Scandinavian Journal of Occupational Therapy

BACKGROUND: Occupational therapy's connection to positivist science predates the profession's formal beginning, with important contributing knowledge sources coming from mathematics, physics, psychology, and systems theory. While these sources of objective knowledge provide a rational, defendable position for practice, they can only explain a portion of what it means to exist as an occupational being. AIMS/OBJECTIVES: This article aims to reveal some of the history of science within occupational therapy and reveal the subjective, ontological nature of doing everyday activities that the profession's preoccupation with positivist science has obscured...

BACKGROUND: Research utilization and evidence-based practice (EBP) in occupational therapy rely on essential scientific skills. Despite prior research exploring factors influencing EBP, a gap remains in understanding the specific scientific competencies crucial for effective EBP application. OBJECTIVES: To (1) describe the level of scientific skills for EBP and research application, and (2) investigate the factors influencing higher scientific competence among 1159 Spanish-speaking occupational therapists...

BACKGROUND: Phronesis is a way of knowing, implying wisdom, experiences, and reflections that guide our judgements. Phronesis, important for learning, is a neglected form of knowledge when applied to research. AIM: To examine how phronesis is conceptualised and practiced in three research projects. METHOD: Data from eight interviews with researchers involved in three research projects was generated. The interview material was analysed. A theoretical matrix of contemporary understanding of phronesis was applied to the material...

BACKGROUND: Young peoples' mental health challenges have increased in recent years to become an urgent public health issue. Research is required to gain a better understanding of how occupations influence young peoples' everyday lives and support their mental health. AIM: How do young people experience engaging in various occupations in their daily lives, and how do these experiences shape their mental health? METHOD: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 Norwegian young people aged 13-16 years...

BACKGROUND: OBQ11 was developed in a Swedish context. To evaluate occupational balance, accurate self-rating instruments in the native language are needed. AIM: The aim was to investigate the measurement properties of the Danish version of OBQ11, using the Rasch analysis. METHOD: Data for the analysis of the Danish version of OBQ11 (OBQ11-DK) was gathered online, and all full data records (n 366) were included in the analysis. RESULTS: Three items showed non-significant marginal under- or overfit, suggesting a degree of misfit between the data and the Rasch model...

BACKGROUND: In Denmark, stroke represents a leading disability cause. While people with difficulties in performing activities of daily living (ADL) due to poststroke cognitive impairments are often referred to occupational therapy, limited knowledge is available on the nature of these services. AIM/OBJECTIVE: To explore how Danish occupational therapists describe their practice when addressing decreased ADL ability in people with poststroke cognitive impairments in hospital and municipality settings...

BACKGROUND: Dementia is an age-related disease associated with complex health and care needs. Due to demographical shifts, the number of older people with dementia is forecasted to increase. Occupational therapists encounter people with dementia in their daily work, yet little is known about their experience of working with people with dementia. AIM/OBJECTIVES: To explore occupational therapist's experiences of working with people with dementia. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Ten occupational therapists were interviewed using semi-structured interviews...

BACKGROUND: The Redesigning Daily Occupations (ReDO) is a programme targeting persons who need to restructure activities and routines to achieve a healthier balance in everyday life. Issues that often is needed for persons with neurological diseases. AIMS/OBJECTIVES: To describe how persons with neurological disease experienced the ReDo-programme and to investigate how their occupational patterns and fatigue changed during the programme. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A mixed method study with a convergent parallel design including ten participants...

BACKGROUND: The challenges of returning to work after sickness absence demands a wide conceptual understanding of what hinders the employee's work participation. Thus, there is a need to know more about self-perceived barriers for Return to Work (RTW). AIM: This study aimed to investigate RTW barriers experienced by employees on long-term sick leave, through the lens of the Model of Human Occupation (MOHO). MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study was a large-scale qualitative interview study ( n  = 85) using semi-structured telephone interviews...

BACKGROUND: Few studies synthesising knowledge about meaningful occupation are available. Meta-ethnography allows the synthesising of a variety of empirical findings and translational knowledge may be developed. AIM: Investigate how individuals from diverse cultures and contexts experience meaningful occupation as described in qualitative research, applying meta-ethnographic approach. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study was based on 44 qualitative articles, selected by following a systematic procedure...

