Occupational Therapy Interventions for Adults Living With Serious Mental Illness

Abstract

Occupational therapy practitioners have education, skills, and knowledge to provide occupational therapy interventions for adults living with serious mental illness. Evidence-based interventions demonstrate that occupational therapy practitioners can enable this population to engage in meaningful occupations, participate in community living, and contribute to society. Systematic review findings for occupational therapy interventions for adults living with serious mental illness were published in the September/October 2018 issue of the American Journal of Occupational Therapy and in the Occupational Therapy Practice Guidelines for Adults Living With Serious Mental Illness. Each article in the Evidence Connection series summarizes evidence from the published reviews on a given topic and presents an application of the evidence to a related clinical case. These articles illustrate how research evidence from the reviews can be used to inform and guide clinical decision making. Through a case story, this article illustrates how current evidence is applied for effective occupational therapy intervention with an adult living with serious mental illness.

Virtual reality in social skills training programs for people with schizophrenia: A systematic review and focus group

“…They are included as a client factor in the Occupational Therapy Practice Framework: Domain and Process (American Occupational Therapy Association, 2014) and are an area of increasing attention by occupational therapists (Kauffman and Kinnealey, 2015). Evidence-based interventions suggest that the knowledge and skills of occupational therapists can enable people with severe mental illnesses to participate in the community and contribute to society, helping them to become involved in meaningful occupations (Lannigan and Noyes, 2019).…”

“…Occupational therapists are core members of multi-professional teams that care for people with SZ (Morris et al, 2018). They have the education, skills and knowledge to provide evidence-based intervention to adults with SZ, helping them to engage in meaningful occupations, participate in the community and contribute to society (Lannigan and Noyes, 2019). Occupational therapy interventions aim to improve their quality of life and social participation, and this is achieved through the adaptation of activities and environments important to the individual to allow for the development of skills and of their confidence in the performance of daily tasks.…”

Betätigung interdisziplinär denken – Occupational Science in der Physiotherapie

“…Es gibt spannende Ergebnisse aus der OS-Forschung, die die praktische Arbeit von PTs unterstützen. Beispielsweise haben sich viele Studien mit bedeutsamer Betätigung verschiedenster Populationen beschäftigt 14 – 16 . Wenn Therapierende besser wissen, wer ihre Patient*innen sind, können sie den Fokus besser auf das Wesentliche legen.…”

Sensory modulation interventions for adults with mental illness: A scoping review

“…Moreover, the burden of mental illness and addictions is said to be larger than the burden of illness for other medical conditions, such as cancer and infectious diseases (Ratnasingham et al, 2013). Improving the occupational participation of individuals with mental illnesses may aid in reducing this burden of mental illness as a contribution to the society (Lannigan & Susan Noyes, 2019; Lipskaya-Velikovsky et al, 2015).…”