OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY

Research for occupational therapy

Papers an occupational therapist can act on, across daily living, mental health, hand therapy, paediatrics and rehabilitation, each read in full rather than from its abstract.

10,853 PAPERS · PAGE 158 OF 218 · NEWEST FIRST

• PTOTSLPOther2025Assessing the generalizability of a National Burn Database to the United States pediatric burn injury population.PM & R : the journal of injury, function, and rehabilitationPediatric burn data from U.S. hospitals mixes U.S. and Mexico residents, who have different burn causes and severity. Researchers must analyze these groups separately. Pooling them creates a distorted picture that does not represent the typical U.S. pediatric burn population.
• PTOTOther2025Discordance Between Balance Ability and Perception Is Associated With Falls in Parkinson's Disease: A Coordinated Analysis.Neurorehabilitation and neural repairPeople with Parkinson's who were under-confident in their balance, despite their actual ability, were more likely to be fallers. This discordance predicted falls better than balance tests or severity scores alone.
• OTOther2025Age-related differences in behavioral outcomes of bimanual functional motor tasks in children and adolescents with cerebral palsy: a scoping review.Disability and rehabilitationChildren with cerebral palsy showed poorer bimanual performance than typically developing peers, and task complexity made this worse. Age-related differences were inconsistent: only a few studies showed improvement with age.
• PTOTRCT2025Does botulinum neurotoxin A make walking easier in children with cerebral palsy? A randomized clinical trial.Developmental medicine and child neurologyA single calf botulinum toxin injection did not make walking less effortful for children with cerebral palsy than saline. Walking capacity, daily activity, and child-reported gross motor performance did not improve more than placebo. Calf pain intensity decreased more at 12 weeks.
• PTOTMeta-Analysis2024Examining the effectiveness of motor imagery combined with non-invasive brain stimulation for upper limb recovery in stroke patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationCombining motor imagery with brain stimulation improved upper limb function and daily activities more than either alone in acute and subacute stroke patients. Benefits faded by four weeks after treatment ended, and the approach showed no advantage for chronic stroke survivors.
• PTOTSLPOther2024Adverse childhood experiences, subsequent negative life events, and their impact on health in occupational rehabilitation patients: a mixed-methods study.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciencesHalf of occupational rehab patients reported childhood adversity. Those with past abuse faced more adult victimization, financial strain, and relationship conflicts. These patients reported higher anxiety and depression scores than those without childhood trauma, but physical pain complaints did not differ between the groups.
• PTOTPilot2024The acute cross-education effect of foam rolling on the thigh muscles in patients after total knee arthroplasty.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciencesRolling the non-operated thigh for 3 minutes immediately reduced pain and increased range of motion in the operated knee during the first week after total knee replacement. This offers a way to manage pain early without touching the surgical site.
• PTOTPilot2024Therapeutic effects of powered exoskeletal robot-assisted gait training in inpatients in the early stage after stroke: a pilot case-controlled study.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationAdding six sessions of powered exoskeleton gait training to standard care did not significantly improve walking speed compared to standard care alone. However, a higher proportion of patients receiving the robot reached the clinically important improvement threshold for walking speed and daily activities.
• PTOTCohort2024Telerehabilitation using a 2-D planar arm rehabilitation robot for hemiparetic stroke: a feasibility study of clinic-to-home exergaming therapy.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationTwelve chronic stroke survivors used a home robot with carer supervision for 30 days. Adherence was high at 87.7% and no one dropped out due to injury. Arm function improved modestly, but half did not reach a clinically meaningful gain.
• PTOTSLPSystematic Review2024How healthcare systems are experienced by autistic adults in the United Kingdom: A meta-ethnography.Autism : the international journal of research and practiceAutistic adults in the UK described healthcare professionals often misunderstanding their needs, leading to misdiagnosis or inadequate support. They reported that reducing processing demands through clear, written information, quiet environments, and predictable appointments helped them engage with services.
• PTOTSLPOther2024Variables included in cerebral palsy registries globally: A scoping review.Developmental medicine and child neurologyCerebral palsy registries worldwide collect very different variables. High-income registries focused on prenatal factors, while low- and middle-income registries focused more on maternal socioeconomic details and postnatal risks such as infection, jaundice, and head injury.
• PTOTCase Report2024Myoelectric motor execution and sensory training to treat chronic pain and paralysis in a replanted arm: a case study.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationA man with a replanted arm gained small amounts of movement and sensation after myoelectric training, but pain did not improve. The gains were too small for daily use, though they might help with an assistive device. One person is not proof the method works.
