MedBridge Breakouts

In this Breakout, Barbara Kresge, OTR/L, CBIS interviews Dr. Barbara White, PhD, OTR/L on her recent study, Relationships Among Occupation/Activity Patterns, Health and Stress Perceptions, and Life Orientation in Well Adults, recently published in the Open Journal of Occupational Therapy. The study examined the relationships among activity choices, perceived health, stress, and life orientation (optimism-pessimism). The objective was to examine assumptions that occupational scientists and practitioners hold regarding the relationships among health factors and engagement in activities/occupations.

The study used four self-report measures, including a customized activity card sort that asked participants about both healthy and unhealthy activity patterns. The major findings confirmed that being engaged in more activities overall is aligned with more optimally perceived health, positive life orientation, and lower stress. However, participation in unhealthy activities negatively affected overall health, stress perception, and life orientation. This study confirms the importance of participating in a wide repertoire of activities and underscores the need for practitioners to ask clients about engagement in unhealthy activities as well as healthy ones.

This Breakout is accredited for OTs for 1 hour in many states and includes:

• A 30 minute Breakout session
• A downloadable podcast of the Breakout session
• A printable version of the tables referenced in the Breakout session
• Recommendations for further reading
• The UNH-Lifespan Activity Cardsort Protocol