An interdisciplinary evidence-based review of interventions among persons with substance-use disorders was completed in 2001 as part of American Occupational Therapy Association's (AOTA's) Evidence-Based Literature Review Project (Lieberman & Scheer, 2002). Four effective interventions for adults and adolescents with substance use were identified, including brief interventions, cognitive behavioral therapy, motivational strategies, and 12-step programs. The research studies reviewed reported outcomes primarily related to reduction in alcohol and drug use. Occupational therapy interventions grounded in current evidence-based literature are suggested. Interventions are modified to include an occupational perspective leading to outcomes consistent with the Occupational Therapy Practice Framework (American Occupational Therapy Association [AOTA], 2002). Study findings propose research questions to encourage further investigation of the effectiveness of these best practice interventions.

OBJECTIVE. We sought to understand the lived experience of 2 student veterans and identify factors influencing their higher education. METHOD. A qualitative research design was used with 2 student veterans who engaged in photovoice methodology. We analyzed their photographs, accompanying narratives, and discussion session transcripts using descriptive coding and thematic analysis. RESULTS. Data analysis revealed four themes: (1) reminiscence of past duty and reflections on military life, (2) transition from military life to civilian student life, (3) entry to a new stage of life, and (4) influence of the university and community environment. CONCLUSION. Findings from this study revealed factors influencing student veterans' education and can be used to develop occupation-based interventions to assist veterans who engage in higher education.

BackgroundNonadherence to antidepressants is a major obstacle to deriving antidepressants’ therapeutic benefits, resulting in significant burdens on the individuals and the health care system. Several studies have shown that nonadherence is weakly associated with personal and clinical variables but strongly associated with patients’ beliefs and attitudes toward medications. Patients’ drug review posts in online health care communities might provide a significant insight into patients’ attitude toward antidepressants and could be used to address the challenges of self-report methods such as patients’ recruitment.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to use patient-generated data to identify factors affecting the patient’s attitude toward 4 antidepressants drugs (sertraline [Zoloft], escitalopram [Lexapro], duloxetine [Cymbalta], and venlafaxine [Effexor XR]), which in turn, is a strong determinant of treatment nonadherence. We hypothesized that clinical variables (drug effectiveness; adverse drug reactions, ADRs; perceived distress from ADRs, ADR-PD; and duration of treatment) and personal variables (age, gender, and patients’ knowledge about medications) are associated with patients’ attitude toward antidepressants, and experience of ADRs and drug ineffectiveness are strongly associated with negative attitude.MethodsWe used both qualitative and quantitative methods to analyze the dataset. Patients’ drug reviews were randomly selected from a health care forum called askapatient. The Framework method was used to build the analytical framework containing the themes for developing structured data from the qualitative drug reviews. Then, 4 annotators coded the drug reviews at the sentence level using the analytical framework. After managing missing values, we used chi-square and ordinal logistic regression to test and model the association between variables and attitude.ResultsA total of 892 reviews posted between February 2001 and September 2016 were analyzed. Most of the patients were females (680/892, 76.2%) and aged less than 40 years (540/892, 60.5%). Patient attitude was significantly (P<.001) associated with experience of ADRs, ADR-PD, drug effectiveness, perceived lack of knowledge, experience of withdrawal, and duration of usage, whereas oth age (F4,874=0.72, P=.58) and gender (χ24=2.7, P=.21) were not found to be associated with patient attitudes. Moreover, modeling the relationship between variables and attitudes showed that drug effectiveness and perceived distress from adverse drug reactions were the 2 most significant factors affecting patients’ attitude toward antidepressants.ConclusionsPatients’ self-report experiences of medications in online health care communities can provide a direct insight into the underlying factors associated with patients’ perceptions and attitudes toward antidepressants. However, it cannot be used as a replacement for self-report methods because of the lack of information for some of the variables, colloquial language, and the unstructured format of the reports.

The Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) (Public Law 101-336) provides persons with mental health problems basic rights resulting in full access to community resources, especially the rights and privileges associated with the work role. This paper discusses the law, personal self-efficacy, and four environmental aspects as they relate to the employment of persons with mental impairments: (a) employer and co-worker attitudes, (b) essential job functions, (c) reasonable accommodations, and (d) community access. Areas of intervention for occupational therapists in mental health include attitude and advocacy training, assisting employers in providing reasonable accommodations, and preparing persons with mental impairments to be successful employees. Examples in occupational therapy are reviewed to illustrate the implementation of the ADA with persons with mental health problems.

Two independent research teams led by graduate students from clinical disciplines studied the lived experiences of student veterans transitioning from the military into higher education. Additionally, these projects provided graduate students with training in the research process, application of evidence-based practice in preparation for professional responsibilities and advancement, and collaboration with student veteran stakeholders as coinvestigators and project team members. One study piloted a student veteran orientation course with the aid of veteran stakeholders to better address the overall needs of student veterans on campus. The other study engaged student veteran participants as coinvestigators using the photovoice methodology to illuminate their perspectives on social relationships. Findings in each study added greater depth to previously discovered trends, and revealed insights into student veteran educational priorities, the impact of the transition process on social roles and relationships, graduate research project design, and community advocacy. This study added insight into the factors that affect student veterans’ higher education experience, which can be used to inform future studies conducted at the graduate level, examine interdisciplinary approaches to research and advocacy, amplify the voice of student veterans, and encourage interaction in research between civilian and veteran students.