Biomedical subjects

H J Polatajko

Publications and source records attributed to H J Polatajko.

14 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1999

Chronic pain in the elderly: occupational adaptation as a means of coping with osteoarthritis of the hip and/or knee.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether elderly individuals with chronic pain as a result of osteoarthritis of the hip and/or knee would report adaptations to their activities, or occupational adaptations, as a coping response to pain and, if so, to describe these adaptations and their relation to chronic pain, functional difficulty, depression, social support, and life satisfaction. DESIGN: Thirty elderly individuals completed rating scales and a structured questionnaire designed to measure occupational adaptation and the importance of activity. SETTING: Participants were community-dwelling elderly individuals and were interviewed in their homes or in a research office setting. PATIENTS: Consecutive orthopedic surgeon, family physician, or Arthritis Society patients, whose names were provided with the patient's consent, to the researcher. RESULTS: Individuals reported two approaches to occupational adaptation: they changed how they performed personal activities of daily living that they rated as most important and they stopped performing a number of avocational activities that they rated as less important. Statistically significant correlations were found among occupational adaptation, pain, depression, and difficulty with functioning. These variables were inversely related to life satisfaction. CONCLUSIONS: This sample of elderly individuals with chronic pain described occupational adaptations, or adaptations to "doing," as a means of coping with their chronic pain. There appeared to be a relation among pain, functional difficulty, depression, social support, and occupational adaptation. Additional research to increase the understanding of occupational adaptation as a means of coping with chronic pain is warranted.

Activities of Daily Living↗

PubMed1995

A clinical trial of the process-oriented treatment approach for children with developmental co-ordination disorder.

The process-oriented treatment (POR chi) approach is a time-limited programme aimed at increasing the kinaesthetic performance of children with mild motor problems in order to improve their motor performance. The approach was compared with a traditional or general motor approach and with no treatment in a randomized clinical trial of 75 children with developmental co-ordination disorder. The children were assessed before and after treatment and after a six-week follow-up period. The results were mixed. The study provides evidence of the severity of so-called 'mild' motor problems of children referred to occupational therapy. The data suggest that these children do not improve spontaneously, and that their motor problems are very resistant to treatment. The data also suggest that an appropriate treatment strategy might be one that involves direct, repetitive training of a specific skill.

Apraxias↗

PubMed1995

Use of the Bruininks-Oseretsky test of motor proficiency in occupational therapy.

OBJECTIVE: In addition to the need for good measurement tools in occupational therapy, there is a need for the tools to be used knowledgeably. The purpose of this article is to investigate the usefulness of the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency (BOTMP) for both descriptive (diagnostic) and evaluative (change over time) purposes. METHOD: The typical profile of subtest scores for children with mild motor problems revealed that certain subtests of the BOTMP may be better indicators of motor problems for these children than others. An analysis also was performed to compare the use of raw (point) scores with standard (age-adjusted) scores in evaluating change. RESULTS: Four subtests that provide a greater degree of discrimination between children with and without motor problems were identified. Raw (points) scores were found to provide a more valid measure of change over time than standard (age-related) scores. CONCLUSION: We recommend that, for clinical use, the BOTMP subtest standard scores be used for diagnostic purposes and that the raw scores be used for evaluative purposes.

Analysis of Variance↗

PubMed1995

Motor problems in children with developmental coordination disorder: review of the literature.

Occupational therapists frequently work with children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) in hopes of enhancing their occupational performance. There is debate among researchers and health care professionals about whether the motor coordination problems experienced by children with DCD have a physiological basis or whether they are the result of a developmental delay. Even among researchers who agree that these difficulties are of physiological origin, there is a lack of consensus as to whether these motor problems are multisensory or unisensory. This article focuses on the physiological explanation, presents a review of the literature on the possible physiological origins of motor coordination problems in children with DCD, and shows that the current literature on the physiological basis of DCD requires more empirical evidence to substantiate either multisensory or unisensory theories of motor dysfunction in children with DCD. The debate over the nature of motor problems in children with DCD has two implications for occupational therapists: that there is no one way to treat these children and that the cause of the difficulty varies from child to child.

