OTJR: Occupational Therapy Journal of Research

The objective of this cross-sectional study was to compare health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in mothers of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) with a norm-based sample. An additional aim was to examine the relationship between engagement in leisure and social occupations and HRQoL in mothers of children with ASD. Thirty-three mothers of children with ASD, between 27 and 49 years of age, participated. Study participants between the ages of 35 and 44 years reported poorer mental HRQoL than a national sample, but comparable physical HRQoL. Findings also revealed inverse correlations between participation in hobbies and community/education activities and physical HRQoL (e.g., participation in hobbies and community education/activities increased as physical HRQoL decreased). The mental HRQoL of caregivers of children with ASD is lower than that of the general population, suggesting the need for occupational therapists to include psychosocial screening and referral for this group in their practice. In addition, results suggest that the relation between participation and health is complex, warranting further investigation.

This study examined the dimensions of parents' sense of competence in relationship to children's behaviors thought to reflect sensory processing disorders (SPD) and sought to determine which behaviors best predicted overall parental sense of competence. A total of 248 parents of children with SPD completed the Sensory Profile and the Parenting Sense of Competence (PSOC) scale. Parents of children with SPD demonstrated somewhat higher parenting Satisfaction than Efficacy. Overall, the PSOC scale was significantly correlated with children's behaviors, as measured by the Sensory Profile. Cluster analysis indicated that children's lower Sensory Profile scores were associated with lower PSOC scores. Four specific items of the Sensory Profile reflecting socially unacceptable behavior best predicted overall PSOC scale with an adjusted R-Square of .270. The Occupational Performance Coaching intervention to support both children's social behaviors and parent needs is recommended.

Participation in everyday occupations influences people's health and well-being. To enable individuals to do the activities they want and need to do is the main concern of occupational therapy practice. Many daily occupations are universal, but they also depend on culture. The development of the Activity Card Sort in eight countries has offered the opportunity to describe occupations across cultures. In the developmental process of culturally relevant versions of the Activity Card Sort by occupational therapists in each country, the instrument versions included samples of older adults (N = 468). These data are used in the current description with the aim of identifying central activities across cultures and central activities for Asian and Western cultures. Te n activities were identified as being central across cultures (i.e., more than half of the older adults in all eight countries performed them). They were the following: shopping in a store, doing grocery shopping, doing dishes, doing laundry, reading books or magazines, sitting and thinking, watching television, listening to radio or music, visiting with friends and relatives, and talking on the telephone. Further, 16 additional activities central to Asian culture and 18 activities central to Western culture were identified. The identification of central activities deepens knowledge of activities with cultural significance. This knowledge is needed in clinical practice and multicultural research. This description provides a starting point for further exploration of everyday occupations among older adults.

Engaging in leisure activities is related to successful aging. Because there are an increasing number of older adults living with vision loss, many of whom struggle to engage in leisure, the aim of this study was to understand the meaning behind leisure activities for older adults who are living with vision loss. Twenty-six individuals with a visual acuity of 20/70 or worse participated in semi-structured interviews and allowed for the observation of engagement in a leisure activity of choice. Three themes regarding leisure and vision loss emerged: a shift in relationships, the influence of vision loss on time use, and achieving meaning through leisure as an important outcome. Discussion focused on implications for practice, emphasizing a need to understand the meaning of an activity to achieve leisure participation outcomes, and the importance of finding ways to enable older adults with vision loss to engage in leisure occupations.

The objective of this study was to psychometrically evaluate the Persian version of the Occupational Gaps Questionnaire (OGQ-P) and LiSat-11 checklist, and to describe occupational gaps after stroke and their relation to aspects of functioning and perceived life satisfaction. A total of 102 individuals who had experienced a stroke were assessed for their occupational gaps, aspects of functioning, and life satisfaction. Psychometric analyses of the Persian versions of the OGQ and LiSat-11 were completed and the measures were applied for using univariate and multivariate analyses. The results provided evidence of internal scale validity, person response validity, and sensitivity for the instruments. The participants perceived the most common occupational gaps in “helping and supporting others.” Furthermore, perceived physical function including activities of daily living ability, motor function, and perceived life satisfaction were the most influential variables for the prediction of occupational gaps. It is essential to address the occupations such as “helping and supporting others” that are important from an individual perspective but overlooked in rehabilitation. A combination of physical function, motor function, and life satisfaction can predict occupational gaps after stroke.

This study describes the concept of therapeutic benefits in doing, based on analysis of data from 2 years of ethnographic research with contemporary quilt making in North Carolina. The aim of the larger study was to describe and gain understanding of a popular occupation within the larger cultural, political, and socioeconomic context. The aim of the current study was to determine whether therapeutic aspects of quilting were part of the dialogue about quilting and, if so, how this aspect was described. Data were obtained from participant observation with nine quilt guilds and public quilting venues (stores and shows), review of quilting web sites, and interviews with 18 women. Coding of these data identified many themes, one of which was quilting as therapy. This code was used for any content that explicitly used the term therapy or spoke of ways that quilting was used to handle difficult circumstances or elicit a sense of well-being. For this article, all of the data coded as therapy were excerpted and analyzed further by reading and rereading them and organizing them into broad concepts that were refined by returning to the data. Ultimately two types of a self-generated therapeutic use of quilt making were identified—mundane and exceptional. Mundane therapy was part of women's daily routines, whereas exceptional therapy was taken up in response to difficult events or times in people's lives. These findings describe a possible link between occupation and health.