Although the findings confirm the importance of factors included in existing quality-of-life assessments, they also highlight the need to look at new dimensions of commonly included factors and to include other factors. The findings support beliefs regarding occupation that are central to occupational therapy and the use of occupation as means and ends of therapy.

Through the support of a discipline that is dedicated to the pursuit of a full understanding of occupation, occupational therapy will help to create a new and complex body of knowledge concerning occupation. However, occupational therapy must continue to make decisions about how knowledge produced within occupational science and other disciplines can be best used in practice.

The prescription of wheeled seated mobility devices for clients with mobility impairment is a growing area in occupational therapy practice. The goal is to enhance client participation in occupation through technical intervention. This critical review examines the body of knowledge concerning the impact and effectiveness of the provision of wheeled seated mobility on the occupational performance of wheelchair users and their caregivers. The scope and gaps in the literature are defined to identify areas for future research. While the focus is on the methodological issues of the research reports, the relevance of findings to occupational therapy practice will also be reviewed. The results of the 46 studies in this review indicate that the majority of research conducted thus far have methodological limitations, which limits the extent to which this body of research can be drawn upon to provide evidence for the effectiveness of wheeled mobility systems. While most of the studies reviewed addressed constructs of relevance to occupational therapy practice, there was an emphasis on performance components and inadequate attention to engagement in occupations. This review is an important first step in building the ability of occupational therapists to demonstrate effectiveness in wheeled seating interventions.

This article describes the initial validation study of the Quality of Life Measure for Persons With Schizophrenia (QOLM-S). This new assessment is grounded in a holistic conceptual framework, addresses occupational issues, and was developed on the basis of qualitative data collected from individuals with schizophrenia. Data were collected from 91 individuals with schizophrenia to examine aspects of reliability and validity. Results support both the internal consistency of the QOLM-S, with a Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficient of 0.97 for the overall scale, and concurrent validity. Correlations between the domain and total scores of the QOLM-S provide initial support for construct validity. This study supports the use of the QOLM-S as a descriptive tool. Future research to enhance the clinical utility and further examine the psychometric properties of the QOLM-S are suggested.