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Biomedical subjects

Jane Case-Smith

Publications and source records attributed to Jane Case-Smith.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Development of the Hand Active Sensation Test: reliability and validity.

OBJECTIVE: To develop and establish the reliability and validity of a new quantitative functional measure of haptic perception in the hand, the Hand Active Sensation Test (HASTe). DESIGN: Reliability was assessed by test-retest sessions. Validity was assessed via discriminant analysis, concurrent validity with 2-point discrimination and wrist position test, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve construction. SETTING: Subject preference. PARTICIPANTS: Heterogeneous sample of 28 stroke survivors and 28 individually matched controls. INTERVENTION: Subjects used 1 hand to manipulate HASTe objects that vary by weight or texture to complete 18 match-to-sample trials. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Two-point discrimination threshold, Wrist Position Sense Test (WPST) average error, and HASTe accuracy score. RESULTS: Test-retest reliability was strong (intraclass correlation coefficient model 3,1 = .77). The HASTe score significantly discriminated the groups (t = 8.3, P < .001) and correlated with 2-point discrimination (r = -.67, P < .001) and WPST (r = -.60, P < .001). ROC curve area was .94 for test 1 and .92 for the average of 2 tests. CONCLUSIONS: The HASTe is a reliable and valid functional measure of haptic perception, appears to detect impairment of haptic perception even in stroke survivors with no reported sensory deficits, and may provide valuable quantitative clinical data about complex sensory loss and hand function after stroke.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

Information literacy skills of occupational therapy graduates: a survey of learning outcomes.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study is to assess whether recent graduates of the Ohio State University's Occupational Therapy division are applying information-seeking skills they learned as undergraduates, and to seek their advice on ways to improve information-literacy instruction for current and future occupational therapy students. METHOD: A survey was sent to a sample of graduates from 1995-2000. The results were entered into an SPSS database, and descriptive and inferential results were calculated to determine the information-seeking patterns of these recent graduates. RESULTS: A majority of the occupational therapy graduates who responded to the survey prefer to use information resources that are readily available to them, such as advice from their colleagues or supervisors (79%) and the Internet (69%), rather than the evidence available in the journal literature. Twenty-six percent (26%) of the graduates have searched MEDLINE or CINAHL at least once since they graduated. Formal library instruction sessions were considered useful by 42% of the graduates, and 22% of the graduates found informal contacts with librarians to be useful. CONCLUSIONS: Librarians and occupational therapy faculty must intensify their efforts to convey the importance of applying research information to patient care and inform students of ways to access this information after they graduate. In addition to teaching searching skills for MEDLINE and CINAHL, they must provide instruction on how to assess the quality of information they find on the Internet. Other findings suggest that occupational therapy practitioners need access to information systems in the clinical setting that synthesize the research in a way that is readily applicable to patient-care issues.

Computer Literacy↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Effectiveness of school-based occupational therapy intervention on handwriting.

OBJECTIVE: This study investigated the effects of school-based occupational therapy services on students' handwriting. METHOD: Students 7 to 10 years of age with poor handwriting legibility who received direct occupational therapy services (n = 29) were compared with students who did not receive services (n = 9) on handwriting legibility and speed and associated performance components. Visual-motor, visual-perception, in-hand manipulation, and handwriting legibility and speed were measured at the beginning and end of the academic year. The intervention group received a mean of 16.4 sessions and 528 min of direct occupational therapy services during the school year. According to the therapists, visual-motor skills and handwriting practice were emphasized most in intervention. RESULTS: Students in the intervention group showed significant increases in in-hand manipulation and position in space scores. They also improved more in handwriting legibility scores than the students in the comparison group. Fifteen students in the intervention group demonstrated greater than 90% legibility at the end of the school year. On average, legibility increased by 14.2% in the students who received services and by 5.8% in the students who did not receive services. Speed increased slightly more in the students who did not receive services. CONCLUSION: Students who received occupational therapy services demonstrated improved letter legibility, but speed and numeral legibility did not demonstrate positive intervention effects.