Child↗

PubMed1994

Dreams, dilemmas, and decisions for occupational therapy practice in a new millennium: a Canadian perspective.

This article presents the hope that, in the 21st century and the millennium it ushers in, the world will eliminate the concept of handicap by creating an environment where persons with different abilities can live with dignity. In this world, the focus of occupational therapy will shift from reducing impairment through purposeful activity to preventing handicap through enablement. Basic assumptions about occupational therapy and its values are provided, including that the ultimate goal of practice is the enablement of occupational competence.

Attitude to Health↗

PubMed1994

Measuring perceived self-efficacy in occupational therapy.

OBJECTIVES: Occupational therapists sometimes observe an alarming discrepancy between the occupational performance skills developed in the clinical setting and the degree to which the client willingly puts these skills to use outside the clinical environment. The literature strongly suggests that perceived self-efficacy partially explains this discrepancy; however, an understanding of perceived self-efficacy has not yet been integrated into the practice of occupational therapy. Both a lack of awareness of the construct and a lack of ability to assess perceived self-efficacy within the occupational performance domain are responsible for this lack of integration into practice. This article presents the development, reliability, and validity testing of a measure of perceived self-efficacy developed particularly for use by occupational therapists, the Self-Efficacy Gauge. METHOD: Reliability and validity testing was performed through use of a mailed survey (n = 126). Test-retest reliability, internal consistency, and alternate form reliability were examined. In addition, the subjects' scores on the Gauge were compared to actual performance and a hopelessness scale. RESULTS: The Self-Efficacy Gauge has a reasonable degree of reliability when used on a clinical sample whose perceived self-efficacy for occupational performance activities is unlikely to change. The results also provide preliminary support for the validity of the instrument. CONCLUSION: It is recognized that without a gold standard for comparison, validity testing will be an ongoing need.

Activities of Daily Living↗

PubMed1993

Reexamination of sensory integration treatment: a combination of two efficacy studies.

Little empirical support exists for the application of sensory integration treatment (SIT) to assist children with learning problems. Treatment efficacy studies are expensive and difficult to carry out, and they have necessarily employed small samples that are inevitably heterogeneous. We have reanalyzed the efficacy of SIT by combining the data from one study involving 29 children in Alberta and a second study involving 67 children in Ontario. The results from each individual study, and now the results from the combined study, lead one to the conclusion that the therapeutic effect of SIT on children with learning deficits is not greater than other, more traditional methods of intervention.

Child↗

PubMed1992

Skill acquisition during fieldwork placements in occupational therapy.

A critical shortage of occupational therapy fieldwork placements has led therapists to pose the question: how many hours of fieldwork are actually required in order for a student to acquire the breadth and depth of clinical competence required for entry level practice? In this study, student scores on the Performance Evaluation of Occupational Therapy Students, gathered over a four year period, were utilized to address this question. The level of competence expected of a new graduate on the CAOT Occupational Profile (Bridle, 1981) was used as the criterion against which student scores were judged. Statistical analyses were performed to determine the level of acquisition of occupational therapy skills and techniques, by item and by groups of items; to identify "core" and "specialty" items; and to determine whether 1200 hours of field work is the optimal choice for students to be able to demonstrate clinical competence in the field. Results indicate that, while most students attain many of the skills and techniques pertinent to occupational therapy, competence is reached only on those core skills which are frequently encountered and which have actually been experienced by the student across a number of placements. Recommendations include a re-examination by the profession of the expectations which have been set for an entry-level graduate.

Canada↗

PubMed1992

Naming and framing occupational therapy: a lecture dedicated to the life of Nancy B.

