Occupation

Abstracts Thursday 30th June 2016
that the characteristics of ASD had a significant effect on family
routines for FASD. In addition, gaps in the literature were found
which included a lack of research conducted with FASD with
adolescents particularly in-depth qualitative research, as well as
insight to the Mother’s perceptions of the characteristics of ASD
and their impact on family routines.
Impact – The findings will impact Occupational Therapists by
increasing their awareness of the importance of the subject to
their practice and by encouraging further higher quality research
to be conducted that will benefit the lives of FASD.
Implications for Occupational Therapy – The review has shown
that understanding the impact of the characteristics of ASD
on family routines would provide better insight into the client’s
needs. This knowledge is of great significance as it can be used
to inform family centred interventions.
References
Bossard J and Boll E (1950) Ritual in family living. Philadelphia:
University of Pennsylvania Press.
Fiese B, Tomcho T, Douglas M, Josephs K, Poltrock S and Baker T
(2002) A Review of 50 Years of Research on Naturally Occurring
Family Routines and Rituals: Cause for Celebration? Journal
of Family Psychology. 16 (4), 381–390. Available at: https://
www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/fam-164381.pdf (accessed
9/3/15).
Keywords
Children and families, Audit, Practice – present and future
Contact E-mail Addresses
roseannatuohy@gmail.com
Author Biographies
Roseanna Tuohy is a newly graduated Occupational Therapy
Student from Oxford Brookes University. She achieved a first
class degree and has recently attained a position as a Band 5
Occupational Therapist. She is active in continually developing
her skills, evident from her participation in various volunteering
roles including a personal assistant for a young child with
cerebral palsy on their family holiday and magic trainer at
Breathe Magic which involved using magic to encourage
functional gains in children with hemiplegia. This passion for
paediatrics stemmed from her placements and dissertation and
will be conveyed in her presentation at conference.
Farzaneh Yazdani is a senior Occupational Therapy lecturer at
Oxford Brookes University. She continued her education to PhD
level with various stages undertaken in the Iran Medical Sciences
University and the University of Jordan. She was co-supervised in
her PhD research by Professor Garry Keilhofner of the University
of Illinois, USA and is now thedesignated MOHO representative
for the Middle East. Her passion for research has lead her to
undertake many projects and has made her highly skilled in
supporting students through their dissertations. Roseanna Tuohy
has benefited from her guidance and is inspired to participate in
conference.
Session 72.4
Appreciating empowerment as a vital tool for
creating occupational engagement
Bergson K 1,2 , Clarke C, Cardiff University 1 , The Prince’s Trust
Cymru 2
This poster talk will describe a women’s empowerment short
course run by two occupational therapy students during a role
emerging placement in a national youth charity in South Wales.
The decision to create this project was due to the occupational
therapy students recognising unmet needs of the young
women who struggled with confidence. The service users at this
charity were young people aged 16–24, who faced a variety of
challenges including homelessness, mental health difficulties,
unemployment, asylum seeking and being young carers.
The course was called Wonder Women and involved inspiring
outside speakers, interactive workshops on confidence and
assertiveness, as well as discussions on media representation
and occupational balance. The project was influenced by Fisher
and Hotchkiss (2008) ‘Model of Occupational Empowerment’.
This model was created in a homeless shelter and was designed
to help women there to feel empowered to make positive
occupational choices.
The rationale for running a female only course, at a mixed
gender project, was questioned by other team members. But we
argued that having an open and supportive female group was
a vital and unique opportunity, particularly for those who had
been exposed to negative situations with men in the past. Ethical
considerations included: how the women felt about sharing their
experiences with outside speakers and ensuring the group was
supportive and respectful. At the end of the three day course
the participants were enthusiastic speaking about feeling more
confident and able to talk up in boisterous groups.
To some the idea of occupational therapists working on a female
empowerment project might seem beyond the scope of the job.
But Hultqvist et al. (2015) demonstrated empowerment was
strongly linked to occupational engagement and satisfaction,
in a psychiatric day centre. So it is suggested that occupational
therapists should consider empowerment as a vital tool to create
occupational engagement.
References
Fisher, G.S. and Hotchkiss, A. 2008. A Model of Occupational
Empowerment for Marginalized populations in community
environments. Occupational Therapy in Health Care, 22 (1),
pp.55–71.
Hultqvist, J., Eklund, M., & Leufstadius, C. 2015. Empowerment
and occupational engagement among people with psychiatric
disabilities.Scandinavian journal of occupational therapy, 22 (1),
pp.54–61.
Keywords
Children and families, Practice development, Innovative practice,
Voluntary/third sector services
Contact E-mail Addresses
ktbergson@gmail.com
Author Biographies
Katy is shortly to be a newly qualified occupational therapist
with an interest in mental health and adolescents. She studies
in South Wales and has greatly enjoyed the diverse placement
undertaken during her studies, most recently a role emerging
placement for a national youth charity. She tries to be proactive
engaging with her peers and held a BAOT event for students
and practitioners in South Wales examining role emerging
and unusual practice. Prior to studying to be an occupational
therapist she work in behaviour change marketing promoting
healthy lifestyle choices.
Charlotte is also shortly to be a newly qualified occupational
therapist and has a great interest in working with children and
adolescents. She studies on the same course and undertook the
role emerging placement with Katy. Charlotte’s background is in
working with young people with autism and learning difficulties
in school, residential and community settings.
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