Rationale: Consumers of the mental health system with serious mental illness have been
deprived of meaningful occupations since de-institutionalization began in the late 20th century.Community mental health policy has failed to focus on the meaningful occupational lives of this group of service users. Given the disparity in activity and meaningful time use for people with serious mental illness when compared to the general population, it is clear that a treatment that
draws attention to occupational balance and engagement is needed. As balanced time use has been shown to increase community adjustment and life satisfaction, it is an important area of focus.
Objectives: The purpose of this study was to pilot test the efficacy of a new occupational
time use intervention, provisionally titled “Action over Inertia,” designed to increase occupational balance and engagement in the lives of people with serious mental illness living in the community.
Methods: A prospective, multi-centre randomized controlled trial of the intervention, involving 5 Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) teams in southeastern Ontario,ran in Fall 2007/Winter 2008. 18 ACT clients took part in the 12 week intervention, which was delivered by the ACT team occupational therapists.
Results: Time use, used as a measure of
occupational balance, shifted away from sleep to increased general activity in the treatment group(p=0.05). Treatment and control groups did not differ on occupational engagement measures after the completion of the trial. Feedback on the clinical utility of the intervention was very
positive from both therapists and treatment participants.
Conclusions: This pilot test revealed initially positive data on the efficacy and clinical utility of the intervention.Further study of the “Action over Inertia” intervention is needed on a larger scale, potentially with a longer treatment timeline to further investigate its usefulness. / Thesis (Master, Rehabilitation Science) -- Queen's University, 2008-09-22 14:36:47.279
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:OKQ.1974/1464 |
| Date | 23 September 2008 |
| Creators | Edgelow, MEGAN |
| Contributors | Queen's University (Kingston, Ont.). Theses (Queen's University (Kingston, Ont.)) |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 1895153 bytes, application/pdf |
| Rights | This publication is made available by the authority of the copyright owner solely for the purpose of private study and research and may not be copied or reproduced except as permitted by the copyright laws without written authority from the copyright owner. |
| Relation | Canadian theses |
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