Date of Award
2015
Document Type
Scholarly Project
Degree Name
Master of Occupational Therapy (MOT)
Department
Occupational Therapy
First Advisor
Sarah Nielsen
Keywords
Adolescent; Anxiety -- therapy; Children; Occupational Therapy -- methods
Abstract
In the realm of occupational therapy there is not a clear or cohesive evidencebased approach that OT's use to guide intervention planning with school-aged children or adolescent who have anxiety or anxiety secondary to another medical condition. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of the experience of 6 pediatric occupational therapists in an outpatient setting in developing and implementing interventions for this population. Researchers utilized a phenomenological qualitative research method completing six interviews to understand the experience of the participants. Findings suggest that occupational therapists who participated in this study feel that they have skills and abilities to provide interventions to this population. Participants rely on an individualized eclectic therapeutic approach, but feel a standardized approach would assist in treating school-aged children and adolescents with anxiety, or anxiety secondary to another medical condition. Further research including observation and larger sample sizes should be done to more fully understand current practice and eventually facilitate the development of a standardized intervention protocol for this population.
Recommended Citation
O'Brien, Meg and Terhaar, Emily, "The Experience of Occupational Therapists' Approaches and Interventions for School-Aged Children and Adolescents with Anxiety" (2015). Occupational Therapy Capstones. 150.
https://commons.und.edu/ot-grad/150