Thesis (M.P.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1993. / Also available in print.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1971. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Assistive technology (AT) is any item, piece of equipment or product system whether acquired commercially off the shelf, modified, or customized that is used to increase, maintain or improve functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities" (21st Century Assistive Technology Act of 2019, p.9–10). Students with multiple disabilities in the US have insufficient access to the AT and related services that they need to develop their maximum skills and participate meaningfully in school (Schaefer & Andzik, 2016). Lack of training and resources is repeatedly found to compromise classroom AT access for students with complex needs (Egilson, 2009; Machalicek et al., 2010; Okolo and Dietrich, 2014; Rogers and Johnson, 2018). Recent literature reflects a variety of positive outcomes for students with multiple disabilities when they do have access to assistive technology (Talber, 2019; Stasolla, et al., 2015; Stasolla, et al., 2019; Desai, 2014; Mumford & Chau, 2016; Lancioni et al., 2014). It could be argued, if more school staff, in particular occupational therapy practitioners (OTPs), had the confidence and competence to routinely support student AT needs across least restrictive education settings, more students with multiple disabilities could be served in these environments. For OTPs to expand their familiarity and knowledge of AT and its application, vehicles to grow assistive technology competencies for current practicing therapists need to be available. Creating a program, such as Switching on Engagement (SOE!), that emphasizes using and applying assistive technologies, would be effective in promoting greater capacity. By focusing on the service delivery process of AT, OTPs will develop clinical reasoning in which integration of assistive technology use is inherent to the overarching student goal of increased participation (Griffiths & Price, 2011). School-based occupational therapy practitioners (OTPs) are an untapped resource to support classroom access through assistive technology service delivery. Participating in SOE! can help develop this resource. In his 2017 Eleanor Clark Slagle lecture, Dr. Roger Smith proclaimed “technology has a role in occupational therapy so fundamental, it must be considered an essential building block of occupation” and thus mandates technology’s daily presence in the future of our profession (Smith, 2017, p. 1). AOTA’s Vision 2025 charges OTPs to practice with intentional inclusivity (AOTA, 2019). SOE!, in aligning with the growth in scope and vision of the occupational therapy profession, seeks to expand the OTP’s capacity to provide AT service delivery to facilitate greater authentic participation by students with multiple disabilities in accessible school settings they justly deserve.

<p> Electronic Flight Bags (EFBs) are devices that replace the traditional paper documents used by pilots for pre-flight planning and in-flight operations. Simulation studies have found faster information retrieval times, higher situational awareness, and reduced workload on EFBs compared to paper resources, but it is unclear whether this is true for all EFB systems in any flight condition. Archival studies have uncovered issues among pilots using performance calculation software and electronic charts due to a lack of training and modification to flight deck procedures with EFBs. This study compared reports from the ASRS across categorical variables such as human factors issues, outcome, function in use, and phase of flight. The results showed that the most significant human factors issues relating to EFBs were a lack of training, distraction/workload, and inhibited access to information. Crew members consistently ran into difficulty with the zooming/panning feature of EFBs, especially on touchscreen displays. </p>

<p><b>Introduction</b>: Non-compliance with respiratory protection programs among firefighters may put them at increased risk of injury and illness from occupational exposures during fire extinguishing activities. This research aims to characterize respiratory protection practices among Florida firefighters. This information will allow better understanding of factors that are associated with non-compliance with respiratory protection guidelines. </p><p> <b>Methods</b>: Survey questionnaire was used to characterize Florida fire departments in this cross sectional study. Four hundred and seventy-seven surveys were administered to Florida firefighters both in person and electronically to collect information regarding firefighter knowledge and participation in their respective respiratory protection programs during the past twelve months. Survey questions were developed from the model set by the National Fire Protection Association which provides standards and regulations regarding firefighter protections. Collected data were used to produce summary statistics regarding firefighter department size, coverage area, and firefighter employment type. Further data analysis used Statistical Analysis Software to compute multinomial logistic regression analysis. </p><p> <b>Results</b>: The 477 respondents were 91% male with a mean age 39 years old (range 21&ndash;65 years). The majority of respondents, 76%, were non-smokers, 21% former smokers, and 3% current smokers. In regards to ethnicity, respondents were 77% Caucasian, 13% Hispanic, 3% African-American, and 4% other. Most respondents were career firefighters, 97%, with less than ten years of experience, 44%, working in a fire department with at least 21 firefighters, 98%. Most respondents, 80%, had a written respiratory program in place. The most cited reason for not having implemented a written respiratory program was lack of knowledge related to the program. Multinomial logistic regression analysis of departments with response areas of at least 250,000 square miles produced a statistically significant 0.44 odds ratio for having a written respiratory program as compared to those with a less than 10,000 square miles response area. </p><p> <b>Conclusion</b>: Additional resources need to be given to Florida fire departments to ensure that all firefighters receive adequate respiratory protection in accordance with National Fire Protection Association guidelines. There is an association between fire departments with large response areas and non-compliance with respiratory protection guidelines in regards to: having a written respiratory program, the frequency of respiratory fit testing, and the frequency of medical fitness testing. This suggests that rural fire departments need additional resources to ensure fire fighters are adequately protected. Additional research should focus on why these differences exist in the rural fire departments. Respondents stating a lack of knowledge or no requirement for a written respiratory program suggest that future efforts should focus on respiratory protection education and training. </p>