The case of Nancy B. is testimony to the importance of occupation to living and hence the importance of occupational therapy. Yet the importance of the discipline is poorly recognized. It is argued that the failure of occupational therapy to gain wide recognition is due to a problem in communicating its importance simply, easily and clearly and that the discipline needs to be named and framed in positive and powerful terms. The values on which to base this naming and framing are articulated. Based on the Occupational Therapy Values Statement, it is proposed that the discipline be framed in an Enablement Model and that, accordingly, occupational therapy be described as the discipline concerned with enabling occupational competence guided by an understanding of the individual, the environment and their interaction in determining occupational competence.

Adult↗

PubMed1990

A descriptive study of adults with suspected learning disabilities.

This article documents a descriptive study of 80 adults considered to have learning disabilities. The study was initiated by the Language and Learning Disabled Adults Task Force in London, Ontario, for the purpose of developing a profile of the self-perceived characteristics and needs of the adult population with learning disabilities in Southwestern Ontario. The study also served as a vehicle for implementation of the Intake Questionnaire, an instrument with potential as a screening device for service agencies working with adults with learning disabilities. A self-referred and agency-referred sample of 80 adults completed the Intake Questionnaire. Data were collected in the areas of demography, education, employment, health, and psychosocial characteristics, aspirations, and cooperation with further testing. Results describe people with ongoing specific problems in education, employment, and psychosocial functioning who aspire to learn more about themselves and their learning disabilities.

Achievement↗

PubMed1987

Visual-ocular control of normal and learning-disabled children.

Much of the data typically presented to support the vestibular dysfunction hypothesis among learning-disabled children is based on a measure of vestibular function that is confounded by visual input. Thus these data may provide evidence of deficits in visual-ocular function in this population. To explore this possibility the authors investigated the differences in visual-ocular function, in particular optokinetic nystagmus (OKN), between normal and learning-disabled children. Children were tested for refixation saccades, smooth ocular pursuit, spontaneous nystagmus, gaze nystagmus and OKN. The testers were blind to the group to which the children belonged. No significant differences were found between the groups on any of the variables. It is concluded that there is no difference in nystagmic behaviour between normal and learning-disabled children, and that the differences in eye movements reported among learning-disabled children should not be attributed to the visual-ocular control functions investigated here.

Child↗

PubMed1987

Refresher education policy: results of a survey.

Occupational Therapy experiences chronic manpower shortage. This is in part, due to loss of trained,experienced manpower. In many cases, female occupational therapists, like other women, drop-out of the work force to re-enter later. In an attempt to delineate refresher education policy for re-entering, a mail survey of randomly selected members of Ontario occupational therapists and occupational therapy managers was conducted. The results of the survey suggested refresher education should be mandatory after an absence of 3-5 years, should be under the jurisdiction, at least in part, of the provincial association, should be oriented to specialists training and have a variety of formats including clinical practice.

Data Collection↗

PubMed1985

A critical look at vestibular dysfunction in learning-disabled children.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the vestibular dysfunction hypothesis in learning disabilities. The data indicated that there was no significant difference in vestibular function between normal and learning-disabled children; that there was no significant correlation between vestibular function and academic achievement; and that there was no significant educational relevance in categorizing learning-disabled children according to vestibular dimensions.

Achievement↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Dynamic performance analysis: a framework for understanding occupational performance.

Occupational therapy is now consistently described as a profession concerned with enabling occupation. A crucial step in enabling occupation is understanding the occupational performance of our clients. Dynamic Performance Analysis (DPA) is a new approach to occupational analysis that focuses on the client's actual performance. DPA, acknowledging that optimal performance is the product of the interaction of person, environment, and occupation, and thus highly individualistic, places the client and his or her occupation, in interaction with the environment, at the center of the analysis process. Embedded in a top-down framework, DPA is a dynamic, iterative process, carried out as the client performs the occupation. The purpose of DPA is to identify where performance breaks down and test out solutions. In this article, the rationale, origins, and basic assumptions of DPA are discussed, and a detailed description of the DPA process together with two clinical examples is presented.

Cognition↗