Competency-based assessments for healthcare professionals are critical for safe and effective client outcomes. Rehabilitation clinical skill competency assessments must be validated and revised to produce safe and skilled practitioners. The revised American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) Fieldwork Performance Evaluation (FWPE) instrument measures occupational therapy student performance to determine readiness for practice. The assessment includes thirty-seven competencies that address both profession specific clinical skills and general professional behavior skills. The objective of this study was to use Rasch methods to explore the use of the revised FWPE in actual fieldwork practice and to determine the instrument's psychometric properties when separating the item components into two distinct subdomains: General Health Professions Competences and Occupational Therapy-Specific Competencies. Internal construct validity and test reliability were analyzed using data from 149 occupational therapy students after completing their initial Level II A fieldwork clinical internship. This study examined the item difficulty hierarchy, item fit, person-fit to model, person separation index, person separation reliability coefficient, strata, ceiling and floor effect, and unidimensionality of the FWPE instrument as a whole and as two separate domains. With the exception of not meeting the criteria for unidimensionality, the full FWPE instrument and the Occupational Therapy-Specific Competencies subdomain showed acceptable item-level psychometrics for reliability and precision. While the General Health Professions Competencies subdomain showed good item-level psychometrics, it was below the criterion for reliability and only separated the sample into two strata. Results support the validity, reliability, and clinical use of the revised FWPE full instrument and the Occupational Therapy-Specific Competencies subdomain to measure entry-level clinical skill competencies in practice.

Date Presented 04/22/2023 OT practitioners have primarily used group interventions to support clients in addressing personal mental health issues and opportunities to increase mental well-being. Specifically, OT practitioners are skilled at embedding occupation-based activities and occupation-focused questions into the group experience. This poster session quantitatively explores the impact of the type of occupation on volition and qualitatively explores group members’ experiences of group activities. Primary Author and Speaker: Brad Egan Contributing Authors: Stephanie Brauch, Samuel McDowell, Jamie Dickey, Jacob McNeer

A keyform map is an innovative tool, derived from Rasch analyzed measures, that reveals the relationship of a client to the item challenges on an assessment to reflect more clearly what the client can and cannot do. These maps offer increased ease and efficiency when using standardized evaluation measures. Keyform map use has been studied in clinical occupational therapy practice. Their use in occupational therapy education, however, has not been studied which creates a potential gap with the untapped student stakeholder. This qualitative study examined the impacts of using keyform maps in an online course with occupational therapy students during the evaluation and intervention planning process for different client case vignettes. A constant comparative analysis revealed that students perceived keyform maps show them two themes more clearly: (1) the just right challenge that is difficult but not impossible and (2) a task hierarchy that helps efficiently prioritize and justify choices specific to the client and decisions personalized to the client. By introducing pre-service learners to keyform maps, OT educators can take a huge step forward in meeting the profession’s charge to increase efforts towards personalized measurement.

Date Presented 04/01/2022 This study explores the impact of using keyforms on MSOT learners’ ability to analyze task items according to level of difficulty, select the just-right challenge interventions, and choose appropriate short-term and long-term goals. Outcomes revealed that keyform use significantly improved identification of level of difficulty and just-right challenges but not goal setting. Keyform use may help answer the call to action to personalize measurement and demonstrate the distinct value of OT services. Primary Author and Speaker: Brad Egan Additional Authors and Speakers: Cynthia Sears