• PTOTSLPCohort2024Developmental associations between motor and communication outcomes in Fragile X syndrome: Variation in the context of co-occurring autism.Autism : the international journal of research and practiceEarly fine motor skills predicted receptive communication in all children with Fragile X. However, the link between motor development and expressive communication differed by autism status. Children without autism relied on early motor levels, while those with autism relied on how quickly their motor skills improved.
• PTOTSLPCohort2025Relationship between characteristics of segmental phase angles and walking ability in patients with hemiplegia after stroke and traumatic brain injury in a convalescent rehabilitation ward.International journal of rehabilitation research. Internationale Zeitschrift fur Rehabilitationsforschung. Revue internationale de recherches de readaptationIn patients with hemiplegia, higher trunk phase angle at admission was associated with better walking ability at discharge, independent of paralysis severity and nutrition. Limb phase angles did not show this association.
• OTSLPOther2025K-12 Life Skills Education, Independence, and Employment of Autistic Individuals: Giving Voice to Autistic Adults.Journal of autism and developmental disordersAutistic adults valued job site training and practicing real life skills. They wanted less academic work and more help with social skills, money, and finding jobs. They did not link specific school methods to getting hired. Their experiences highlight gaps in current education.
• PTOTSLPOther2025Validation of the Arabic Version of Feeding Handicap Index for Children with Developmental Disabilities (A-FHI-C).Journal of autism and developmental disordersParents of children with autism, cerebral palsy, or intellectual disability reported significantly more severe feeding problems on the new Arabic Feeding Handicap Index than parents of typically developing children. The questionnaire showed strong consistency and stability, making it a reliable tool for assessing feeding impacts in Arabic-speaking families.
• PTOTQualitative2025Perceptions of digitally supported home exercise for people with Parkinson's disease: A qualitative study.Clinical rehabilitationPeople with Parkinson's described digitally supported home exercise as both hopeful and burdensome: it let them actively resist disease, but unclear limits, self-doubt, home privacy, tech errors and mixed advice made adherence hard.
• OTSystematic Review2025Applicability and Psychometric Properties of General Mental Health Assessment Tools in Autistic People: A Systematic Review.Journal of autism and developmental disordersBroad mental health screeners for autistic people have uneven evidence. Among commonly used tools, the Aberrant Behavior Checklist was best supported; ASEBA and SDQ were less consistent. Match the tool to age, ability, and informant.
• PTOTRCT2025What are the views of those participating in a trial investigating acute post-traumatic benign paroxysmal positional vertigo? A qualitative study.Brain injuryTherapists and patients viewed acute BPPV assessment in trauma as feasible. Patients valued the diagnosis for validating symptoms and reducing fear. Therapists noted role extension challenges. Patients found the advice arm acceptable despite therapist safety concerns. No efficacy was tested.
• OTSurvey2025Impact of a Genetic Diagnosis for a Child's Autism on Parental Perceptions.Journal of autism and developmental disordersParents who learned their child had a genetic diagnosis for autism reported less self-blame and, in interviews, saw behavior as less controlled. They also lowered expectations for future independence and financial self-support. Genetic counseling was part of result delivery.
• OTOther2025Health, Wellbeing and Empowerment E-workshops for Mothers of Children with Disabilities: A Non-randomised Comparison Study.Journal of autism and developmental disordersMothers of children with disabilities who took part in an online health and wellbeing package reported more health promoting activities than controls. The package combined Zoom workshops, a closed social media group, a website, and an e-workbook, so one part cannot be credited.
• PTOTSLPCohort2025Continuation of Pediatric Care after Transfer to Adult Care Among Autistic Youth Overlap of Pediatric and Adult Care.Journal of autism and developmental disordersMost autistic young adults keep using pediatric services after starting adult primary care. Over half had direct pediatric visits, including therapy. Clinicians should expect ongoing pediatric involvement rather than assuming a clean break at the first adult appointment.
• PTOTSLPSystematic Review2024Social work practice and outcomes in rehabilitation: a scoping review.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciencesSocial workers in rehabilitation primarily handle financial security, return-to-work coordination, and psychosocial assessments. Outcomes focus on participation and personal factors, but the review maps activities rather than proving efficacy, meaning these roles are documented but not tested for effectiveness.
• PTOTSLPSystematic Review2024Motivation to participate in structured physical activity for autistic youth: A systematic scoping review.Autism : the international journal of research and practiceAutistic youth are less motivated for structured physical activity when they feel incompetent, socially excluded, or overwhelmed by sensory noise. They participate more when given choices from known activities and explicit instructions. Mainstream group-based approaches often thwart these needs.
• PTOTRCT2024Accuracy deficits during robotic time-constrained reaching are related to altered prefrontal cortex activity in children with cerebral palsy.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationChildren with cerebral palsy had worse reaching accuracy, especially with their non-preferred arm. Contrary to expectations, their prefrontal cortex activity dropped under time pressure. Higher prefrontal activity was linked to better accuracy in the CP group, suggesting this brain area plays a role in compensating for motor deficits.