BACKGROUND: People with mental health issues often experience difficulties with sensory modulation affecting occupational engagement. Research conducted in inpatient units has shown positive effects of individual sensory modulation interventions, however, research on experiences of group-based interventions in outpatient units is limited. Hence, a group-based sensory modulation intervention was adapted and tested within Swedish mental health outpatient units. AIM: To explore the experiences of participating in a group-based sensory modulation intervention for service users in mental health outpatient units...

BACKGROUND: Occupational therapy (OT) has historically used cooking as an intervention and assessment approach across settings. Current practices in OT and the emergence of the multidisciplinary field of culinary medicine highlight the relationship between cooking and health. AIMS/OBJECTIVES: To map the current literature on OT and cooking and to identify key factors that may facilitate collaboration within culinary medicine. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We conducted a scoping review using the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology to identify primary contexts and clinical settings...

BACKGROUND: Within and beyond occupation-based scholarship, concerns abound regarding the pervasiveness of discourses that promote a negative, deficit-based view of intellectual disability and associated consequences for disabled people's lives. Such representations risk reducing the complexities of human doing and being and can limit the occupational possibilities of this group. Yet, there is a lack of critically reflexive research exploring how disability is discursively constructed in occupation-based literature...

BACKGROUND: For many children, public playgrounds represent environments that are playful and important in developing good health. Without efforts to facilitate climate change adaptation of outdoor playgrounds there may be a negative impact on children's health and well-being. AIM: With a special focus on play value, to explore the reasoning and described strategies among professionals responsible for development, planning and solutions concerning outdoor playgrounds in the context of climate change...

BACKGROUND: Stroke rehabilitation consists of restorative and adaptive approaches. Multiple adaptive approaches exist. AIMS/OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to develop a framework for categorising adaptive stroke rehabilitation interventions, based on underlying theory. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We searched multiple databases to April 2020 to identify studies of interventions designed to improve participation in valued activities. We extracted the name of the intervention, underlying explicit or implicit theory, intervention elements, and anticipated outcomes...

INTRODUCTION: Residential reasoning is a complex process that includes decisions on whether to age in place or to relocate. Ageing in the Right Place (ARP), a web-based housing counselling service was created to support older adults in this process. The study's aim was to evaluate the usability of the ARP as regards content, design, specific functions, and self-administration as a mode of delivery and to lay the ground for further optimisation. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Nine women and five men (aged 66-82) completed a series of tasks using the ARP...

BACKGROUND: The Powered Mobility Device Autonomy Residential Screen (PoMoDARS) is a new tool to enable clinicians to screen resident capacity and performance skills for powered mobility device (PMD) use in residential aged care settings. The PoMoDARS is context specific, time efficient and promotes resident autonomy and safety. AIMS: To (i) undertake initial face and content validation of the PoMoDARS, and (ii) use the research findings to make any modifications...

BACKGROUND: National standards for nursing homes in Ireland require that residents are offered a choice of recreational and stimulating activities to meet their needs and preferences. AIMS/OBJECTIVES: To investigate residents' perceptions of leisure and social occupational choice in nursing homes in Ireland to determine if occupational choice is facilitated. MATERIALS AND METHOD: Qualitative-descriptive design - nursing home residents completed two semi-structured interviews that explored their experiences of leisure and social occupational engagement...

BACKGROUND: When assessing motor skills, occupational therapists are encouraged to seek the perspectives of children and their parents to promote the delivery of client-centered care. AIM: To investigate whether 9-12-year-old children's views and their parents' proxy views of the children's motor skill competence and their performance on a standardized, performance-based assessment are associated. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty 9-12-year-old children completed the Perceived Motor Competence Questionnaire in Childhood (PMC-C) and the Pictorial Scale of Perceived Movement Skill Competence - version 2 (PMSC-2), while their parents completed the Movement Assessment Battery for Children-2nd Edition Checklist (MABC-2 Checklist)...

BACKGROUND: Digital spaces are rapidly emerging as a space for children to engage in autotelic play. AIM: To explore and describe children's experiences of choice-making in their play in digital spaces from the perspective of children themselves. METHODS: Focus groups were conducted with a total of eight children aged six years of age within their school, in a large city in Ireland. A Mosaic Approach with drawing, cutting, and colouring in was used to elicit the children's voices to ensure their active engagement throughout the data collection...