The American journal of occupational therapy : official publication of the American Occupational Therapy Association
-
Case Reports
Occupational Therapy Interventions for Productive Aging Among Community-Dwelling Older Adults.
Evidence Connection articles provide clinical application of systematic reviews developed in conjunction with the American Occupational Therapy Association's (AOTA's) Evidence-Based Practice Project. In this Evidence Connection article, we describe a case report of an older adult who was referred to outpatient occupational therapy services due to chronic back pain from herniated discs. ⋯ Each article in the Evidence Connection series summarizes the evidence from the published reviews on a given topic and presents an application of the evidence to a related clinical case. These articles illustrate how the research evidence from the reviews can be used to inform and guide clinical decision making.
-
Sensory symptoms in people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are commonly reported by researchers. However, an often overlooked sensory aspect of ASD is sensory discrimination in general, and somatosensory discrimination in particular. ⋯ The occupational therapy evaluation of people with ASD can benefit from addressing somatosensory discrimination and its contribution to other clinical symptoms. This type of assessment can help improve intervention strategies for people with ASD by promoting a focus on the effect of discrimination deficits on daily function.
-
People with sensory overresponsiveness (SOR) perceive nonpainful stimuli as noxious and demonstrate hyperalgesia and lingering sensation to laboratory pain stimuli. Electroencephalography (EEG) of cortical activity at rest is widely used to explore endophenotypes but has not yet been tested in people with SOR. Therefore, we investigated the characteristics of resting-state EEG in participants with SOR. ⋯ Reduced α activity is commonly interpreted as an electrophysiological indicator of arousal and sensitivity to pain. The EEG pattern of response may partly explain the reported ongoing daily alertness to environmental stimuli in participants with SOR.
-
Occupational engagement is the foundation of occupational therapy. We identified perspectives of 18 occupational therapy practitioners on integrating occupation-based interventions during postacute care (PAC) rehabilitation for persons with hip fracture to identify occupational therapy's distinct contribution. ⋯ Identifying practitioners' perspectives on integrating occupation into rehabilitation may inform strategies to facilitate occupation-based interventions in PAC and define occupational therapy's role in this setting.
-
This study explored differences in perspectives on quality of life (QOL) between people affected by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and their caregivers. QOL is often thought of as related to physical limitations, without consideration of other factors (e.g., cognitive, emotional) that may be stronger predictors of QOL in people with long-term degenerative diseases. ⋯ Thirty dyads from the Augusta University Health ALS Clinic completed a measure of QOL, and we compared the results and identified patterns. The most prominent finding was that members of the dyads misunderstood the mental experiences of one another.