The purpose of this study is to propose a framework on career information management and guidance system for supporting career decision making of individuals through providing relevant career information and recommending suitable training courses based on ones’ personal particulars. Mixed research method is employed and both quantitative and qualitative surveys were conducted to collect user requirements and opinions with regard to the difficulties in locating relevant career information. Five interviews with purposefully selected training institutions in Hong Kong were conducted to explore the system requirements for career planning and guidance in particular for on-the-job training and retraining. On the other hand, 25 completed questionnaires from the workforce were collected with regard to their career information needs, as well as their perception on career information management and guidance system. The findings showed that the degrees of subject knowledge and ages of the users affect their information seeking behaviours and thus the requirements of the system. Although figures show that there might be a negative relationship between household income levels and training decisions, this relationship is not statistically significant. Furthermore, three underlying factors affecting individuals’ career decisions had been identified. They are (i) opinions from others; (ii) personalities, affections andabilities; and (iii) career plan and resources. The four factors influencing trainingdecisions are: (i) information perceived; (ii) physical constraints; (iii) affections; and (iv) resources. Based on the survey results, a framework of Career Information Management and Guidance System (CIMGS) backboned with Information Feeding (IF) model was proposed. The findings of this study will provide an insight to researchers on the application of information and communication technology such as social media tools and vocational guidance services on an internet-based self-administered career information management and guidance system. / published_or_final_version / Library and Information Management / Master / Master of Science in Library and Information Management

Dyspraxia is a developmental condition in which the ability to ideate, plan and execute new and novel actions is impaired (Bundy, Lane & Murray, 2002:477- 478). The aim of this study was to investigate the childâs, parentâs and educatorâs perceptions on dyspraxia, in order to identify comprehensive client-centred treatment goals. This study was carried out in order to further the understanding of the complexities surrounding a child with dyspraxia, as it pertain to the occupational performance areas of school, play and leisure, and self-care. A lack of literature on the use of a family-centred approach in assessment and treatment of children by South African occupational therapists and the growing emphasis on including the voice of the child in decision-making that affects them, gave relevance to this undertaking. A descriptive, cross-sectional study was done. The study population consisted of children aged 5 years 4 months to 8 years 2 months, living in Bloemfontein and surrounding areas, and diagnosed with dyspraxia as per the criteria of the Sensory Integration and Praxis Test (SIPT) (Ayres, 1989). The study sample further consisted of the parent(s) of the child who were involved in the occupational therapy process, as well as the educator of the child concerned. The PEGS (Missiuna, Pollock & Law, 2004) was used as the measuring instrument to obtain the perceptions regarding dyspraxia from the child, parent and educator. The PEGSâs assessment for children consists of 24 pairs of cards showing children participating in activities from the occupational performance areas of self-care, school/productivity and leisure/play. The child had to indicate if he is like the picture of the child who is âmore competentâ or âless competentâ in the activity. During separate interviews with the parents and educators, the researcher asked the parent(s) and educators to rate the childâs competency on the same activities as those of the childâs cards of the PEGS. The child, parent and educator respectively also chose activities as goals to be addressed during occupational therapy intervention. Demographic information was also obtained from the parent(s) during a structured interview. The data analysis was done by Department Biostatistics, Faculty of Health Sciences, UFS. Findings indicated that dyspraxia reached across all functional spheres. Play and leisure was perceived by all to be the occupational performance area children with dyspraxia were the least competent in, with skipping with a rope perceived by all as the most troublesome activity. The perceptions of the parent, child and educator regarding the childâs competence in specific activities differed. Children were able to express their perceived efficacy and made themselves out to be both less and more competent in some items the adults did not agree with. A statistical significant difference was found between the child and educatorâs summary score percentages of their perceptions of the childâs competence as it relates to the OPA of school/productivity. Parents, children and educators selected different combinations of items as goals, with almost half of the total number of goals selected by all participants related to the OPA of leisure. Printing, playing ball games that require hitting a ball, such as tennis and cricket, skipping with a rope and cutting with scissors were the specific goals selected by the greatest number of participants. In conclusion, recommendations towards child-centred practice were made. These included realising the extent of the influence of dyspraxia on all areas of the childâs functioning, considering all environments and all role-players in the childâs life when planning intervention and providing the child with an opportunity to express his perceptions of his abilities and goals for therapy. The limitations of the study were acknowledged and recommendations were made for future research.

