Yogatise is a home-based, online yoga program that was specifically developed for children and youth with disabilities between 6 and 17 years of age to create a meaningful occupation outside of school and to increase their social, emotional and physical well-being. It has been found that children and youth with disabilities experience occupational injustice including limited participation in sports, music programs and other organized social activities in schools. The Social Cognitive Theory and the Mindfulness theory provide the theoretical foundation of the problem and the development of the program Yogatise. A search of the evidence-based literature on well-being in children and youth with disabilities and yoga-based interventions showed that important social, emotional and physical skills in these individuals can be increased through these interventions. Yogatise was developed to offer children and youth with disabilities the opportunity to practice yoga according to their unique abilities and skills. It was created to reach children and youth with a variety of disabilities internationally to improve their occupational performance, occupational participation and occupational justice. Yogatise can increase an individual’s well-being and decrease long-term challenges to their school education, future employment and housing. The program involves families and caregivers and offers a community of like-minded people. Yogatise is unique in its focus on the particular needs and abilities of each particular participant and provides the possibility to practice yoga on their terms (e.g., personal schedule, abilities). Yogatise can be implemented in health care facilities, yoga studios and schools.

The literature has shown that although, individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) tend to be excluded from sexual health education (Davies & Dubie, 2012). A lack of adequate sex education puts them at risk for negative factors. The literature has shown that intense and proper education usually does not take place until the individual with ASD has been the victim or committed a sexual offense (Group & Watter, 2018; Loftin & Hartlage, 2015). Sexual Health education should take place in the home, school and community settings for all individuals with ASD. The Sexual Health Education and Expression for Adolescents with Autism (SHEA) program serves an online teaching curriculum for entry and advanced level occupational therapy practitioners (OTPs) to become more competent and equipped in addressing sexuality and educational needs in ASD. The vision of the SHEA program is to provide essential sexual health education to individuals with ASD, OTPs and provide an additional resource for the caregivers and health care professionals. The author’s overall goal of the SHEA program is to improve the educational gap in learned sexual behaviors in individuals with Autism; therefore, decreasing the chance of an inappropriate behavior or experience to take place. Education is key! As OTPs, we must go over and beyond to keep our client’s safe. We must sell our expertise in all areas of practice. We are creative! We are unique!

The problem is the current challenge of the acute care environment itself, which includes significant intra-professional challenges for occupational therapists. The evidence reviewed revealed that occupational therapists have difficulty maintaining a holistic approach with a lack of standardization in how they deliver care and an ever decreasing length of stay in which to provide said care (Atwal & Caldwell, 2003; Britton et al., 2015; Crennan & MacRae, 2010). Collaborative Care is a program proposing to increase client-centeredness and client collaboration through the consistent use of subjective and objective assessments. These assessments are complementary to one another yet serve to deepen and broaden the occupational therapist’s understanding of each client as an individual. They aim to allow the therapist to capture essential, yet holistic, information about each client’s occupations for an optimal discharge and functional independence post-discharge. While many acute care settings are incorporating the use of one or more of these strategies, there is no evidence to show that all are being used as a cohesive, programmatic manner for increased standardization and quality of care (Crennan & MacRae, 2010; Griffin & McConnell, 2001).

RA Empowerment is a self-management program for young and middle-aged with rheumatoid arthritis that supports them in implementing and sustaining health-promoting habits and routines. This doctoral project explores the unique needs of this population in managing their health and describes the development of RA Empowerment.

Postsecondary programs for students with intellectual disabilities or neurological and autism spectrum disorders require access to vocational training, continuing education, independent living opportunities, and community participation as defined by the Individuals with Disabilities Act of 2004 (U.S. Department of Education, 2020). According to the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (2020), students identified through an individual education plan are entitled to receive special education services until their 22nd birthday. Because many postsecondary or transitional programs are offered to these students on high-school campuses, these students often remain at their high schools for 6 years, or until they turn 22 years old. New and creative programming is needed to successfully transition life-skills students into adulthood. Occupational therapy practitioners can play a key role in creating and assessing transition goals and objectives. The goal outcome of the College Access Maximizing Participation for Us (CAMPUS) program is to establish a relationship with an occupational therapy (OT) department at a local community college or university for use of their OT laboratory and academic classroom. In this way, the postsecondary students would gain access to facilities that include a kitchen, laundry, and bedroom space. The collaboration would also create Level I fieldwork placements for OT students because the postsecondary program is run by a school-based occupational therapist. Further, developing a postsecondary program on a college campus allows postsecondary students to interact with age-appropriate peers and work on valuable and meaningful occupations in an adult learning environment.