IMPORTANCE:Children and youth are often challenged to maintain well-being, positive behavior, and social participation. OBJECTIVE:To identify evidence for occupational therapy interventions for children and youth with and at risk for mental health concerns. DATA SOURCES:Articles published in English-language peer-reviewed journals between January 2010 and March 2017 identified through searches of MEDLINE, PsycINFO, CINAHL, ERIC, OTseeker, and Cochrane databases. STUDY SELECTION AND DATA COLLECTIO:: The methodology in the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses was used to complete the review. Of 5,310 articles screened by title and abstract, 357 were retrieved for full-text review, and 62 met inclusion criteria. Articles describing interventions that were activity or occupation based were included. Conference proceedings, non-peer reviewed publications, dissertations, theses, and presentations were excluded. FINDINGS:Of the 62 studies included in the review, 20 (32%) were Level I studies, 22 (36%) were Level II studies, and 20 (32%) were Level III studies. Articles were categorized by type: outdoor camps, video and computer games, productive occupations and life skills, meditation, animal-assisted interventions, creative arts, play, sports, and yoga. Moderate to strong evidence supports the use of yoga and sports. Moderate-strength evidence supports the use of play and creative arts. Evidence for the use of animal-assisted interventions, meditation, video and computer games, and productive occupations was of low strength. CONCLUSION AND RELEVANCE:Substantial evidence exists to support the use of activity- and occupation-based interventions to address the mental health, behavioral, and social participation concerns of children and youth. Occupational therapy practitioners should match the desired outcome of therapy with the appropriate intervention to provide the best and most effective services to their clients. WHAT THIS ARTICLE ADDS:This review provides additional support for the use of activity- and occupation-based interventions (i.e., those that involve active participation) to improve the behavior, social participation, and mental health of children and youth.

Date Presented 04/06/19 This study examined the lived experiences of lifelong learning with mobile devices for individuals in addiction recovery. Findings include recognizing the valuable impact of education occupations on personal recovery and the positive influences of mobile technology on developing performance patterns related to lifelong learning that support personal recovery goals. Primary Author and Speaker: Brad Egan Contributing Authors: Monifa Beverly

Background: Mental health providers outside of occupational therapy, including those who work in school systems practice, often do not fully understand the contribution that occupational therapy practitioners can make to the delivery of mental health services. Method: The purpose of this mixed methods pilot study is to describe how instructional support staff from one special education cooperative learned about occupational therapy’s role in school mental health and to explain how this education changed the instructional support staff members’ perceptions regarding the involvement of occupational therapy practitioners in school-based mental health services. Results: Instructional support staff 's perceptions about occupational therapy changed as a result of the training. Discussion: Occupational therapy practitioners can be viewed as valuable members of the school mental health team if other practitioners are educated about their scope of practice.

Mental health has been identified as a priority practice area for occupational therapy. However, recent research suggests that the number of occupational therapy practitioners working in mental health is declining. The purpose of this survey research study was to examine the extent to which occupational therapy (OT) and occupational therapy assistant (OTA) programs include mental health topics in their curricula. A link to an on-line survey was sent to program directors of OT and OTA programs in the United States. A total of 105 programs fully completed the survey (33% response rate). All of the respondents (n=105) reported that their curricula included content related to adult mental health conditions and interventions and 98.1% (n=103) included content related to 11 child and adolescent mental health conditions. Programs varied in how explicitly they focused on specific intervention strategies to support or improve mental health. Focused pre-service curricular content and intentional fieldwork experiences may help to ensure that OT practitioners are inducted into mental health settings and equipped to meet practice demands. Entry-level OT and OTA programs cover a broad range of mental health-related topics. More research is needed to understand why some topics are included in curricula at greater rates than others.

Purpose: To evaluate the effectiveness of an optional, self-paced, online module to increase occupational therapy practitioners’ knowledge and skills related to evidence-based practice (EBP). Method: Participants’ EBP knowledge and skills were evaluated using the Adapted Fresno Test (AFT) after they completed the online module. Results: Twenty-nine occupational therapy practitioners (25 OTR/L, 4 COTA/L) completed the entire 17-month initiative. Nineteen practitioners (65.5%) used the supplemental online module and 10 (34.5%) did not. Analyses of AFT scores revealed a mean test score of 83.00 (n = 19, SD + 31.11) for participants who utilized the online EBP module and a mean test score of 56.20 (n = 10, SD + 36.67) for participants who did not use the module. An independent sample t test (equal variances assumed) revealed that participants who used the online module achieved statistically significantly higher scores ( p = 0.048, < 0.05) on the AFT. Discussion: The findings from this study suggest that the online EBP module was a useful support in significantly improving occupational therapy practitioners’ knowledge and skills related to evidence-based practice. Conclusions: Online modules may be an effective tool to teach practitioners about EBP. More research is needed to identify particular features of online learning modules that are the most effective in increasing practitioners’’ EBP knowledge and skills.

