DESIGN: A randomized controlled trial.
SETTING: Occupational therapy unit of a public hospital.
SUBJECTS: A total of 46 adults with stroke.
INTERVENTION: After random assignment, for six weeks, both intervention group and control group received a 2 hour/week conventional occupational therapy program, with the intervention group receiving an extra 6 hour/day pressure garment application (long glove).
MAIN MEASURES: Modified Modified Ashworth Scale, Disabilities of Arm, Shoulder and Hand Outcome Measure, and Jebsen-Taylor Hand Function Test. Eligibility measures: Mini Mental State Examination and Modified Modified Ashworth Scale. Assessments were performed at baseline and six weeks postintervention.
RESULTS: There were 21 participants with the mean age of 51.19 (8.28) years in the intervention group and 22 participants with the mean (SD) age of 52.82 (8.71) years in the control group. The intervention group had median (interquartile range (IQR)) post-stroke duration of 1 (1) month, while for the control group, they were 2 (2) months. There was no difference in spasticity, and both perceived and actual arm functions between the groups at six weeks after baseline.
CONCLUSION: Wearing a pressure garment on the arm for 6 hours daily had no effect in controlling spasticity or on improving arm function in the early stages after stroke.
Methods: This cross-sectional study recruited occupational therapy bachelor's degree graduates using an online survey. The Work Extrinsic and Intrinsic Motivation Scale (WEIMS) was used to measure level of work motivation.
Results: Responses from 82 (60.3%) graduates (male: 26.8%; female: 73.2%) were analysed. Sixty-two (75.6%) graduates worked locally and 20 (24.4%) worked in foreign countries. The average Work Self-Determination Index (W-SDI) score for WEIMS is +11.38 with 78 (95.1%) of graduates demonstrated a self-determined motivational profile and 4 (4.9%) demonstrated a nonself-determined profile. Graduates in the private sector (13.10 ± 6.47) show significantly higher W-SDI score compared to those in the public sector (9.40 ± 6.06), p = 0.01. W-SDI scores appeared higher among clinician (11.67 ± 6.40), case manager (13.33), and others (14.90 ± 8.23); and those with work experience of 5-6 years (13.11 ± 6.90) and less than one year (12.65 ± 7.12). Male (10.29 ± 6.86) and female (11.79 ± 6.39) graduates shared equally high score. There is no significant difference in W-SDI score based on job position, length of work experience, and gender.
Conclusion: Occupational therapy graduates have high work motivation as evident by their self-determined profile. Only work sector imposes difference in work motivation among these graduates. Copyright © 2017, Hong Kong Occupational Therapy Association. Published by Elsevier (Singapore) Pte Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
METHODS: This study was divided into three phases: (1) translation and linguistic validity involving both forward and backward translations; (2) establishment of face validity and content validity; and (3) establishment of reliability involving inter-rater, test-retest and internal consistency analyses. Data used for these analyses were obtained by interviewing 65 elderly respondents.
RESULTS: Percentages of Content Validity Index for 4 criteria were from 88.89 to 100.0. The Cronbach α coefficient for internal consistency was 0.838. Intra-class Correlation Coefficient of inter-rater reliability and test-retest reliability was 0.957 and 0.950 respectively.
CONCLUSIONS: The result shows that the Lawton Instrumental Activities of Daily Living Scale - Malay Version has excellent reliability and validity for use with the Malay speaking elderly people in Malaysia. This scale could be used by professionals to assess functional ability of elderly who live independently in community.
METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 148 children with SLD and their caregivers. The evaluation consisted of the Movement Assessment Battery for Children-2 (MABC-2) and the Functional Mobility domain from Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory-Computer Adaptive Test (PEDI-CAT). The level of motor performances and functional mobility were determined. A linear regression was then conducted to assess the influence of motor performances that could be accounted for functional mobility scores.
RESULTS: More than half of the children with SLD showed motor performance difficulty in manual dexterity subscale (54.7%). For functional mobility, the mean standard T-score indicated an average level of capability (49.49±15.96). A regression analysis revealed that both manual dexterity and balance were significant predictors for functional mobility. According to the regression coefficients, manual dexterity (B=1.37, β=0.303, sr2=0.077) was found to be a stronger predictor compared to balance (B=0.85, β=0.178, sr2=0.028).