The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) environment exposes infants to a constant barrage of negative stimuli that impact the long-term development of the neonatal brain. Neurodevelopmental Supportive Care (NDSC) are specific applications to protect neonatal brain development and foster family support care. Neonatal occupational therapists (NT OT) are vital members of the NICU team and integral to the implementation of NDSC. Premature births in Greece have increased from 9.62% in 2008 to 11.18% in 2010, to an estimated rate of 20% in 2019, creating dramatic need for preventive interventions. Appropriate neuroprotective care for these infants is of critical importance. However, there is a void of data on NDSC applications and NT OT staffing in Greek NICUs. To facilitate implementation of these practices in Greece, it is important to first raise awareness of NDSC and OT NT to the NICU personnel, medical and other healthcare disciplines, government agencies, and the general public. The author’s “NEOGNO” online program is an innovative health awareness program in Greece aimed at promoting NDSC and NT OT in all NICUs, endorsing future NDSC and NT OT research, and establishing strong advocacy for newborn neuroprotection. The program is guided by the Health Belief Model (HBM) which targets the awareness, attitudes, perceptions, and beliefs of the health care professional community that impact the application of NDSC and neonatal OT in NICUs. NEOGNO’s platform offers a plethora of evidence-based information at different levels of complexity to address the diversity of participants’ interests. The platform also includes a participant program evaluation questionnaire, and an exploratory survey for data collection for an upcoming first exploratory research on NDSC in Greece by the same author. A program evaluation research checklist will assist in the assessment of NEOGNO by stakeholders before, during and after the launching of the program. Dissemination efforts will continue using electronic media and expanding beyond the borders of Greece. Funding of NEOGNO will initially derive from the author’s private practice until other public and private sources are located. NEOGNO is the first of its kind health awareness program in Greece, and a launching point for future change in current practices in Greek NICUs, OT, public and private funding of neonatal neuroprotection, and for the inauguration of NDSC and NT OT research. Most importantly, NEOGNO will become a strong voice for the fragile infants and their families.

Meeting the sensory needs of young children with Autism Spectrum Disorder can be challenging for special education teachers and staff. Children with ASD often experience sensory processing challenge, in turn impacting their ability to participate in daily occupations such as play (Schaff, et al., 2018). Evidence reveals that teachers have varying comfort and competence levels with implementing sensory interventions within the classroom (Noddings, 2012). In order to address these challenges, training and implementation programs need to meet the needs of special education teachers and students. Occupational therapy practitioners utilize their expertise in order to work collaboratively with teachers to allow students with ASD learn in the least restrictive environment. This two-phased proposed program, “Preschool teacher training and education to support the integration of sensory-based curriculum to improve play skills” (PTTE-SI), will provide special education teachers and staff with the knowledge necessary to accommodate each student’s sensory needs throughout the school day. The first phase of the program will occur over three, one-hour in-service sessions within the integrated preschool classroom. Phase two of the program, the implementation phase, will occur over 8 weeks. During this phase the special education teachers and staff will have the opportunity to implement what they learned during training. The occupational therapist and special education teacher will consult weekly in order to adjust sensory programming to meet each individual student’s needs. Goals for the special education teachers and staff include increasing confidence and competence related to knowledge on sensory processing behaviors and needs and increased ability to implement sensory activities into the curriculum. For students, the goal is to decrease undesired behaviors and increase play opportunities throughout the school day. In the long term, the goal is to improve student play skills. This program aims to provide teachers with the necessary resources and evidence-based teaching approaches to support students with ASD within the natural context.

