Occupational Therapy Doctoral Capstone Projects

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https://hdl.handle.net/1805/23238

This collection includes capstone projects authored by doctoral students in the Department of Occupational Therapy.

If you are an OTD student and need access to upload your project, please contact the IUPUI University Library Center for Digital Scholarship (digschol@iupui.edu).

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Doctoral Capstone Experiential at Camp Mariposa: Aaron’s Place
(2021-04) Huber, Megan H.; Wilburn, Victoria G.; Department of Occupational Therapy, School of Health and Human Sciences; Wilburn, Victoria G.
Dependence on alcohol, illicit substances, and opioids impact the parent-child relationship, childhood development, and child behaviors (Romanowicz et al., 2019). There is a strong association between parental substance abuse and subsequent child maltreatment (Opioids and Youth, 2018). Substance use disorder (SUD) can lead to family trauma and significantly impact the child’s life trajectory. However, given the support, knowledge, and tools necessary to intervene, it is possible to mitigate the negative effects of SUD and trauma. Camp Mariposa: Aaron’s Place is a camp for youth ages 9-12 who have been impacted by a family member’s SUD. By applying underutilized approaches to family and group therapy, such as yoga, theatre, and nature-based crafts, this camp promotes resiliency, protective factors, and post-traumatic growth.
Intervention Development for Camp Mariposa Aaron’s Place: Increasing Functioning in Families Impacted by Substance Use Disorder
(2021-05-06) Solesky, Allison; Wilburn, Victoria; Department of Occupational Therapy, School of Health and Human Sciences; Wilburn, Victoria
Substance use disorder (SUD) has negatively impacted many children and families across the state of Indiana. Camp Mariposa Aaron’s Place was recently established in the Indianapolis community and serves children aged nine to twelve along with their families to mitigate the harmful impacts that SUD has placed in their lives. This camp offers family and group interventions to instill and equip each individual with the skills needed to navigate relationships and conflicts within the family as they arise. By giving families impacted by SUD a safe space to participate in evidence-based, occupation-driven, and trauma-informed activities, the camp will be able to promote resiliency and enhance communication within the families to increase functioning within the home.
Improving Multidisciplinary Approach to Complex Discharge Patients: An Evidence Based Approach
(2021-04-23) Din, Noor; Bednarski, Julie; Department of Occupational Therapy, School of Health and Human Sciences; Tom, Lauren
Eskenazi Hospital’s rehabilitation therapists have identified a gap in how complex discharge patients care is approached. With increased caseloads and high role demands, the therapy team is not able to provide this population with the level of services they may benefit from during their stay. Moreover, a defined approach to discharge planning for this population is needed to identify barriers to discharge from admission. This capstone student worked collaboratively with identified stakeholders to complete an in-depth needs assessment and propose a multidisciplinary guideline for providing the best level of care for this population. A proposed method to facilitating patient routines during hospitalization was created through multiple rounds of feedback and implementation.
The Role of Occupational Therapy Services in Addressing the Mental Health of Black Girls: A Community Engaged Program Implementation Project
(2021-05-03) Milton, Cierra; Wasmuth, Sally; Department of Occupational Therapy, School of Health and Human Sciences; Wasmuth, Sally
Literature illustrates mental health disparities experienced by young Black girls (Leary, 2020; Morris, 2016) in the United States. Occupational therapy (OT) is an ideal profession to address these disparities through mental health group interventions (AOTA, 2020). The goal of this occupational therapy doctoral capstone (DC) project was to implement and examine the efficacy of an occupation-based program in addressing the mental health of Black girls in a community setting. Intervention implementation took place at a community-based afterschool center over eight consecutive weeks. Intervention activities were aimed at improving the participants’ understanding of social emotional skills, self-efficacy and self-esteem. The activities were versatile, culturally rooted, incorporated principles of trauma informed care (Menschner & Maul, 2016) and were cost effective. Program implementation efforts were assessed through mixed methods data analysis. The capstone experience also included the professional dissemination of results from a community-based mental health intervention program for young Black girls.
Improving Family Engagement, Cultural Competence, and Socioeconomic Awareness in First Steps Provider Training
(2021) Cousins, Kaela T. O.; Chase, Tony; Department of Occupational Therapy, School of Health and Human Sciences; Young, Constance V.
