Occupational Therapy Research

Ever since I was a child, people always asked me what I would like to be when I grew up. At first, I would always say that I wanted to become an engineer because of my love for hands-on learning and my exceptional problem-solving skills. However, when I grew older I found that similar spark of fascination in the medical field. I wanted to go into a profession where I could help others and use my love for problem solving and hands-on interest. This is when I became interested in occupational therapy and fell in love with the profession. Occupational therapy has several elements I find passion in such as, the ability to be hands on and help change other people’s lives in a positive manner. My goal in life is to become an occupational therapist and help others live independent lives again. As I work to obtain this goal, I am doing many things such as strengthening my writing skills because this major involves many various aspects of writing. To succeed in this field, one needs to be able to write strong research-based papers and cite all sources correctly. I am striving to master these skills in hopes that I can succeed in and accomplish my academic goals.

The occupational therapy profession shares many objectives across the communities, clients, and families they serve. Some of these aims include: “Developing the field of occupational therapy and enhance the professions capabilities to meet the needs of the entire population, providing evidence on the efficacy of occupational therapy. This includes working with organizations and local communities, incorporating education, research, and practices as a complete whole. In addition, developing a team of professionals that innovates and adapts to the developing health needs of the population” (AOTA, 2013). This includes advocacy efforts with policymakers to ensure continued funding to provide care to individuals (AOTA, 2013). Occupational therapy is a distinctive profession that helps

My true passion for helping others begins with my mother. My mother, Carla worked for Gallipolis Developmental Center for many years as a nursing assistant. Unfortunately, she sustained a severe back injury that ended her career. In 2006, she was rushed into emergency back surgery after several herniated discs ruptured. This left her with severe back pain that she will suffer with for the rest of her life. As a result, I learned to care and to have compassion for those in need. My passion to work in pediatrics stems from my experience of being an aunt. I became an aunt at the age of four and I am now an aunt to six beautiful,

I didn’t know what I wanted to be at the time, but the medical field sparked my interest. I went up there, and I met a woman by the name of Pam who worked as an occupational therapist at a nursing home. She showed me around and introduced me to her patients. I love everything about her work. She would show simple tasks, such as cooking an egg, to her patients and helped them try to master it. Pam even showed them how to sit in the toilet seat by themselves. I observed and even helped her sometimes, and I loved the feeling of helping them get a step closer to living independently. Recently, I talked to the occupational therapist in the school at De Queen, and she told me that she has 32 kids that have Down syndrome or have some sort of disability problem. Her name is Kim, and she sees them twice a week for 30 minutes. She helps them recover or develop fine motor skills, visual and social participation skills, and problem solving skills. According to Kim, she states that occupational therapy and OTA is a career in which you help a person try to become independent in doing daily normal tasks, and she loves her job because she gets to see the progress every child makes. I knew that this was the career I wanted, and I was glad that UA Cossatot offered it. An occupational therapy assistant not only help patients recover daily skills, but they help them live

Throughout this course, my mind was opened to several healthcare careers which I was unaware of before. For the careers that I did know about, this course still did a great job at informing me of the professions on a deeper level. After reviewing the lectures and careers, I feel strongly about pursuing a career in Occupational Therapy. More specifically, I want to become an Occupational Therapy Assistant. This was a career that I had in mind when I began the course and I have been interested in it for about two years now. Occupational Therapy Assistants need to be sociable, compassionate, flexible, and enjoy problem solving. I believe I will enjoy this profession because my personality matches with all of these things.

At the school, I was one of the coaches for their GOFAR team. Every week a group of students and I would go to the school and practice for the 5k with these children. During the weeks of training, we were able to share our love and knowledge with them. It was crazy to see how differently they viewed things and how different their day to day life was. Due to the circumstances in many of those children's lives they wouldn't have had a lot of access to learning about healthy living, so it was very rewarding to teach them about this. I also feel that I can take the experiences of serving these children and teaching them about health, and apply that when I am an OT. In combination with my treatments for the patient, I can teach them about healthy living to help them recover better or live better with their disability or

My long-term goal is to learn the techniques that are used by patients to help them progress. In addition, I want to explore the different work environments, which the occupational therapists work in such as in hospitals, clinics, or schools.

