“One 60-minute run can add 7 hours to your life” claimed The Times last week. The story was based on a new review in Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases that concluded that runners live, on average, three years longer than non-runners and that running will do more for your longevity than any other form of exercise. But there’s more to running than its health-enhancing effects. Research published in recent years has shown that donning your trainers and pounding the hills or pavements changes your brain and mind in some intriguing ways, from increasing connectivity between key functional hubs, to helping you regulate your emotions. The precise effects sometimes vary according to whether you engage in intense sprints or long-distance running. Here, to coincide with a new feature article in The Psychologist – “Minds run free” – we provide a handy digest of the ways that running changes your mind and brain.
Having realised the way they were operating wasn’t working, the Community Paediatric Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy team had the courage to stop, and consult with families to review services.
The result was the Sunflower Parent Sensory Training programme, a classroom based coaching package helping parents develop a personalised ‘sensory diet’ – strategies for their children to understand and regulate their senses – together with healthcare professionals.
In this article, we describe the use of the objects and spaces of the physical environment by occupational therapy practitioners in the United States over the profession’s first 100 years. Using professional literature selected by decade from the years 1917 through 2016 to obtain data, we applied grounded theory methods to complete a detailed description. Team-based analysis over four coding schemes yielded a theoretical description of the profession’s therapeutic use of the physical environment. Study findings included descriptions across occupational therapy’s history of (1) treatment spaces, (2) the concepts of adapting and grading, and (3) a typology of constructive and nonconstructive applications of objects and activities by occupational therapy clients and practitioners. This extended historical perspective on trajectories of change in intervention space, the role of physical products in intervention, therapist repertoire, and the enduring role of adaptation suggests how the physical environment may be used in future practice. Lower-extremity (LE) musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) can have a major impact on the ability to carry out daily activities. The effectiveness of interventions must be examined to enable occupational therapy practitioners to deliver the most appropriate services. This systematic review examined the literature published between 1995 and July 2014 that investigated the effectiveness of occupational therapy interventions for LE MSDs. Forty-three articles met the criteria and were reviewed. Occupational therapy interventions varied on the basis of population subgroup: hip fracture, LE joint replacement, LE amputation or limb loss, and nonsurgical osteoarthritis and pain. The results indicate an overall strong role for occupational therapy in treating clients with LE MSDs. Activity pacing is an effective intervention for nonsurgical LE MSDs, and multidisciplinary rehabilitation is effective for LE joint replacement and amputation. Further research on specific occupational therapy interventions in this important area is needed.
The occupational therapy and rehabilitation therapy services working at Broadmoor Hospital, West London Mental Health Trust (WLHMT), have recently come together under one management structure. This merger led to the idea of measuring the work environment of both services to establish any differences or commonalities to provide a baseline measurement to inform future service developments. Please contact the library to receive a copy of this article - http://bit.ly/1Xyazai
To evaluate specific process components of the Urban Health Centres Europe approach; a coordinated preventive care approach aimed at healthy ageing by decreasing falls, polypharmacy, loneliness and frailty among older persons in community settings of five cities in the United Kingdom, Greece, Croatia, the Netherlands and Spain.. To read the full article, log in using your NHS Athens details. To access full-text: click “Log in/Register” (top right hand side). Click ‘Institutional Login’ then select 'OpenAthens Federation', then ‘NHS England’. Enter your Athens details to view the article.
Reports on a feasibility study to investigate the effects of a home based, individual reminiscence intervention using an iPad app for people living with dementia and their family carers. The study design had three phases. Phase 1: A User Development Group comprising a paired sample of 6 people living with dementia and their family carers who worked with the research team to design and test the technology; Phase 2: Testing of the developed app with a paired sample of 30 people living with mild to moderate dementia and their family carers (n=60). Participants used the app for 12 weeks at home. Questionnaires which examined the impact of reminiscence on mutuality, wellbeing, quality of life and quality of the relationship between participants living with dementia and their family carers were collected at the beginning, middle and end points of the study. Health economics data were also collected to understand cost effectiveness. Phase 3: Individual interviews with a sample of participants (n=32) to explore their experience of the intervention. The results found that people living with dementia used the app independently and more frequently than their carers. They also showed an increase in the quality of caregiving relationships and emotional well‐being for people living with dementia. Although there was no significant change for carers over the course of the study, the intervention improved the caring relationship and was seen as an enjoyable way to care for themselves and their loved one. To view this article please sign into Social Care Online or by replying to this email. Please be clear which article you are requesting.
The Horticultural Memory Café has been set-up by healthcare professionals from the Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and recently opened at Glen Carne near St Agnes.
Primary Care Dementia Practitioners, Amelia James and Jess Joseph, who were instrumental in setting up the Horticultural Memory Café said, “The idea of male only sessions evolved
after some of our patients suggested they would rather be doing something more practical, but still wanted to be part of a group.”
Falls Prevention lead nurse Joanne Lewis Hodgkinson at Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Trust was inspired by a reduction in the inpatient falls rate to look at how partnerships with other individuals and groups across the local Health community could come together to provide an event for public and staff to promote the changes individuals can make for a healthier lifestyle that may also reduce the risk of falling.
This meta-ethnographic review explains how people with early-onset dementia form their sense of identity. To read the full article, choose Open Athens “Institutional Login” and search for “Midlands Partnership”.
BPS blog post by Christian Jarrett. Perhaps the most important lesson from this review is that we need more research into how different types and intensities of exercise affect our mood.
The majority of accidents at home involving elderly people occur in the bathroom. Therefore, the planning of the layout of facilities is important in this potentially dangerous area. This paper proposes an approach towards designing and optimizing the layout of facilities in the bathroom, based on logistical and nonlogistical relationships. You can request a copy of this article by replying to this email. Please be clear which article you are requesting.
Objective: To evaluate fidelity, treatment enactment and the experiences of an occupational therapy intervention in Parkinson’s disease, to identify factors that affect intervention delivery and benefits. To read the full article, log in using your NHS OpenAthens details
This study aimed to describe the perspectives of general community OTs of their engagement with clients experiencing mental health issues; their perceptions of the implementation of routine screening in their practice, and the knowledge, skills and support they need to identify and support their clients’ mental health needs. To read the full article, log in using your NHS OpenAthens details.
The aim of this study was to explore the lived experiences of a group of older adults involved in a range of occupational-focused leisure activities provided by the Weekday Wow Factor, a small social enterprise led by an occupational therapist to understand their perceptions of positive ageing and occupational participation. To read the full article, choose Open Athens “Institutional Login” and search for “Midlands Partnership”.
This article presents the first stage of a grounded theory study that seeks to understand what occupational therapy students learn during the course of their first practice placement, with the intention of informing simulated placement development. To read the full article, choose Open Athens “Institutional Login” and search for “Midlands Partnership”.
The proportion of people with an intellectual or developmental disability (IDD) in paid employment is low internationally despite policy efforts. Evidence suggests multiple and varied explanations for this, including organisational, social and personal barriers. That evidence has not focused on first-person experiences which may provide a depth of understanding and explanation of the work-related experiences of people with IDD. To read the full article, choose “Institutional Login” and search for “Midlands Partnership”.
Watsu means water shiatsu. It’s a unique type of therapy which involves immersing a person in warm water and, whilst they are held and supported by a therapist, they are gently moved around, stretched and massaged.
South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust is the first organisation to offer Watsu in an inpatient mental health setting to service users on its Trinity 1 ward at Fieldhead in Wakefield.