In the United States every year, approximately 7,200 infants are born with a critical congenital heart defect (cCHD), a life-threatening condition that often requires infant hospitalization and multiple surgeries after an infant's birth (CDC, 2020). A diagnosis of cCHD before birth, or prenatally, is almost always unexpected and leads to disruptions in parental occupations, or the everyday activities associated with being a parent. Current literature has revealed that parents are not equipped to navigate the challenges and barriers associated with parenting a hospitalized, critically ill infant. Lack of parent preparedness along with several other contributing factors have been associated with increased parent stress, difficulties with parent/infant bonding and a negative impact on parent mental health and quality of life. Prenatal parent education programs often have positive effects on parent outcomes. However, they typically focus on the childbirth process rather than empowering parents and preparing them for the early stages of parenthood (Entsieh & Hallström, 2016). For decades, occupational therapy practitioners have supported critically ill infants and their parents through family education, health promotion and advocacy, focusing on developmental, physical, and mental health. The following chapters provide an overview of current literature supporting the identified problem and a proposed solution; From Worry, to Warriors, a virtual parent empowerment program that utilizes key constructs from the profession of occupational therapy. Through participation in this program, parents will gain new knowledge, confidence, and a critical support network to navigate the challenges of becoming a parent to a critically ill infant.

School-based occupational therapy practitioners (OTPs) often face challenges impacting their ability to collaborate and communicate consistently with educators, including decreased time, lack of resources, educators’ limited knowledge regarding occupational therapy (OT) scope of practice, informal communication and decreased focus on preventive or classroom-wide strategies (Truong & Hodgetts, 2017; Benson et al., 2016; Bucey & Provident, 2018; Miller-Kuhaneck & Watling, 2018). These factors then decrease carry-over of OT strategies into the classroom for greater generalization of skills (Truong & Hodgetts, 2017). Additionally, educators may have difficulty generating necessary information for OT screening and evaluation referrals (Truong & Hodgetts, 2017). There is a need for collaboration to occur more regularly within a formalized context in the school setting. Best Practices for School-Based Occupational Therapy Practitioners and Elementary School Educators Collaboration: A Hybrid Training Model, seeks to address many of these challenges through a theory-driven and evidence-based educational training program for elementary school educators. The training is provided in a hybrid format with the educational content being presented on the Nearpod platform, and in-person collaboration opportunities with the facilitating OTP to occur twice during the program in order to individualize the program content. The training program seeks to increase the elementary school educators’ knowledge regarding school-based OT scope of practice and increase their self-efficacy and knowledge in relation to implementing OT strategies into their classroom. Long term impacts of the program seek to improve students’ academic Individualized Education Program (IEP) outcomes.

Prolonged life disruptions lead to isolation, stress, role confusion, and loss of meaningful daily life. Physiological, cognitive, emotional, and spiritual fragmentation occurs in body, mind, and spirit during disruptions such as chronic illness, disability, or a public health crisis lasting longer than 12 months. Although this is the case for parents (or primary caregivers) of children with chronic conditions whose health disparities have been extensively documented, it is seldom recognized and leads to lack of individualized care access. Parents of children with chronic conditions experience increased morbidity and mortality risks from cardiovascular disease, autoimmune disorders, cancer, and enteric disruptions. Furthermore, these health disparities manifest as diminished selective attention, decision making, emotional regulation, sense of belonging, and enjoyment in meaningful daily activities, which affects their capacity to manage the family’s health. The Integrative Neural Networks framework was developed to create avenues for occupational therapy practitioners to assess and improve the level of multisystemic disruptions affecting an individual’s health and function. This framework allows for greater access to health care and an interdisciplinary collaborative designed to address body, mind, and spiritual fragmentations in parents of children with chronic conditions. The robust theoretical and evidence base used in developing Integrative Neural Networks serves as a guide for occupational therapy practitioners to understand the problem, lead the interdisciplinary collaborative, and design a neurointegrative plan of care. / 2023-09-14T00:00:00Z