To effectively demonstrate equity within the practice of early intervention, providers must feel that they are supported and equipped with family-centered and evidence-based strategies encouraged by their early intervention programs, such as First Steps. First Steps is the statewide early intervention program from the Division of Disability and Rehabilitative Services for Indiana. To perform best practice and encourage positive child outcomes, early intervention providers should continuously apply family engagement, cultural competence, and socioeconomic awareness throughout their work. Although the importance of these aspects is emphasized in various core values and principles, it can be a challenge to apply them due to ambiguity of these terms, lack of professional development on these topics, and the tendency to solely focus on the child. To address these challenges, this capstone will aim to reduce the ambiguity of these terms, to provide training for First Steps providers on these topics, and to better understand the perspectives of different families on how to strengthen these domains within First Steps. The overall purpose of this capstone is to conduct virtual focus groups with families of First Steps and to use their feedback with evidence-based principles to create a professional development course for First Steps providers. Thus, this capstone will aim to practice inclusion of family voices within the professional development course on family engagement, cultural competence, and socioeconomic awareness to promote First Steps providers in producing more positive child outcomes.
Technology Use of Older Adults to Promote Aging in Place at Franciscan PACE Center
(2021-04-27) Gregory, Lauren; Zeigler, Jayson; Department of Occupational Therapy, School of Health and Human Sciences; Barnes, Carol
Technology use among older adults has been shown to be beneficial for their overall health, independence, socialization, and quality of life. Technology promotes aging in place for these individuals, especially during the coronavirus pandemic where social isolation is more prevalent. The capstone project with the Franciscan PACE center focuses on providing evidence-based resources for participants to increase occupational performance through the use of technology. Healthcare providers at PACE were provided with the same resources to better educate them on the technologies available and their features that promote aging in place for older adult participants. The technology resources, including an excel sheet and educational videos, were reported by staff and participants to be beneficial and likely to be referenced in the future. Through education, older adults and numerous healthcare workers were made aware of how useful technologies can be to improve functionality and everyday life performance.
Community Transition: Addressing Factors that Lead to Readmission in Inpatient Psychiatric Units
(2021-05-07) Chim, Chhattrah; Wasmuth, Sally; Department of Occupational Therapy, School of Health and Human Sciences; Button, Jo
Psychiatric readmission is a common problem for individuals with psychiatric illness worldwide. Approximately one in seven individuals hospitalized for psychiatric illness are readmitted within 30 days of discharge. 30-day readmission is a common outcome measure to indicate quality of patient care. Frequent readmission for patients decreases their quality of life, disrupts their recovery, and fosters dependence on psychiatric services. The purpose of this doctoral capstone experience is to develop a clinically useful screening tool used to identify at-risk patients for readmission to improve transition into the community. In doing so, effective patient-centered interventions focused on individualized needs can be provided to possibly decrease the risk of readmission. The screening tool was developed using retrospective clinical data collected from electronic medical records of all patients readmitted to SEMHRC within 30 days of discharge in 2020. The screening tool examines 5 domains which include previous admissions, risk of harm to self and others, individual factors, community barriers, and engagement in treatment. In 2020, Sandra Eskenazi Mental Health Recovery Center discharged 1,119 patients. Of those patients discharged, 10.3% readmitted within 30 days at least one or more times. A bivariate analysis was done using the developed screening tool on 19 patients that were first time users of the psychiatric unit comparing their hospital index admission to following hospital readmissions. These patients averaged a score of seven on the screening tool for risk of readmission. Individuals with 3+ readmissions within 30 days of prior hospitalization had an average score of 12.7 upon assessment. The study showed that the higher score on the screening tool increased the probability of readmission. The study shows the use of a screening tool to assess patients' risk of readmission on a psychiatric unit has the potential to improve delivery of mental health services.
The Impact of an Adapted Dance Fitness Program on Sport Performance Outcomes
(2021-04-16) Callahan, Renee; Albright, Megan; Department of Occupational Therapy, School of Health and Human Sciences; Graber, Itzel
