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Biomedical subjects

E J Yerxa

Publications and source records attributed to E J Yerxa.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1998

Occupation: the keystone of a curriculum for a self-defined profession.

The idea of occupation is proposed as the basis for constructing a curricular renaissance for occupational therapy in preparation for a new millennium. Implementing an occupation-centered curriculum could create a more integrated profession in which practice, ideas, scholarship, and education nurture and support one another, increasing the autonomy of both the occupational therapy profession and recipients of its services. A practice-oriented rationale for curricular design includes explication of the idea of occupation, a view of the person as an occupational being embedded in that concept, and the thought process of occupational therapy. Recommendations are provided to create an integrated curriculum that will contribute to future-oriented practice and a self-defined profession.

Curriculum↗
PubMed1998

Health and the human spirit for occupation.

The relationship between engagement in occupation and healthfulness is explored. Health is viewed not as the absence of organ pathology, but as possession of a repertoire of skills that enables people to achieve their vital goals in their own environments. This sort of health, reflecting adaptability and a good quality of life, is possible for all people, including those with chronic impairments. Theoretical and research literature from an array of disciplines explores the influences of occupation on various aspects of health. These include interests, satisfaction in everyday doing, balance, the latent consequences of work, and transcendence. Support is provided for a relationship between activity level and survival. To improve the life opportunities of those they serve, occupational therapists need to become ardent students of life's daily activities, grappling with the ambiguity and complexity of occupation, the occupational human, and the contexts in which occupation takes place.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1994

Dreams, dilemmas, and decisions for occupational therapy practice in a new millennium: an American perspective.

This article presents the assumption that the 21st century will have characteristics that are important to occupational therapists and the persons they serve. These characteristics include increases in chronicity, knowledge of human purpose, complexity of living, emphasis on personal power, awareness of demands from the environments where persons live and work, and a new conceptualization of health as persons' capacities to achieve goals through a repertoire of skills. The 21st century can lead into the millennium of occupation because occupational therapists can help persons become their own agents of competency, remove social barriers to their self-definition, and thrive in their environments.

Attitude to Health↗
PubMed1992

Some implications of occupational therapy's history for its epistemology, values, and relation to medicine.

Occupational therapy's history is explored to identify some implications for its directions in the 21st century. The profession was founded upon visionary ideas about the nature of human beings and their vital need for activity. Occupational therapy will make a significant contribution to society if it (a) seeks and applies an epistemology consistent with studying human purposes, (b) fosters its optimistic view of human nature, and (c) clarifies its relationship to medicine and other disciplines.

History, 20th Century↗
PubMed1991

Correlation of perceptual performance and activities of daily living in stroke patients.

Twenty-five male stroke patients were assessed with the use of a battery of perceptual tests (Gross Visual Skills [Baum, 1981]. Adult Visual-Perceptual Assessment [Baylor University Medical Center, Occupational Therapy Department, 1980], Manikin and Feature Profile subtests of the Arthur Point Scale of Performance Tests [Arthur, 1943; Buros, 1974, 1978], Judgment of Line Orientation [Benton, Varney, & DeS. Hamsber, 1978], Bender Visual Motor Gestalt Test [Bender, 1946], Haptic Visual Discrimination Test [McCarron & Dial, 1976, 1979a, 1979b], Block Design and Object Assembly subtests of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised [Wechsler, 1981], and Test of Three-Dimensional Constructional Praxis [Benton, 1973a; Benton & Fogel, 1962]). Also administered was the Klein-Bell ADL Scale (Klein & Bell, 1982) to measure performance of activities of daily living. The research questions were as follows: (a) To what extent did this sample of stroke patients differ from the nomative samples on perceptual performance? (b) To what extent did any tests of perceptual performance correlate with performance of activities of daily living? and (c) What, if any, instruments were more useful in discriminating the perceptual performance of stroke patients from that of normative samples? The results indicated that stroke patients showed significant deficits in perceptual performance, some of which correlated with activities of daily living performance. Patients with right hemispheric lesions performed similarly to those with left hemispheric lesions except on the Haptic Visual Discrimination Test.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1990

Quality of time use by adults with spinal cord injuries.

