OTJR: Occupational Therapy Journal of Research

Haptic exploration, or active touch, is a perceptual modality that has demonstrated therapeutic potential for elementary age children but is not commonly studied with this age group. The aim of this exploratory study was to discover the characteristics of haptic scanning that are associated with efficiency and accuracy in a shape matching task. The study tasks were designed to resemble common visual perception tests, but in a haptic form using wooden shapes. Children ages 6 years, 6 months to 9 years, 6 months (N = 25), and adults (N = 25) engaged in shape matching tasks that involved either cross-modal (haptic with vision) or unimodal (haptic only) exploration. Video recordings were analyzed and four types of haptic strategies were identified that were significantly related to both age and correctness of response: the simultaneous use of two hands was the highest level and the use of one hand was the lowest. The findings are discussed in terms of attention capacity and ability to use points of reference.

This study compared parenting ability in mothers with systemic sclerosis (SSc) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), two chronic, autoimmune, connective tissue diseases that primarily affect women. Seventy-four mothers with SSc and 68 mothers with SLE completed self-report questionnaires on demographic characteristics, pain, fatigue, occupational performance, and parenting. Results showed that mothers with SSc were slightly older, were more educated, and had decreased occupational performance. Mothers with SLE had more pain and fatigue. There were no significant differences between mothers with SSc and SLE who had children 5 years of age and younger. However, there were significant differences between the mothers with SSc and SLE who had children aged 6 to 18 years on four items on the Parenting Disability Index: playing games with child, getting up with child during the night, keeping child out of unsafe situations, and helping child solve personal/social problems. These differences may be due to differences in the levels of pain, fatigue, and occupational performance, possibly stemming from differences in disease manifestations.

Adults with intellectual/developmental disability (IDD), and their occupational participation, are vastly under-represented in Hollywood films. Because films often provide individuals' only experience of people with IDD, cinematic representations can influence audience perceptions. Thus, films can help inform public perceptions about desired and appropriate occupational participation for people with IDD, potentially impacting their access to meaningful occupational participation and achievement of occupational potential. Accordingly, this research examined occupational portrayals of adults with IDD in contemporary Hollywood films. Occupational portrayals, as defined here, refer to representations of the dynamic process of the person participating in occupation(s) in a context. Grounded theory methods guided coding and analysis of qualitative data collected from eight contemporary films using an occupation-focused tool. Two major, striking themes emerging from the qualitative analysis—infantilization and simplification of participation in complex occupations (with three associated sub-themes)—are discussed. Implications of the findings and future research directions are considered.

In this pilot study, we explored the difference in the use of occupational competence strategies for daily participation between more active and less active older Hispanic women. Twenty-nine women who were 70 and older and lived alone participated in this study. We used a mixed-methods design by which the principal investigator administered a tool to measure participation restrictions during the quantitative phase and conducted in-depth interviews with a subsample in the qualitative phase. More active women predominantly used transportation resources, emotional social support, and spirituality to support participation in life activities. Less active women used more practical social support, assistive technology, and environmental modifications. Personal facilitators seemed to directly modify these strategies. These results suggest that older women with different activity levels use distinct internal and external resources to maintain or enhance daily participation. Future studies should explore whether these resources remain consistent across gender, living status, and ethnicity.

This pilot study aimed to investigate the activity participation of young adults with high-functioning autism (HFA) living in Taiwan. Eleven young adults with HFA, their caring adults, and 11 matched typically developing youth were recruited across Taiwan. The Adolescent and Young Adult Participation Sort-Taiwanese version (AYAPS-T) was administered to all three groups to compare the activity participation. In addition, youth with HFA identified activities in which they desired to participate and barriers hindering their participation. The results of this study suggest that youth with H FA had lower participation rates in activities across different domains than their typically developing peers. Youth with HFA were able to identify the activities they desired to do and the barriers hindering their participation. No significant differences in participation were found between the results reported by the caring adults and youth with HFA. Occupational therapy practitioners may work on eliminating the personal and environmental barriers that impede participation as youth with HFA transition out of secondary school.

The article “Mental Health Payment-by-Results Clusters and the Model of Human Occupation Screening Tool” by Lee, Forsyth, Morley, Garnham, Heasman, and Taylor, which was published in the Winter 2013 issue of OTJR: Occupation, Participation and Health (volume 33, number 1, pp. 40–49), has been amended to include factual corrections. Two errors were identified subsequent to its original printing.

In the Abstract on page 40 of the article, the following sentence should read as follows: “To evaluate the relationship between service users' membership in service need clusters and occupational groupings based on outcomes from an independent measure on participation and engagement in self-care, productivity, and leisure (Model of Human Occupation Screening Tool [MOHOST]), retrospective medical record data were gathered from 653 service users with a range of psychiatric disorders from two organizations in England.”

On page 42, the following sentence should read as follows: “Using data from 625 service-user records, the investigators identified unique profiles across the PbR clusters.”

These errors were acknowledged on page 51, volume 34, issue 1. The online article and its erratum are considered the version of record.