The capstone project investigated the effects of a virtual adapted dance fitness program, called DanceFloor Fitness, of the Special Olympics Indiana athletes’ sports performance outcomes. This program was developed and implemented based on the need of having supplemental cardiovascular training that was inclusive, client-centered, and accessible for the Special Olympics Indiana athletes, in order to improve leisure participation and increase social participation. The participants consisted of athletes, or county coordinators, affiliated with Special Olympics Indiana and participated at their own leisure. Participants completed 12 weeks of DanceFloor Fitness classes, held two days a week for 60 minutes each, and reported their fitness progress and program satisfaction via midpoint and pre/post surveys that collected qualitative outcome measurements. Overall, the majority of the athletes reported that DanceFloor Fitness classes helped them become better at their sport(s) and improved their muscular strength, mood, dance skills, communication with teammates, and the ability to make friends. Given the program’s virtual platform, unique curriculum, and specialized population, more research is needed to better understand the impact of an adapted dance fitness program on individuals of all ages, genders, and abilities.
The Effectiveness of Dance Intervention for Parkinson's Disease
(2021-05-06) Messer, Kyle; Albright, Megan; Department of Occupational Therapy, School of Health and Human Sciences; Williams, Kim
Fear of falling and increased fall risk is a common issue for individuals with Parkinson’s Disease (PD). Secondary to balance and coordination complications experienced these individuals can experience extreme difficulty navigating their environment because of compromised mobility. This difficulty can manifest, causing mobility issues, insecurity with functional mobility, and transitioning from one position to another. The resulting effects of PD can drastically influence the quality of life in which individuals with PD experience. The impact can present in fear of transferring from seated to standing positions, inability in completing daily self-care tasks, inability to participate in activities which bring an individual enjoyment, and result in significant fatigue levels experienced. The purpose of this doctoral capstone experience is to introduce dance as a fun and interactive exercise-based intervention. Ideally, introducing a Samba dance style to the participants of the study will decrease the risk/frequency of falls among participants, improve engagement in Activities of Daily Living (ADL)/ Instrumental Activities of Daily living (IADL) and improve quality of life. During the study, participants engaged in one weekly Samba dance intervention accompanied by a warm-up and stretch routine to address issues. Four separate subjective assessments were implemented addressing independence with ADL/IADLs, a fall risk/mobility measure, an assessment addressing fatigue levels experienced, and a measurement to see the strain placed on caregivers. The results of the study are inconclusive and have several statistical variations among the four participants which completed both -pre and -post-assessments. The doctoral capstone student hypothesized that with objective measures implemented, increased frequency of the intervention, and a larger sample size a similar, future study may provide positive results when addressing improvements in independence with ADL/IADL performance, improved mobility/decrease in fall risk, and improved overall quality of life.
COVID-19 Implications on Student Athletes Occupational Engagement and Mental Health
(2021-04-28) DePue, Brianna; Wilburn, Victoria; Pierce, David; Wilburn, Victoria; Department of Occupational Therapy, School of Health and Human Sciences; Wilburn, Victoria
Occupational engagement in preferred activities has been difficult to obtain throughout the Coronavirus-19 (COVID-19) pandemic for high school athletes with the disruption to high school sports. High school athletes utilize sports as a way to interact within their environment and engage in play which is a key factor for facilitating normative development. The purpose of this capstone project is to further understand if associated mental health outcomes exist in high school athletes due to limited occupational engagement within sports through self-reported measurements. This project utilized a cross sectional, mixed methods survey, from a convenience sample of 104 high school athletes in order to obtain student athletes perspectives regarding the impact of COVID-19 on their sport performance, mental health, occupational deprivation, and future collegiate goals/scholarships. This project used a chi square analysis with a linear regression to understand relationships between datasets. Statistically significant (p= .003) relationships were found between grade level and student's self-reported occupational deprivation. This study also found indications of other predictive relationships between factors such as limited playing time or different rules while participating in sports and student's self-reported negative mental health symptoms (r= 2.3). With limited research on COVID-19 in this vulnerable population, this study provides foundational evidence for the need to engage within preferred occupations for normative development in high school athletes and the need to address mental health in this population who undergo feelings of adverse mental health within circumstances out of their control such as the impact of COVID-19.

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