A mixed-methods study utilizing an explanatory sequential design was implemented to investigate strategies for communicating perceptions of professionalism among occupational therapists working in medical institutions when providing consultation on independent activities for children with severe motor and intellectual disabilities. First, a survey was administered to both occupational therapists and schoolteachers, which revealed a shared understanding of 'physical movement', yet a discrepancy in awareness of 'support encompassing the six categories of independent activity' (Study 1). In light of the findings from Study 1, semi-structured interviews were conducted with experienced occupational therapists and analyzed utilizing the SCAT method. The results of this study clearly elucidated the factors contributing to the differences in perceptions and the collaborative process based on the school's cultural and institutional perspectives, and proposed strategies for effectively communicating perceptions with schoolteachers (Study 2).

【Background】Cerebrovascular disease is the most common target disease in occupational therapy practice among physical disabilities in Japan. However, it has been pointed out that stroke survivors living in the community in Japan have few opportunities for social participation, and that elderly males have less social interaction than elderly females, indicating greater challenges in social participation for male stroke survivors. Therefore, this study clarifies the subjective experience of how male stroke survivors experience social participation. 【Method】This study used the Trajectory Equifinality Approach (TEA), a qualitative research method developed in the field of cultural psychology, which is capable of depicting the process of human development and emergence. 【Results】The three participants continued to experience social participation without interruption during their hospitalization, and they talked about the process of choosing social participation acts that could embody their values based on these values and images of "who they want to be" in the face of various changes caused by the onset of stroke. 【Conclusion】The study suggests that in order to promote social participation of male stroke survivors, it is important to understand their values and support their future vision based on said values.

This scoping review aimed to map existing literature on goal setting for people with dementia or mild cognitive impairment in rehabilitation. Six electronic databases were mined for articles that described goal setting processes during rehabilitation for people with dementia or mild cognitive impairment. Thirty-three studies met the eligibility criteria. Decision aids were applied to identify occupational problems of patients in rehabilitation including the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure, the Bangor Goal Setting Interview, and Goal Attainment Scaling. The structured frameworks were used to identify individual rehabilitation goals and promote the involvement of their families and caregivers. However, there were only a few studies that targeted patients with severe dementia.

CI therapy known for being labor intensive for occupational therapists and has limitations in its implementation. We devised an mCI therapy (combined with voluntary practice and carried out by a pair of people for three hours a day) to reduce the therapy duration. The treatment was performed on 31 convalescent patients within 180 days of onset, and changes were observed before, during, and after 6 months. The average values of STEF, FMA-UE, and MAL-AOU improved significantly both before and after 6 months. MAL-AOU exceeded MCID in the amount of change before and after the implementation, and FMA-UE exceeded MCID after 6 months. mCI therapy has the advantage that the difficulty level of the pair can be adjusted at any time. These results suggest that conducting the test in pairs could lead to conversations between the subjects, which could result in increased motivation and psychological support.

The purpose of this survey was to systematically survey domestic and foreign research related to occupational engagement (OE) and examine the direction of development of domestic OE research through identifying gaps through a scoping review. As a result, 19 foreign and 3 domestic papers were selected. Common points of domestic and foreign studies were (1) OE is a positive subjective experience of individuals, and (2) there is a lack of evaluation tools for OE. The points of convergence were (1) the difference in strategies in OE research between domestic and foreign, and (2) the difference in the amount of knowledge of OE between domestic and foreign studies. Therefore, regarding the direction of domestic OE research, the results indicate the following proposals: investigate the relationship between OE and health and happiness in domestic clients from qualitative research, and consider the development of evaluation tools for OE.

The aim of this study was to verify whether satisfaction with meaningful occupation mediates self-efficacy and reduces depressive symptoms for post-stroke depression (PSD) patients in the recovery rehabilitation phase. We used a mediation analysis of the change in depressive symptoms, satisfaction with meaningful occupation, and self-efficacy scores between admission and discharge in 72 patients. The results showed that satisfaction with meaningful occupation had a significant direct effect on depressive symptoms without mediating self-efficacy (β=－2.5, 95%CI [－4.2, －0.86], p=0.004). The results suggest that satisfaction with meaningful occupation may contribute to the reduction of PSD in the recovery rehabilitation phase.

Intervention supporting workers and organizations for achieving occupational justice is expected to be a new responsibility of industrial occupational therapy. However, there are few quantitative studies on occupational injustice among mental health workers. The purpose of the present study was to investigate statistical information of occupational injustice and the relationship between occupational injustice and work-related stress among mental health workers. We conducted a questionnaire on all employees of a certain medical corporation near the Tokyo metropolitan area of Japan and received 385 responses (recovery rate 82.6%). The Occupational Justice Questionnaire and the New Brief Job Stress Questionnaire were used for measurement. The results indicated that less than 10% of workers experienced injustice (deprivation 4.6%, alienation 5.2%, imbalance 4.7%, marginalization 4.2-6.0% and general unfairness 8.8%). Injustice was also associated with many aspects of work-related stress, and the level of injustice showed a positive correlation with the level of work-related stress. We expect the results of the present study to contribute to the development of industrial occupational therapy in Japan.

