Date of Award

2007

Document Type

Scholarly Project

Degree Name

Master of Occupational Therapy (MOT)

Department

Occupational Therapy

First Advisor

Michael Atkinson

Keywords

Sensation Disorders

Abstract

During a review of the literature, we identified a lack of information that was geared towards parental education specifically regarding sensory integrative diagnoses and treatment interventions.

Research articles were obtained after we conducted a literature search using the PubMed, ERIC, and CINAHL databases found on the University of North Dakota Harley E. French Library website (http://undmedlibrary.org/). Several texts and other books that we owned were also utilized in the literature review process due to their direct correlation to this scholarly project and the relevance of the material found in the texts. We also contacted Ellen Cohn, who was a lead researcher on many of the studies that the students read as part of their literature review, via e-mail to gain more information about parent education materials that were already in circulation.

The information gathered from the review of the literature demonstrated the variance in the evidence regarding the efficacy of sensory integrative treatment interventions. This variance was significant to the formation of this scholarly project as many parents are not well versed in medical terminology and they may access one source of literature that does not fully describe the use of SI treatments and provides skewed data about the effectiveness of these treatments for many client diagnostic populations. The literature also provided evidence for the importance of parent education to provide the parents with coping skills and to help them adjust to raising a child with a sensory integrative deficit. Parents also identified that being involved in a support group with other parents who had children with similar dysfunctions was beneficial to their learning about their child's diagnosis and learning coping skills and other strategies.

From the literature review, many areas emerged that are important to build parent education material upon. These findings guided the development of our three products. We created a pamphlet that is to be given to the parents to provide them with a brief overview of sensory integrative dysfunctions and the therapy process. Next we created a PowerPoint presentation that the occupational therapist can use to provide further education about SI and activities the parents can incorporate into their routine at home. Lastly, we created a website that encompasses many areas that may be unclear to the parents. This website has a variety of different sections that were written at a fifth grade level to ensure that most parents would be able to read and understand the information.

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