CONCLUSION: Manual dexterity was found to influence functional mobility among children with SLD. Therefore, fine motor skills intervention for children with SLD should emphasize on manual dexterity training. Future studies that involve dual tasks and inclusion of typical children would give useful additional information on motor performances issues in children with SLD.
AIM: This study examined the therapeutic effects of self-regulated learning on reducing challenging behaviors and enhancing school-related function in children with autism spectrum disorders.
METHODS: Forty children (aged 6-12) were randomized into a 12-week Self-Regulated Learning or Activity-Based intervention control group. Three outcome measures, assessing the behavior and school-related function of the children in both groups, were administered before and after the intervention and at one-month follow-up. The results between the two groups were also compared.
RESULTS: The Self-Regulated Learning group showed significantly better results in reducing concerning behaviors and enhancing the school-related function than the activity-based group post-intervention and at one-month follow-up.
CONCLUSIONS: The Self-Regulated Learning intervention was more effective compared to the Activity-Based intervention with particular benefits for on-going learning and improvements.
METHODS: Published literature was systematically searched according to PRISMA guidelines using specific key terms. Initial search identified 785 studies; however only seven met the inclusion criteria and were assessed for final review. Studies were methodologically appraised using the McMaster Critical Review Form-Quantitative Studies.
RESULTS: The review found no randomised control trial study design pertaining to the reviewed area. However, it can be seen that occupational therapy interventions for writing skills in 4-6 year old children managed to increase the targeted skills. The results were similar across samples with or without disabilities. An effective integration of occupational therapy interventions into educational curriculum was found to save both time and cost.
CONCLUSION: The long-term benefit from these interventions and the effects of these interventions on a broader spectrum of fine motor abilities need to be explored further with stronger research designs. However, the lack of studies adopting high level study designs, i.e., RCT designs means, results need to be approached with caution by occupational therapists when implementing handwriting skills intervention in practice.
METHODS: This study involved: (1) four English teachers (translators) for forward and backward translation procedures; (2) 10 experts in the field of occupational therapy (expert reviewers) for content validity testing; and (3) 60 undergraduate students (participants) for test-retest reliability testing.
RESULTS: PPT-M had excellent content validity with Item-Content Validity Index = 0.9-1.0, Scale-Content Validity Index/Average = 0.93-0.95, and a slightly lower Scale-Content Validity Index/Universal Agreement = 0.25-0.75. Test-retest reliability for 3-trial administration (n = 30; Intraclass Correlation Coefficients, ICCs = 0.76-0.85; good) was higher compared to 1-trial administration (n = 30; ICCs = 0.34-0.46; poor) for all subtests. Both trial administrations were mostly affected by systematic errors, especially practice effect as the retests gave higher scores. Random errors mostly affected Subtest 3 of 1-trial administration, evident by its Minimal Detectable Change Percent values = 30.84% that fell beyond the acceptable range.
CONCLUSION: PPT-M has the potential to be a valuable instrument for measuring hand dexterity among Malay speaking individuals especially when the 3-trial administration is used.
AIM: The study aimed to identify the effectiveness of the buddy program training module to enhance the daily living function, social participation and emotional status of older adults in residential aged care homes.
METHODS: A quasi-experimental study was conducted with 30 pairs of buddies and older adults for both the experimental group and control group in two randomly selected residential aged care homes. The buddies in the experimental group received the buddy program training module related to activities of daily living (basic and instrumental) while the buddy-older adults pairs in the control group continued to perform their usual daily life activities in residential aged care homes. Baselines were performed before intervention and at eight weeks post-intervention.
RESULTS: Over the eight weeks, for the older adults in the experimental group, there was a significant main effect of time after the intervention on BADL (p = 0.010). There were no significant interaction effects for the experiment group and control group on IADL and social participation. Also, there were no significant interaction effects for all domains in emotional status: depression, anxiety and stress. For buddies, there was a significant interaction effect for depression (p = 0.045) in the control group.
CONCLUSIONS: The buddy program training module can be used as a guideline for older adults with more significant disabilities in residential aged care homes in managing activities of daily living. Future studies could be implemented to explore the intergenerational buddy program among older adults and young children in the community.