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Biomedical subjects

S A Gutman

Publications and source records attributed to S A Gutman.

8 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1998

Student level II fieldwork failure: strategies for intervention.

OBJECTIVE: This report describes how common student communicative and behavioral characteristics that appear to predict the existence of potential problems during Level II fieldwork were identified in order to develop and implement preventative interventions during the academic curriculum at New York University (NYU). RECORD REVIEW: A record review of NYU professional-level occupational therapy students from 1986 to 1995 was completed to identify common factors among students who performed well academically but failed clinical fieldwork. Eight communicative and behavioral characteristics were identified: (a) rigidity of thinking, (b) discomfort with the ambiguity that accompanies clinical reasoning, (c) lack of psychological insight, (d) difficulty interpreting feedback, (e) externalization of responsibility, (f) difficulty learning from mistakes, (g) discomfort with the physical handling of patients, and (h) dependence on external measures for self-esteem. INTERVENTION: On the basis of the identified characteristics, five intervention strategies were adopted: (a) academic seminars that address professional behavior and interpersonal skills, (b) faculty feedback to students regarding problematic behaviors, (c) clinician and senior student counseling with identified students, (d) student remediation programs consisting of community service, and (e) student learning contracts based on specific behavioral objectives. These strategies were administered before Level II fieldwork to 10 students in the 1996 class who exhibited the characteristics indicative of potential fieldwork failure. OUTCOME: Of the 10 students in the 1996 class, 7 passed fieldwork without further difficulty, two failed fieldwork midterm assessments but went on to achieve passing final evaluations, and one failed the final fieldwork assessment but passed an additional third fieldwork experience. The class of 1996, which was the first to receive formal intervention designed to decrease fieldwork failure, demonstrated lower fieldwork failure rates than did all other classes in the past 10 years.

Clinical Competence↗
PubMed1995

Influence of the U.S. military and occupational therapy reconstruction aides in World War I on the development of occupational therapy.

The development of occupational therapy was heavily influenced by an early evolved relationship between orthopedists and reconstruction aides during the first World War. Orhopedists were largely responsible for both the presence of occupational therapy in the war and the eventual acceptance (by army personnel) of women fulfilling this military function. As a result of gender issues of that time--characterized by a dearth of employment opportunities for women and by a general resistance to women in military roles--this affiliation with orthopedists in World War I served to promote occupational therapy within the military environment. This affiliation also marked an early willingness by occupational therapists to accept the medical model as one guide for clinical practice.

Female↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Medical residents' education about occupational therapy: implications for referral.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to assess sources of physician education concerning occupational therapy and to determine whether these sources influence occupational therapy referral rates. METHOD: One hundred fifteen medical residents from Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, were surveyed. RESULTS: Residents learn about occupational therapy through informal, direct, and interactive types of contacts (touring occupational therapy departments, having personal contact with an occupational therapist, having a family member receive occupational therapy). Perceived knowledge about occupational therapy was not significantly associated with referral rate, but it did influence a resident's desire for further education about occupational therapy. CONCLUSION: Strategies for increasing medical residents' understanding of occupational therapy and for increasing their referrals to occupational therapy include opportunities for small group role playing, structural system changes within clinical sites, and direct marketing to consumers.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The experience of head injury on the impairment of gender identity and gender role.

OBJECTIVES: This study explored the disruption of gender identity and gender role as a result a traumatic brain injury (TBI). METHOD: Four adults (two men, two women) who sustained a TBI between the ages of 18 and 30 years and were at least 1 year postinjury participated in six 1-hr interviews concerning changes in (a) perceived masculinity or femininity, (b) involvement in intimate relationships, (c) enactment of gender roles, and (d) organization of activities that support gender roles. RESULTS: The men expressed greater feelings of gender inadequacy postinjury than did the women and appeared to have greater difficulty resolving rites of passage (e.g., achievement of the adult work role, marriage, parenting) and developmental issues characteristic of the life stage at which they experienced their injury. The men appeared to depend more heavily on traditional gender-specific activities before and after injury to define and support gender role; the women relied more on cross-gender activities. The women appeared to be able to maintain more preinjury activities postinjury than did the men. CONCLUSION: Postinjury possession of a personally satisfying sense of gender appears to be related to the ability to maintain much of the preinjury activities that defined and supported the participants' sense of masculinity or femininity. The ability to satisfactorily resolve rites of passage or developmental issues characteristic of the life stage at which the brain injury occurred appears to be related to the ability to participate in activities that define and express gender role during that particular life stage.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Occupational therapy's link to vocational reeducation, 1910-1925.

The development of occupational therapy is rooted in early 20th century medical reform. During the early 1910s, several members of the medical profession, human service workers, and the larger American society were increasingly disturbed by medical practices that did not consider the individual's personal experience of disability. Occupational therapy was developed, in part, out of this desire to provide persons with treatment that helped them to function in their communities despite their disability. Early occupational therapy leaders envisioned the fledgling profession as a societal service capable of assisting persons with disabilities to return to both work and community life. Vocational reeducation was initially considered to be an integral component of occupational therapy in the years from 1910 to 1920. However, the profession's early link to vocational reduction was challenged by vocational technical trainers during World War I. To prevent occupational therapy from being subsumed by vocational technical training, the early occupational therapy leaders implemented several strategies: adoption of physician prescription for all occupational therapy services, delivery of occupational therapy services primarily within hospital settings, and dissociation from vocational reeducation services. Reasons accounting for why the early occupational therapy leaders abandoned their initial commitment to vocational reeducation are explored. Suggestions about how this decision has affected present-day practice are also offered.

Persons with Disabilities↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Alleviating gender role strain in adult men with traumatic brain injury: an evaluation of a set of guidelines for occupational therapy.

OBJECTIVE: A set of guidelines to assist men with traumatic brain injury (TBI) to alleviate gender role strain was assessed to determine its effectiveness and acceptability to participants. METHOD: Four adult male participants with TBI received the intervention (the set of guidelines) for 4 months. The intervention consisted of rebuilding self-identified gendered social roles and activities. Focused interviews and participant observation were used to determine whether gender role strain changed after intervention. RESULTS: The participants reported that the intervention enabled them to (a) enhance their gender role satisfaction through newly rebuilt roles and activities, (b) attain certain long-held personal goals, (c) feel more like members of society, (d) perceive a greater congruency between their internal self-images and external postinjury roles, (e) learn more about personal skills and values as men, (f) feel more comfortable using help-seeking behaviors, (g) feel a sense of shared experience and affinity, (h) feel more understood and accepted, and (i) contribute to others through community member roles. DISCUSSION: The set of guidelines for alleviating gender role strain was effective in assisting these participants to enhance their gender role satisfaction through rebuilding desired male-gendered social roles and activities. Dating, courtship, extended family member, community member, friend, and mentor-protege roles, lost as a result of TBI, were rebuilt through gender-neutral activities that facilitated a sense of volitional control, competency, and normalcy. Nonetheless, the men continued to lack desired rites of passage leading from male adolescence to adulthood.

Adult↗