• PTOTRCT2024Effectiveness of unilateral lower-limb exoskeleton robot on balance and gait recovery and neuroplasticity in patients with subacute stroke: a randomized controlled trial.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationIn subacute stroke, 4 weeks of robot-assisted overground walking plus conventional rehab improved balance more than conventional rehab alone. Both groups improved, but the robot group had higher Berg balance scores and better affected-leg gait measures.
• OTOther2024Attitudes of employers towards people with visual impairment: a scoping review.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciencesEmployers consistently hold negative or neutral attitudes towards hiring people with visual impairment, often driven by ignorance about how work tasks are performed. While direct experience and vocational rehabilitation support improve attitudes, implicit biases remain strong even after brief educational interventions.
• PTOTSLPCohort2024Sub-acute stroke demonstrates altered beta oscillation and connectivity pattern in working memory.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationStroke patients with poor motor recovery showed slower reaction times and lower working memory accuracy than healthy controls. Their brain scans lacked the normal beta rebound and frontal-parietal connectivity seen in patients with good recovery, linking these neural patterns to cognitive deficits.
• PTOTPilot2024The Effect of the Mediterranean Diet-Integrated Gamified Home-Based Cognitive-Nutritional (GAHOCON) Training Programme for Older People With Cognitive Frailty: Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR rehabilitation and assistive technologiesOlder adults with cognitive frailty who used a gamified home training app improved their diet adherence, cognitive scores, and walking speed over 12 weeks. A control group doing only self-revision saw their diet knowledge drop significantly.
• OTSLPSurvey2024Exploring the 'EarSwitch' concept: a novel ear based control method for assistive technology.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationMost people with neurological disorders can still voluntarily rumble their ears. Self-reported ability matched observed eardrum movement in 80% of cases tested. This suggests ear rumbling is a viable, invisible switch for assistive technology, particularly for those with motor neurone disease.
• OTQualitative2024Caregiver-centred empowerment for families raising autistic children: A qualitative case study from Argentina.Autism : the international journal of research and practiceIn Argentina, caregivers of autistic children said empowerment meant learning rights, finding peer support and creating local solutions. Poverty, insurance barriers and weak policy implementation often blocked access to services and support.
• OTOther2025Sensory Profile-2 in Autism Spectrum Disorder: An Analysis within the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health Framework.Journal of autism and developmental disordersThe Sensory Profile-2 maps mostly to body functions, not environment. It covers 26 of 111 autism functioning categories, so use it with other tools for activities and environment.
• PTOTOther2025The Use of Extrinsic Performance Feedback and Reward to Enhance Upper Limb Motor Behavior and Recovery Post-Stroke: A Scoping Review.Neurorehabilitation and neural repairFeedback during upper-limb stroke practice may change movement speed, accuracy, learning, and compensation, but studies are too varied and small to tell therapists which feedback to use.
• PTOTSLPSurvey2025Community Priorities for Outcomes Targeted During Professional Supports for Autistic Children and their Families.Journal of autism and developmental disordersCommunity priorities for autistic children focus on wellbeing and understanding, not changing autistic traits. Practitioners rated reducing sensory seeking and social skills training as inappropriate more often than parents did. All parent-focused outcomes were considered appropriate and medium-to-high priority.
• OTMeta-Analysis2025A Meta-Analysis of Self-Management Interventions in Teaching Daily Living Skills to Autistic Individuals.Journal of autism and developmental disordersAutistic participants showed gains in daily living skills across 15 single-case self-management studies, but study quality was weak and community living skills were not tested.
• PTOTRCT2025Feasibility and preliminary efficacy of a skill-based lifestyle intervention for enhancing cooking abilities and physical fitness in young adults with intellectual disabilities.Disability and health journalYoung adults with intellectual disabilities improved cooking independence and lower body strength after a 12-week combined cooking and exercise program. Participants gained about three independent cooking skills and 25 pounds of leg strength. The single-arm pilot lacked a control group.
• PTOTRCT2025Cost consequences analysis of early vocational rehabilitation compared with usual care for stroke survivors.Clinical rehabilitationEarly specialist vocational rehabilitation cost more than usual care but produced only a tiny, non-significant gain in quality-adjusted life years. The study's conclusion is highly uncertain because 85% of cost data was missing. Do not assume this proves the intervention is poor value.
• PTOTCohort2025Coaching stroke survivors to persevere with practice: An observational behavioural mapping study.Clinical rehabilitationTherapists frequently used coaching strategies like monitoring practice quality and providing feedback, but rarely set collaborative long-term goals or prescribed independent home exercises. This structured, therapist-led approach may increase dependence and leave survivors unprepared for the transition to home-based rehabilitation.