Analysis of Variance↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Relationships between handwriting and keyboarding performance of sixth-grade students.

OBJECTIVES: This study examined the relationships between sixth-grade students' handwriting speed and legibility and their keyboarding speed and error rate. A second purpose was to examine how well handwriting performance discriminates students as slow or fast in computer keyboarding. METHOD: After participation in a school-required keyboarding class, 40 sixth-grade students were asked to copy a familiar poem using handwriting and keyboarding. Handwriting legibility and speed and keyboarding speed and errors were measured. Relationships among these variables were analyzed using Pearson product-moment correlations and discriminant analysis. RESULTS: Keyboarding speed correlated with handwriting legibility (n = 38, r = .361, p = .026), suggesting that handwriting performance accounts for 12% to 13% of the variance in keyboarding performance. Handwriting speed and legibility together accurately categorized 71% of students as slow or fast in keyboarding. On average, students were able to keyboard faster than handwrite. Of the 20 slowest handwriters, 75% achieved more text production with keyboarding than with handwriting. CONCLUSION: Keyboarding performance demonstrated low to moderate correlation with handwriting performance, suggesting that these forms of written expression require distinctly different skills. Most students who were slow at handwriting or had poor legibility increased the quantity and overall legibility of text they produced with a keyboard. These results suggest that keyboarding has the potential to increase and improve a student's written output.

Child↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Outcomes in hand rehabilitation using occupational therapy services.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to measure functional outcomes after outpatient occupational therapy for clients who had upper-extremity injury and surgery or both. METHODS: A sample of 33 clients referred to occupational therapy outpatient intervention was recruited from five clinics in Ohio. The Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM) was used to guide the occupational therapy sessions and to measure outcomes. The Disability of Arm, Shoulder, and Hand (DASH) questionnaire and the Short Form 36 (SF-36) were also administered to the clients pre and post 6 to 8 weeks of hand rehabilitation services. Two to three months after discharge, the clients responded by the telephone to the Community Integration Questionnaire. RESULTS: The clients received a mean of 13 hours of outpatient occupational therapy services and received no other rehabilitation service. Functional performance gains following 6 to 8 weeks of services were significant (COPM; t(32) = -11.5, p < .001; t(32) = -11.31, p < .001; DASH; t(32) = 9.22, p < .001; t(32) = -9.02, p < .001). Effect sizes on the COPM and DASH ranged between 1.43 and 2.52. Progress in the clients' goals was moderately correlated to progress in functional measures. CONCLUSION: Clients with upper-extremity injury or surgery made strong, positive gains in functional measures following client-centered occupational therapy services. The COPM was the most sensitive to client change, followed by the DASH, and then the SF-36.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Parenting a child with a chronic medical condition.

PURPOSE: Parents of children with chronic medical conditions and associated disabilities have substantial caregiving responsibilities different from those of typical children. This ethnographic study examined how parents manage these caregiving demands, how they maintain their social lives, and how they form their self identities. METHOD: Graduate students interviewed eight parents of children with chronic medical conditions and disabilities and participated in 60 hours of activities with them over a 6-month time period. The interview transcripts, students' field notes, and journals were analyzed for themes that related to caregiving, social activities, and self-identity. RESULTS: Parents felt that they "always needed to be with their child," and most had changed their career plans to devote more time to caregiving. Parents also expressed anxiety about making difficult medical and educational decisions for their children. Activities outside the home required extensive planning and preparation and maintaining a social life was perceived as challenging because friends and relatives did not always understand the families' limitations in activity. CONCLUSIONS: Although the parents expressed stress related to coping with the caregiving load, they viewed having a child with chronic medical conditions as a positive experience that brought cohesion to their family. The parents explained that their experiences with their children helped them to appreciate life and develop more sensitivity to and tolerance of individual differences. The parents had become strong advocates for their children and other children with similar needs.

Adult↗