Lauren LaBorde OT425 + OT 537

The article I chose looked at the effect of group-based OT on improving ADL  performance  and satisfaction in patients who  had  strokes. The studied included 14 participants who had a stroke and they were  assigned to either the treatment or control group. The treatment group consisted of 6 group therapy sessions that focused on mobility exercises, crafts, and cooking, where as the control group received traditional OT interventions individually. The study concluded that doing daily activities, crafts, and mobility exercises in groups can affect the performance and satisfaction level in stroke patients. After reading this article, it goes to show that performing ADLs in groups can not only improve performance in that ADL, but also help increase sense of satisfaction. I think doing ADLs in groups with people who are similar to you can be beneficial for support and provide more meaning than performing them individually. It is interesting to see that group-based OT can have similar

After attending a 12-step meeting, I  could really see the group process and the effectiveness of group therapy. I attended a NA meeting where the role of the facilitator seemed to be advisory because he was somewhat of a passive leader in that he let the group make pretty much all of the decisions and group members were of a higher functioning cognitive level. The facilitator encouraged participation by asking the group what they wanted to talk about today and opened the floor for anyone who wanted to share something. He would ask for a volunteer to read aloud certain handouts but other than that, the activities were decided by group members. Members were not forced to share but everyone ended up sharing on their own. I felt the environment had a positive impact on the session because it was held in a quiet church building which seemed welcoming and the windows were open so it didn't seem so claustrophobic. The environment was also familiar to group members so that probably he

After leading group today by myself, I feel as though being a group leader can be both stressful yet exciting. I feel as though it can be stressful sometimes because if group isn't going as planned exactly, the leader must be adaptive and go with the flow. At one point in my group today, a member started to hit some of the processing points when we had yet to finish our activity. As a group leader, I had to adapt and let it flow accordingly without skipping any of the activity. Also, one of the group members was going to be late and that kind of stressed me out not knowing when in the group session they might show up. While trying to lead the group, I kept thinking in the back of my mind how I was going to fill in the group member when they showed up without singling them out for their tardiness. Overall, I think the most important thing I learned is that even though you have a protocol written with a timeline, anything can happen during group. As a leader you must be prepared to b

Before I turned in my final draft of my group protocol, I met with Ellen and Valerie to get their feedback. I thought this was a very helpful experience because it allowed me to see where my peers were going with their group facilitation and get their thoughts before I facilitated. My first thoughts were that I thought my classmates took a very creative approach for the activities on their given topic.  My take away was that it was an enriching experience to gain insight into classmates creativity and also it was helpful to hear feedback or have someone peer review your protocol before you get up and lead a group for 30 minutes. I think this should always be done in real life just to get others perspectives and allow them to contribute to possibly making your group session flow better.

When looking through what I could write my last neuro note on, I wanted to pick something different that I haven't explored yet. As I was scrolling, an article caught my eye titled "Fu**tionality." I had to do a double take and immediately got sucked into the article. This article is very beneficial for every OT/future OT to read. It sheds light on a subject not addressed enough in the rehab world.. sexual function for the disabled. This article is a quick easy read written by Andrew Gurza, a young adult with cerebral palsy. He humorously points out how OTs can teach anything from holding a spoon to proper wheelchair technique but yet freeze up when a client brings up sex. From this course, we know that sex is an occupation which makes it completely in our field of practice to touch on. This occupation was very meaningful to Andrew in order to fulfill his role as boyfriend and also for his self-esteem. In this article he points out that his inability to perform sexually