There is a growing public consciousness around the power (and difficulty) of habit change, especially as the impact of chronic conditions soars.   And, as we’ll see in the featured scoping review on OT and habit change/health promotion, we’ve been addressing habits since 1912, it is a core part of our 2020 practice framework, and is increasingly embedded in OT research.  On this OT Potential Podcast episode, we’ll welcome Dr. Zipporah Brown, and her and I will discuss ways you can embed best practices around habit change in your practice. You can find more details on this course her ..read more

The number of OT entry-level doctoral (OTD) programs has been expanding rapidly. In 2017 there were 7 programs. As of 2023, there are 95, with an additional 76 in development.  The article we'll cover in this course presents early stage research on the doctoral capstone experience and employment opportunities. It backs up what I have now personally observed through mentoring a student: that doctoral students are uniquely prepared for more diverse job opportunities, and sometimes jobs are even created due to the clear value of the capstone experience.  There seems to be a benefit for ..read more

I’ve been surprised as my own kids enter elementary school to anecdotally find that constipation is a common reason to miss activities.  But, this aligns perfectly with the research we look at today, and the growing concern that constipation has become a public health concern.  As many as 32% of kids (0-18) experience constipation. And, a growing number of occupational therapy professionals are seeing these kids on their caseload. Today we’ll look at an article that examines what an interdisciplinary approach to pediatric constipation can look like.  Then, we are excited to welc ..read more

It takes an average of 17 years for evidence to make its way into practice.  The fields of knowledge translation and implementation science are seeking to change this. And, today we are looking at a scoping review of knowledge translation research in rehab.  To be frank, I think the article is pretty convoluted. (Which is funny since it comes from researchers interested in knowledge translation.?)  But, it certainly gives us a good jumping off point to talk about the challenges around knowledge translation, and the need for innovation in this field.  Next week, we’ll welcom ..read more

The art and science of digital prosthetics is rapidly advancing.  Yet, many people with amputated fingers do not wear a prosthetic.  Part of the problem may be our own fault as health providers. We may be stuck in old stereotypes of poor outcomes and limited options related to digital prosthetics.  In this one-hour podcast-base course, we’ll look at a research article that explores the experiences of people who wear digital prosthetics. Our goal is to develop your skills in listening closely to your own clients and their needs in this area.  Next week on the podcast, we’ll ..read more

In previous courses, we’ve discussed that one of the primary ways we can improve our care, as OT professionals, is to increase the diversity of our workforce—with the ultimate goal of having our workforce’s diversity mirror the diversity of the populations we are seeing.  This goal will ensure we have the multiple perspectives needed to respond to the needs of our clients.  But, until now, we’ve mostly talked about this theoretically.  So, what do the actual numbers have to say about the current diversity of our workforce?  It’s a mixed bag.  In today’s 1 hour CEU cour ..read more

Through OT Potential, we’ve released over 70 episodes all exploring new influential OT research. As we enter 2024, it’s time to reflect on the research and ask:  What trends are we seeing in OT? How is new research enriching how we think about our practice?  In this 1 hour-episode, we’ll talk about new trends, with a particular focus on what commonalities we see leaders in our field doing in their occupational therapy process. We’ll culminate our discussion by exploring how people describe OT. This will be informed by our OT practice framework, but with a special focus on how we comm ..read more

Since this keynote address from the World Federation of Occupational Therapy Congress was published in 2019, it has been cited so many times that it made our list of the 100 most-cited OT journal articles.  It’s easy to see why this has become such a popular read. The article stitches occupational therapy together with global trends, in particular growing inequality.  The author challenges us to see this problem clearly. And, calls us upon us to build globally relevant occupational therapy from the strength of our diversity. In this one hour CE course, we’ll review this article, then ..read more

Dyslexia is the most common form of neurodivergence.  It affects around 20% of the population, meaning that people with dyslexia are on almost every occupational therapy professional’s caseload. And yet, not enough OT-specific research and resources have been devoted to how we can help this population.  Today, we look at a leading theory of dyslexia that basically reads like a call to action for OT’s to re-examine how needed our skills are.  As you’ll see it pushes us to take a strengths-based approach to treating dyslexia, and to regard the condition as rooted in a sensory proc ..read more

For OT professionals working with adults with intellectual disabilities it can feel like there is a  lack of resources around best practices for working with this population.  Today’s article flips that long-held narrative on its head. The authors set out to find evidence to inform OT for adults with intellectual disability—and to their own surprise they found so much it has become 3 papers.  We’ll review the evidence they found to support intervention. Then we’ll welcome to the podcast two of the article authors, Meghan Blaskowitz and Wanda Mahoney. Together, we’ll unpack the p ..read more