Purpose: This study examined the criterion-related validity of the Self-Rating Scale of Occupational Therapists for Terminal Cancer patients (SROT-TC). Methods: Occupational therapists working with patients with terminal cancer were the participants of this study. External criteria were occupational therapists' implementation status of occupational therapy and Classification and Assessment of Occupational Dysfunction. The SROT-TC and the external criteria were distributed to all the participants through postal mail. Results: A total of 106 valid responses were received. A moderate significant correlation was observed between SROT-TC and implementation status of occupational therapy (r=0.417–0.523). Conclusion: This study showed that the SROT-TC has a certain level of criterion-related validity.

We report a case of cerebral ataxia with worsening ataxia of the upper left limb under visual recognition. The patient was a man in his 50s with left hemiplegia and higher brain dysfunction due to subcortical hemorrhage in the right frontal to the parietal association cortex. It was difficult to use the paralyzed upper limb in daily life due to worsening of the upper left limb ataxia under visual recognition. The exacerbation of ataxia under visual recognition may have been largely influenced by the damaged premotor cortex. Therefore, we intervened with occupational therapy for body pointing and gripping movements using visual blockage. As a result, the upper left limb function improved, and the patient was able to grasp a rice bowl with the paralyzed upper limb in daily life. The results suggest that occupational therapy intervention using visual blockage in patients with cerebral ataxia may contribute to both improving the upper limb function and increasing the frequency of use of the paralyzed upper limb in daily life.

The purpose of this study was to characterize the behavioral patterns in the Psychological wellbeing (PWB） of 16 older adults with dementia. In the analysis, the dementia patients were first classified into two groups based on the median of the PWB Assessment: a high trend and a low trend PBW group. The network analysis based on graph theory was conducted on the location of the information collected by wearable sensors attached to the dementia patients in each group. Furthermore, the association between PWB and behavioral patterns was calculated by structural analysis of covariance. The results indicate that dementia patients with high trend PWB had a starting point for their behavior, while those with low trend PWB did not.

We treated a man in his 70s who developed Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS). At the time of admission, the patient required full assistance in daily living due to the functional impairment of GBS. Psychological symptoms such as anxiety and depression were also observed. We discussed "meaningful occupations" for the patient, and facilitated unified support by other professionals, which resulted in changes in work performance and satisfaction indices that exceeded the minimal important change and improved the patient's psychological and physical health status. The patient's evaluation of the empathy of the health care provider also exceeded those of previous studies. These results suggest that practices based on "meaningful occupations" may help to improve the psychological and physical health status of GBS patients with poor prognosis and promote collaboration among other professions.

In this study, an occupational therapist fashioned an upper limb splint for the elbow joint using a 3D printer to improve ADL and QOL while maintaining the stability of the fractured part among elderly cancer patients with pathological fractures of the humerus diaphysis. Utilizing the upper limb splint relieved pain, increased adherence of the splint, and improved ADL and QOL. Utilizing such an upper limb splint in conjunction with consideration of the patient's prognosis, activity, and period of use may help the patient to further improve ADL and QOL.

We oversaw a patient with cerebral infarction in the convalescent period whose use of the paralyzed hand was infrequent in daily life due to sensory impairment. A compensatory model was used to provide a 3D printer-made eating utensil for the patient study. The patient's needs for a self-help device were confirmed, and the device was customized to meet the patient's individual needs. The results showed that, although there was no change in sensory impairment, the patient was able to eat with the paralyzed hand immediately after the application of the self-help device, and some upper limb functions were improved beyond the minimum clinically meaningful change in a short period of time. These results suggest that utilizing a 3D printer-adapted self-help device as a compensatory model was useful for both acquiring meaningful activities, such as eating, and improving upper limb function, while utilizing the case's remaining abilities.

In this study, we experienced an elderly patient who suffered amputation of both lower legs after severe burns and was at increased risk for anxiety, depression, and PTSD. In addition, the family's anxiety was also heightened due to visitation restrictions caused by coronary disease. Therefore, we started an exchange diary to provide emotional support to both the patient and his family. As a result, the patient's anxiety and depression were relieved, the risk of PTSD decreased, and the family's anxiety was reduced. The patient was able to positively engage in rehabilitation, made good progress, and was ultimately discharged home. We suggest that the exchange diary may be useful as a means of providing emotional support for post-burn psychiatric symptoms and for sharing information when visitation is restricted due to secondary conditions such as coronary disease.

A multiple sclerosis patient with superficial and deep sensory loss in the right upper extremity received active sensory relearning with subdivided hand functions and interventions to encourage use of hand in real-world activities. Useless hand syndrome comprises clumsiness of complex finger movement and loss of manual dexterity. Two-point discrimination and stereognosis deficits decreased use of the right upper extremity. The right upper limb function improved and regained practical level 3 weeks after immunoadsorption therapy. This case report indicates that dealing with sensory disorders and providing therapy for Useless hand syndrome might improve upper limb function.

We experienced a stroke patient with physical dysfunction, apathy, low motivation, and depressive symptoms. The patient showed decreased motivation from the beginning of the intervention and had difficulty setting specific goals. Depression and anxiety appeared over time which worsened mental function assessment. To address these symptoms, multiple positive visual feedbacks were used to clearly present the effects of the intervention on physical function. As a result, the patient's behavior and speech changed, along with improvement in apathy and depression, and specific goals could be shared. This case study demonstrates that an intervention using positive visual feedback may promote improvement in mental function and behavioral change in a patient with apathy and depression after stroke.