OTJR: Occupational Therapy Journal of Research

The objective of this study was to identify what characterized the lived experience of memory impairment in daily occupations during the first year after acquired brain injury. Four participants were interviewed on four occasions during the year after the brain injury. The data were collected and analyzed using the Empirical Phenomenological Psychological method. The findings revealed four main characteristics that described the individual's experiences during the year of rehabilitation: a chaotic life-world, struggling for coherent doing in new contexts, conscious strategies in new contexts, and achieving new habits. After the brain injury, the life-world changed from a taken-for-granted existence to a chaotic world that was difficult to understand. The routine performance of daily activities and the habit patterns had broken down, so it was mostly the familiar activities that were already integrated in the “habit-body” that enabled coherent doings in everyday life during the year. The findings contribute to an understanding of how to use familiar and meaningful occupations as a therapeutic medium in the rehabilitation of clients with memory impairment following acquired brain injury.

Using a grounded theory perspective, this article focuses on experiences of participation in relation to home among very old people who are living alone. Eight people selected from the larger ENABLE-AGE Project were interviewed. Data analysis identified the core category as “home as the locus and origin for participation” with two main categories (“performance-oriented participation” and “togetherness-oriented participation”). The findings indicate that the home is the origin for participation both out of the home and within the home. However, as older people's health declines, the home becomes the explicit locus for participation. Participation successively changes from taking part in more physically demanding activities out of the home to participation by means of watching others from within the home (i.e., by being a spectator). In appreciating self-defined goals for a meaningful life, thus enabling the experience of participation in very old age (age 80 to 89 years), this study contributes to the knowledge about relationships between participation and home in very old age.

The purpose of this study was to describe developmental trends in handwriting performance and determine which handwriting components influence legibility among middle school students. One hundred thirty-four Israeli students in grades 7 to 9 (age range = 12 to 15.5 years, mean age = 13.5 years) who wrote in Hebrew were assessed using a standardized handwriting test. Results indicated that legibility and speed did not improve from year to year, the handwriting performance of girls was significantly better than that of boys, and letter formation (but not spatial organization) significantly contributed to handwriting legibility. These results support findings from studies relating to the English language and may assist occupational therapists who work in middle schools to both identify students with handwriting difficulties and develop appropriate intervention programs. Yet, because this is one of the few studies that relates to handwriting performance of middle school students, additional studies on other aspects of this skill in this age group are necessary.

This qualitative study explored the perceptions of seven individuals who defined themselves as culturally Deaf about the nature of their participation in both Deaf and hearing communities. This study was conducted in partnership with a community group that advises a municipal administration about disability rights issues. Semi-structured interviews using a phenomenological approach were completed with the aid of American Sign Language interpreters. Data were analyzed using constant comparisons to determine whether emergent themes fit the Person-Environment-Occupation Model. Feedback about the analysis was sought through a member-checking group of participants and themes were adjusted as needed. Participants reported that the main barrier to participation within both the hearing and the Deaf communities was difficulty with communication. This “great divide” resulted in disadvantages in education, limited access to competitive employment, diminished social opportunities, and fewer financial and service resources. The Person-Environment-Occupation Model proved a useful framework for conceptualizing findings.