Date Presented 4/9/2016 The purpose of this pilot study was to investigate the perspectives of instructional support personnel (ISP) with regard to the involvement of occupational therapy (OT) practitioners in school-based mental health. After a training, ISP were more knowledgeable about OT’s role in school mental health. Primary Author and Speaker: Susan Cahill Additional Author and Speaker: Brad Egan

As children and youth with diabetes grow up, they become increasingly responsible for controlling and monitoring their condition. We conducted a scoping review to explore the research literature on self-management interventions for children and youth with diabetes. Eleven studies met the inclusion criteria. Some of the studies reviewed combined the participant population so that children with Type 1 as well as children with Type 2 diabetes were included. The majority of the studies focused on children age 14 yr or older and provided self-management education, self-management support, or both. Parent involvement was a key component of the majority of the interventions, and the use of technology was evident in 3 studies. The findings highlight factors that occupational therapy practitioners should consider when working with pediatric diabetes teams to select self-management interventions.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the effects of a 17-mo initiative designed to increase practitioners' knowledge and skills related to evidence-based practice (EBP) in the schools. METHOD We evaluated participants' EBP knowledge and skills at pretest and posttest using the Adapted Fresno Test (AFT) and collected their perceptions through a survey. RESULTS Participants demonstrated significant improvements in their EBP knowledge and skills after participating in this initiative as measured by changes in AFT scores. A significant difference was noted in scores between pretest (μ=43.9, SD=32.67) and posttest (μ=74.66, SD=33.99), t(28)=-5.645, p<.001. CONCLUSION This initiative was influential in increasing school-based practitioners' EBP knowledge and skills.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of an intentional blending of instructional strategies in an occupational therapy (OT) entry-level master’s course. The OT Adult Practice course uses case-based instructional strategies, clinical skills labs, and standardized patient experiences in a dovetailed approach across three progressively complex clinical scenarios involving adult clients. The course is designed to support students in addressing the entire OT Process. Results of quantitative data analysis indicated that the sequential application of case-based instructional strategies, lab experiences, and standardized patient learning opportunities significantly improved students’ self-perception of their level of comfort and skill in being able to perform the following components of the OT process for adult clients: occupational profile, OT evaluation, developing an OT treatment plan, implementing OT treatment, and planning for discharge.

Date Presented 4/17/2015 The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of a 17-mo, evidence-based practice (EBP) professional development initiative that was developed through collaboration between key stakeholders from a special education cooperative in northern Illinois and university faculty from a nearby occupational therapy program.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of an intentional blending of instructional strategies in an occupational therapy (OT) entry-level master’s course. The OT Adult Practice course uses case-based instructional strategies, clinical skills labs, and standardized patient experiences in a dovetailed approach across three progressively complex clinical scenarios involving adult clients. The course is designed to support students in addressing the entire OT Process. Results of quantitative data analysis indicated that the sequential application of case-based instructional strategies, lab experiences, and standardized patient learning opportunities significantly improved students’ self-perception of their level of comfort and skill in being able to perform the following components of the OT process for adult clients: occupational profile, OT evaluation, developing an OT treatment plan, implementing OT treatment, and planning for discharge.

Finding work and/or re-entering the workforce can be extremely challenging for persons living with HIV/AIDS. Also difficult is assisting them in the process, mostly because there is little documentation or resources about programs that provide vocational services specifically for this population. In response to this dilemma and because it was perceived as a win/win situation, three urban residential community organizations serving the HIV/AIDS population, decided independently to create in-house work opportunities for their clients. All of these organizations are a variation of the same theme: transitional/supportive housing for persons with HIV/AIDS that were formerly homeless and are now interested in becoming increasingly self-sufficient. This article will present a program description that addresses unique manner in which these three sites created in-house job programs in the areas of receptionist, kitchen, and maintenance work. More specifically, this paper will address the strengths, limitations, and ethical considerations that guided program development.