Suzanne M. Peloquin

Changing educational paradigms to prepare allied health professionals for the 21st century

CONTEXT Inefficient and ineffective health care delivery has been of recent concern to most stakeholders in the process. Care provision systems will improve when care providers are educated to function as team members and to demonstrate competencies required for practice in diverse, demanding, and ever-changing environments. GOAL In one School of Allied Health Sciences, faculty members from nine departments united to create an interdisciplinary curriculum designed to foster the achievement of common competencies essential for success in the workplace. APPROACH Members of a Curriculum-2000 Task Force collaborated to: (1) review current literature, (2) articulate a set of common competencies across several disciplines, and (3) produce a proposal for achieving and measuring competencies in an interdisciplinary manner. CONCLUSION Individuals from various disciplines can come to consensus about competencies that graduates should achieve. Such consensus is the first step in the direction of implementing a curriculum based on interdisciplinary competencies.

Helping through touch: The embodiment of caring

There is a power to touch, and a magic. Some call it mystery. The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the various meanings and uses of touch, particularly within the context of relationship and helping. There will be no attempt to formulate a protocol for touch or to lay claim to a definitive meaning for touch. Reflection about touch may instead clarify some of its meanings and dynamics while encouraging care providers to embrace the experience of helping-through-touch. This paper supports a considered use of empathie touch because of its power and its ability to embody care.There is a power to touch, and a magic. Some call it mystery. The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the various meanings and uses of touch, particularly within the context of relationship and helping. There will be no attempt to formulate a protocol for touch or to lay claim to a definitive meaning for touch. Reflection about touch may instead clarify some of its meanings and dynamics while encouraging care providers to embrace the experience of helping-through-touch. This paper supports a considered use of empathie touch because of its power and its ability to embody care.

Self-development groups among women in recovery: client perceptions of satisfaction and engagement.

PURPOSE We examined engagement in and satisfaction with occupational therapy self-development groups among women in a residential facility for substance dependence. METHOD We performed a retrospective, cross-sectional analysis of 1,488 Likert-scale surveys completed anonymously between 2006 and 2010. Descriptive statistics were used to examine client satisfaction in self-development groups. Differences in engagement by content focus and activity process were also examined by analyzing the median scores of eight self-development questions using the Kruskal-Wallis test of medians. RESULTS Of those who completed surveys, 73.6% strongly agreed and 23.4% agreed (collectively, 97%) that they were satisfied with the group. No significant differences (p > .05) were found in the median scores of the questions by content focus or activity process. CONCLUSION Self-development activity groups with salient recovery themes conceptualized within a person-environment-occupation model appear to be a satisfactory and engaging intervention for women in recovery from substance abuse.

Population-centered life skills groups: Perceptions of satisfaction and engagement

PURPOSE. We examined the satisfaction with and engagement in population-centered life skills groups of women in a residential facility for substance dependence. METHOD. This study was a retrospective, cross-sectional analysis of 561 surveys designed to elicit Likert scale client ratings. Descriptive statistics were used to examine client satisfaction. Differences in client engagement by content focus and activity process were also examined by analyzing the median scores of eight life skills development questions using the Kruskal-Wallis test of medians. RESULTS. Collectively, 96.8% of those who completed the surveys were satisfied with the living skills groups; 73.3% strongly agreed, and 23.4% agreed. No significant differences (p > .05) were found in the median scores of the engagement responses by either content focus or activity process. CONCLUSION. Population-centered life skills groups conceptualized within a holistic Person-Environment-Occupation model appear to be satisfactory and engaging interventions for women in recovery.

Population-Centered Groups for Women Recovering from Substance Abuse: Satisfaction, Engagement, and Lessons Learned

ABSTRACT The authors report a retrospective cross-sectional study examining quantitative and qualitative data from surveys completed after interventions. Participants were a convenience sample of women in recovery for substance dependence between 2012 and 2013. Descriptive statistics were used to examine client satisfaction, inferential statistics to determine differences in client engagement, and NVivo and Excel systems to guide qualitative analysis. Survey responses (n = 893) revealed high satisfaction (97.3%) and engagement in craft-based self-development and life skills groups. Two overarching themes related to clients having learned (1) something about self and (2) something about others, the world, or the characteristics of healthy living.