans from elementary school through high school and post-secondary adulthood levels in British Columbia, Canada, from 1986 to 1990. This consultancy evolved from a philosophy of renewing and preserving the culturally distinct ethnic heritage and tribal integrity of this native American community. Knowledge about sociocultural systems theory, anthropology, and developmental cognitive-behavioral learning theories are combined with ongoing clinical experience in psychosocial occupational therapy practice and consultancy principles to develop life skills and an educational, community-based prevention/wellness educational program model. Subsequent modifications of the original model, with consultancy recommendations for implementation of future programs, are based on tribal members’ feedback and concerns elicited with psychosocial and ethnographic interviewing techniques during villager community meetings. The replicability of this primary prevention and wellness life skills program model offers numerous possibilities for occupational therapists to develop similar programs within the cultural contexts and perceived needs of specific ethnic groups in other nontraditional community-based settings.

The influence of pre-retirement leisure activity patterns on retirement planning and attitudes toward retirement was investigated. Sixty male retirees answered a questionnaire designed to collect data regarding sociodemographic variables, the degree of pre-retirement planning, the type and extent of leisure participation before and after retirement, and attitudes about retirement. The results show that a high degree of pre-retirement leisure participation correlates with a high degree of pre-retirement planning. No statistically significant relationships were demonstrated between pre-retirement planning and retirement attitudes or between pre-retirement leisure participation and retirement attitudes. The influence of specific types of activities on the retirement process was also examined and results are presented. . . . For us, in occupational therapy, the most fundamental area of research is, and probably always will be, the nature and meaning of activity.(Mary Reilly, 1, p 208)