• PTOTSLPRCT2024Therapeutic singing and expiratory muscle strength training in Parkinson's disease: a mixed methods comparison.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciencesExpiratory muscle strength training and therapeutic singing produced no significant differences in quality of life, depression, or anxiety in people with Parkinson's disease. Both interventions were highly adhered to, but quality of life scores worsened over time regardless of treatment.
• PTOTSLPOther2024Barriers for work in people with multiple sclerosis: a Norwegian cultural adaptation and validation of the short version of the multiple sclerosis work difficulties questionnaire.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciencesThe Norwegian version of the MSWDQ-23 reliably measures work difficulties in people with multiple sclerosis. It distinguishes those who worked recently from those who did not, and separates relapsing-remitting from progressive MS based on physical barriers. Use it to identify specific employment obstacles during routine follow-up.
• PTOTSLPSystematic Review2024Building trust in long-term care settings using assistive technology: a systematic review.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciencesIn long-term care, trust in assistive technology depends on reliable, useful, easy devices, privacy, caregiver support, and realistic expectations. Technical failures, stigma, and weakened contact can reduce trust and lead to abandonment.
• PTOTOther2024Baby Observational Selective Control AppRaisal (BabyOSCAR): Construct validity and test performance.Developmental medicine and child neurologyThe BabyOSCAR test reliably measures spontaneous movement in infants, but arm and leg scores reflect separate abilities. Clinicians should use the total raw score for quick screening and prediction, while keeping arm and leg subscales distinct for detailed analysis or research.
• PTOTSLPOther2024Pharmacological and neurosurgical management of cerebral palsy and dystonia: Clinical practice guideline update.Developmental medicine and child neurologyFor dystonia in cerebral palsy, the guideline suggests considering oral/enteral baclofen, clonidine, gabapentin, botulinum toxin, intrathecal baclofen, or deep brain stimulation only after discussing benefits and harms with the family; it suggests against routine trihexyphenidyl and benzodiazepines, and against levodopa or medical cannabis.
• PTOTSLPCohort2024Fatigue among children and adolescents with acquired brain injury in a specialized neurorehabilitation setting.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciencesFatigue improved during intensive neurorehabilitation, but only self-reported changes in general and sleep fatigue were significant. Parents consistently rated their child's fatigue as more severe than the children did, particularly regarding cognitive difficulties.
• PTOTSLPOther2024Artificial intelligence tools for engagement prediction in neuromotor disorder patients during rehabilitation.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationAI models predicted patient engagement during robot-assisted gait rehab with high accuracy. Combining heart rate and sweat signals outperformed single signals. Data augmentation further improved prediction. This supports real-time monitoring to adapt therapy intensity, but clinical utility is not yet proven.
• PTOTOther2024A co-design process to develop personalized mobility programming for individuals with mobility impairments.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciencesPeople with neurological mobility impairments and clinicians co-designed four mobility programs. The paper reports design, not evidence that they help.
• PTOTQualitative2024The coping strategies employed by individuals with chronic low back pain: secondary qualitative analysis of data from diverse adult populations in two sub-Saharan African countries.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciencesAdults in Nigeria and Zambia mixed helpful and harmful strategies to manage back pain. Avoiding heavy lifting and pacing work helped, but poverty forced many to keep lifting. Relying on painkillers for daily function was common, and no strategy fully stopped the pain.
• PTOTSLPQualitative2025COVID-19 Pandemic Experiences of Families in Which a Child/Youth Has Autism and Their Service Providers: Perspectives and Lessons Learned.Journal of autism and developmental disordersFamilies and providers described navigating unclear essential service designations and rapid shifts to virtual care. While some found virtual options flexible, providers struggled to engage children remotely. Parents reported increased stress and isolation, though some adapted by using online tools to maintain connections.
• PTOTSLPRCT2025Exercise rehabilitation in post COVID-19 patients: a randomized controlled trial of different training modalities.European journal of physical and rehabilitation medicineBoth endurance and concurrent exercise improved peak oxygen consumption in post-COVID patients with mild symptoms. However, symptom count, fatigue, and quality of life also improved in the non-exercising control group, so the specific benefit of exercise over time is unclear for these outcomes.
• OTSLPOther2025Correlates of Impairment and Growth in Families of Young Autistic Children.Journal of autism and developmental disordersParent-reported child emotion dysregulation, sleep problems, and inflexibility linked to family life impairment more strongly than autism traits alone. Child sleep issues and parent depression drove parental exhaustion, while communication and behavior difficulties hindered community access and childcare.