Sensory integration is a condition that can be found in young children. This condition is defined as the difficulty of developing motor and cognitive skills at a typical rate(book). If the parent of a child with this condition is fully aware, most likely they will take the steps they need to better their child’s life. With that being said, the child will need an occupational therapist. The researcher has gathered information on the steps and guidelines of what an occupational therapist needs to follow for early intervention, the benefits it has for the child in need, and also the roles of an occupational therapist that will be further discussed. One of the most important role that an occupational therapist can do for a child with sensory integration is early intervention. The earlier you acknowledge the condition, the better outcome the child has at improving his/her physical and mental capabilities. Early intervention helps these children strive towards a path that improves their abilities and skills that are developed during these crucial years.

In the daily life of an Occupational Therapy assistant, it consists of the person actually being involved with the patient. It’s a lot of hands on, and it’s very challenging when it comes to your own body, because

From a young age, I have always wanted to understand other people’s thoughts and feelings. As I have grown older, I have grown even more curious about not only understanding people, but learning how to help them. With this guiding me, my future career goal is to become an Occupational Therapist. Occupational Therapists work with a wide variety of people to help them overcome obstacles in their lives in order to achieve a better quality of life. I specifically hope to work with young children, adolescents, and teens who suffer from emotional, mental, or cognitive impairments. This is due to growing up in a family who fostered challenged children, having siblings with their own challenges, and having many young friends who could have benefitted

The AOTA’s societal statement (2013) on health disparities asserts that OT practitioners have a duty to “intervene with individuals and communities to limit the effects of inequities that result in health disparities.” These disparities can be a result of many factors including social discrimination, access, and quality of health care as well as socioeconomic status (2013). The statement concludes by saying that OT practitioners have necessary skills and knowledge available to help these populations and that efforts to lessen or eliminate health disparities are supported by the Occupational Therapy Code of Ethics, 2010 (2013). This statement reaffirms the idea that even though it is not traditional OT, this is an area that OTs can and should be involved

Changing policies, attitudes, and culture require a strong coalition of individuals who are willing to take additional responsibilities and volunteer their time. Since the change will mainly benefit occupational therapists and school occupational therapists, state OT associations

Additionally, becoming involved in a mentoring relationship would be advantageous to me. The research world is not an area that I am familiar with, so it would be beneficial to have a knowledgeable mentor to rely on when I have questions. I understand that becoming an occupational therapy researcher is not a task that I can achieve independently. I hope that this program could provide me with individuals who can relay their experiences to me and aid me on my career path. I believe that I can conversely be valuable in the mentor-mentee relationship by bringing fresh ideas to our ever-developing

My passion for becoming an Internist began while working as a behavior analyst for the May Institute. Serving adults and children with a broad variety of developmental disorders provided my initial impetus and foundation. Working closely with individuals and groups as a case manager, created the desire to treat these individuals and further improve their lives. This experience motivated me to become a medical assistant, further exposing me to complex cases and clarifying my decision. I completed medical school to become an part of a multidisciplinary team to enhance the lives of people and their families stricken with intricate cases, as this tended to push the boundaries of who I am and what I am capable of more so than any other specialty.

Occupational therapy combines my two loves the medical field and working with special needs children. While being employed in the school system as an occupational therapist, I will be interacting and working with many different people on a daily basis. We will all be considered part of the support staff and will work together to help the children achieve their goals. I will also be keeping the parents updated on a weekly basis of their child’s progress, along with attending each child’s IEP (individual education plan) conference. Becoming an occupational therapist is a very long and hard journey. During the process I will be taking many difficult classes, learning about numerous disabilities, taking lots of tests, learning how to use adaptive