The involvement of the occupational therapist in medico-legal work or third party claims is not a new phenomenon. Research in this area however previously focused on the skills and other traits of the occupational therapist. Little is known about the legal professionâs knowledge and expectations regarding the occupational therapist serving as an expert witness, especially in the South African legal, economic, social and cultural context. Discovering how especially attorneys perceive and experience the role of the occupational therapist in medico-legal work is therefore essential as occupational therapistsâ involvement in medico-legal work is mostly facilitated by attorneys who instruct medico-legal assessments. The process and methods of instructing and utilising expert witnesses such as occupational therapists is unfortunately often not optimally effective with potentially dire effects for a country such as South Africa which already battles with poverty and unemployment, especially under workers with disabilities. International research has furthermore placed an increased emphasis on the role of the occupational therapist in encouraging and working towards aspects such as various forms of occupational justice and the impact of a personâs inability or altered ability to participate in occupations as before injury or illness. Therefore, against a backdrop of changing legislation regarding third party claims and an increase in medical negligence claims, the scope and role of occupational therapy in this field was explored and defined in this study, based on information obtained directly from members of the South African legal profession. Barriers between the occupational and legal profession that could hinder fair compensation for the claimants, such as communication transgressions or ineffective service delivery, were also identified. This study aimed to gather such information by means of a quantitative study under South African trained and based attorneys. A nominal group was used to support questionnaire development and also served to encourage the researcher that aspects addressed in this study through the questionnaire was vital to the everyday practice of the South African occupational therapist performing medico-legal assessments and reports. Research results indicated that attorneys have distinct expectations from the occupational therapist, but that some confusion exists pertaining to the unique role and contribution of the occupational therapist compared to other health professions. Where attorneys appeared to have a generally good understanding of terminology used by occupational therapists in assessment reports, several occupation therapy specific terms had different meanings for the legal profession. Recommendations made based on this study are believed by the researcher to address the specific problems identified in this study and should encourage future research in this field.

The establishment of occupational science in 1989 created an occupational discourse that defused the debate regarding the difference between activity and occupation. This fundamental discipline employs the applied science in occupational therapy and has directed the profession back to the original paradigm of occupational therapy, namely occupation (Cole & Tufano, 2008:59; Hagedorn, 1995:79). Occupational therapy recognises the unique occupations of each individual in the context of personal experience and applies occupation as part of the therapeutic process. Scientific proof of an occupational focus to enable the mental health care user (MHCU) to function optimally in the community after discharge, is necessary (AOTA, 2008:625, 626, 664). An occupational focus firstly involves the understanding of the therapeutic power of occupation as described by Pierce (2003:9). This consists of the subjective dimension, contextual dimension and application of an occupation based approach. Secondly, occupation is used as both means and as ends, to enable the MHCU to become skilled in his / her own life tasks and roles. The aim is to optimize functioning in the community (Trombly, 1995:963; 2002b:257). For the study, a retrospective match-control study design was used in a quantitative approach. An activity- and outcome based program were compared in order to investigate the effectiveness of the respective programs. Approval for the execution of the study was granted by the Ethics committee, Faculty of Health Science, University of the Free State (ETOVS nr. 12/2011). The occupational therapy files of hundred and two MHCUâs, 51 from the activity program and 51 from the outcome based program, were included in the study. Files were matched according to specific criteria, namely age, gender, diagnosis, language and educational level. The files of MHCUâs that had attended the activity program from 2009 to June 2011 were matched with files of MHCUâs that attended the outcome based program from July 2011 till Julie 2012. The data (pre-and post test) was abstracted from the occupational therapy evaluation, which was based on the ICF (International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health) and recorded in the occupational therapy process notes. The researcher entered all the data from the files onto data forms. The results of the pre- and post tests of both programs were analysed, and the clinical improvement of MHCUâs in each program and the similarities of the program were compared to one another. The Department of Biostatistics, University of the Free State used descriptive statistics to analyse the collected data. Clinical and statistical significant improvements were observed in both programs. The largest clinical improvement in the activity program was seen in occupational performance components like attention, motivation, energy levels, decision making and range of emotion. In the outcome based program, the largest clinical improvement was found in functional aspects like handling of stress, management of own health and managing daily routine. Statistical significant differences in the activity program were noted in the components of motivation, handling own activity level, complete daily routine and in informal relationships. Statistical significant differences in the outcome based program was noted in the components regarding handling of stress, management of own health, time management, insight and social cues in relationships. The findings from this study indicated that the activity program addressed the occupational performance components more effectively, while the outcome based program was more effective in addressing functional skills. From the findings, it is proposed that a combined program be developed, consisting of elements from both programs, such as, activities and occupations that would address OPCâs and OPAâs through the use of psychomotor activity, craft activities and life skills groups. This should be combined into a full day program. Further research is recommended to gain further clinical proof of the value of an occupational focus in occupational therapy practise, and to verify the conclusions of this study.