The self-perceived quality of time use of 15 community-based adults with spinal cord injuries was compared with that of 12 age- and sex-matched nondisabled adults through the use of the Activity Configuration Log (modified from an unpublished clinical assessment developed by Claudia Allen). Differences in how subjects classified their daily occupations were found between and within groups, especially for the categories of Work, Self-Maintenance, and Other. The results suggest that the subjects' classifications of occupations and interpretations of their meanings are important sources of information for both the science of occupation and occupational therapy practice. The subjects with spinal cord injuries had a high rate of unemployment (67%) and much more daily free time than did their nondisabled counterparts. The affective quality of particular occupations was found to be related to the affective quality of the entire day. Occupational therapists agreed more with each other than with the subjects with disabilities when classifying occupations. Implications for practice and research are provided.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1990

A test of fine finger dexterity.

The lack of instruments available for the measurement of fine dexterity (i.e., speed of interdigital manipulation) implies a gap not only in the occupational therapist's ability to quantify and deal precisely with patients' problems in this area, but also in the knowledge base of occupational therapy itself. The Rosenbusch Test of Finger Dexterity (developed by Doris F. Rosenbusch, MA, OTR), a new instrument that measures the speed of interdigital manipulation of objects by each hand separately, was tested on 64 subjects with normal hand function and 10 subjects known to have disabilities affecting fine dexterity. The determination of significant differences by the subjects' sex, dominant and nondominant hands, and normal and dysfunctional hands was performed with t tests. The scores of the subjects with normal hand function versus those with disabled hand function were then compared on all variables. The findings demonstrate that this instrument is ready to be used experimentally and compares favorably with current commercial tests on both reliability and validity coefficients.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

Development of the Satisfaction with Performance Scaled Questionnaire (SPSQ).

A new instrument, the Satisfaction with Performance Scaled Questionnaire (SPSQ), was developed to measure individuals' satisfaction with their performance of independent living skills. The SPSQ was designed to be used for clinical assessment and research with community-based persons with disabilities. Split-half reliability coefficients were .97 and .93 for the two scales, Home Management and Social/Community Problem Solving, respectively. Preliminary findings provided support for construct validity. The SPSQ appears promising as a measure of the phenomenology of engagement in activities related to independent living in the community.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1986

Liberal arts: the foundation for occupational therapy education.

Occupational therapy lacks a consensus regarding its theory base, technical tools, contribution to society, ethical stance, and relationship to medicine. This study proposes steps to achieve a new consensus and to resolve the crisis focus on entry-level education. The proposed steps include the critical assessment of the educational foundation for practice, the recognition that a liberally educated occupational therapist can serve patients better and meet pressing societal needs, and the pursuit of closer relationships with liberal arts colleges by occupational therapy academic departments. A "new breed" of occupational therapists, that is, therapists who are liberally educated, will be capable of thinking in broad categories and will be open to new ideas and aware of ethical implications; they will be familiar with principles, able to practice from a knowledge base, and prepared to improve the profession's practice: they will possess the skills to be leaders.

Clinical Competence↗
PubMed1984

Standardization of the prone extension postural test on children ages 4 through 8.

The prone extension postural test is a measurement of vestibular functioning that has been used by occupational therapists in assessing children suspected of having vestibular system deficits. The purpose of this study was to standardize the prone extension postural test because no standardized procedures or normative data were previously available for its administration. Reliability and validity were estimated and normative data gathered on 242 normal children ranging in age from 4 through 8 years. Performance involving duration and score on a qualitative scale was recorded. Four and 5 year olds performed similarly and statistically, and significantly differently from 6, 7, and 8 year olds. When a small group of learning-disabled children was compared to a nondisabled group, the prone extension postural test differentiated between the two groups with the exception of the 4 year olds.

Child↗
PubMed1984

Denial: implications of a pilot study on activity level related to sexual competence in burned adults.

The purpose of this pilot study was to explore the effect of disfigurement on sexual competence and the relationship between self-reported activity level and sexual competence in burn-disfigured adults. Because of a small sample size and methodological limitations, findings were intended to be informative for planning further research rather than definitive. Results showed a strong positive correlation between activity level and sexual competence. Additional findings showed surprisingly high activity levels reported by subjects who were greatly disfigured. It was speculated that denial may have affected the results of this study. Based on this, the clinical implications of denial were explored, and suggestions for future research were generated.

Activities of Daily Living↗