The effect of stimulation programmes on children with Down syndrome is necessary especially with a South African impetus. This study was an attempt to investigate the impact of an intensive early-intervention programme, the Developmental Resource Stimulation Programme (DRSP), on Down syndrome children younger than 42 months in the South African context. The DRSP would assist any occupational therapist using one stimulation programme to enable parents to assist their child to develop to their full potential at an earlier age. Down syndrome is a multisystem chromosomal disorder, which has been recognised to be the single most common cause of intellectual disability occurring in approximately one in 650â700 births. Down syndrome is associated with cognitive limitations and speech as well as motor-developmental problems. Documented studies focused on motor and speech development in older children, with very few studies on babies younger than three years. Adequate early-intervention programmes for babies with Down syndrome with parent involvement do not exist in the South African context. Contrary to the literature, this study may show the benefits of the role of the occupational therapist in early intervention. The World Health Organization has adopted the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF-CY), a bio psychosocial model that emphasises components of health and reflects participation, activities and function. A holistic approach is essential to the developmental problems of children with Down syndrome to create a long-term difference in their functioning in totality. The researcher developed the Developmental Resource Stimulation Programme (DRSP) to assist in the management of early intervention of the child with Down syndrome over a period of 20 years. The DRSP is a unique, child-parent specific, one-on-one, integrated developmental programme for children with Down syndrome from birth to 42 months. Each activity of the DRSP is designed to accomplish specific activity performances in developmental domains, appropriate to the childâs ability for different age band groups younger than 42 months. The activities comprise cognitive, motor, sensory and language skills, as well as activities found in everyday living. The Developmental Resource Stimulation Programme was compared to Occupational Therapy Practice Framework. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of the DRSP on Down syndrome children younger than 42 months in the South African context. There were four objectives in order to achieve the aim of the study. A quantitative approach with an experimental and descriptive study design was followed, to confirm results and enhance the reliability and validity of the study. The measurable attributes of the DRSP, including the participation of the parents were the focus. The Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development (3rd edition) and DRSP checklists were used in a pre-test and post-test to measure the effect of the DRSP. There were two groups namely the intervention group, consisting of 32 participants (children and parents) and the control group, consisting of 28 (children and parents) over a period of six months. Evaluation and intervention sessions were video-recorded and moderated. Informed consent was obtained prior to the study, supported by an information document in the language of choice, namely Afrikaans, English and Sesotho. A self-administered questionnaire, developed by the researcher, focused on the attainment of information regarding the overall presentation of the area, service and treatment of the participants. The results were analysed, presented in tables and graphs, and discussed. The results of this study showed that a specifically designed programme with participation of a parent has a positive impact on the development of the child with Down syndrome. Contrary to the literature, there were positive changes in the language, fine-motor and >9- month gross-motor development of children with Down syndrome. The DRSP with specific goals indicated to be an attribute in the early-intervention process. The results emphasised the holistic approach, rendered by an occupational therapist in Down syndrome early intervention.