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 210 OF 218 · NEWEST FIRST

• OTPilot2023Telehealth Lifestyle Redesign Occupational Therapy for Diabetes: Preliminary Effectiveness, Satisfaction, and Engagement.OTJR : occupation, participation and healthTelehealth Lifestyle Redesign OT was followed by large improvements in occupational performance and diabetes management in young adults with type 1 diabetes, and satisfaction was high. Without a control comparison, the improvements cannot be credited to the therapy alone.
• OTSystematic Review2023Effectiveness of Suicide Safety Planning Interventions: A Systematic Review Informing Occupational Therapy.Canadian journal of occupational therapy. Revue canadienne d'ergotherapieSafety planning written with the person, covering warning signs, coping strategies, supports and emergency contacts, is backed by moderate to high quality evidence for reducing suicidal thoughts and behaviour. Only three of the plans tested used everyday activity at all, and only as distraction.
• OTMeta-Analysis2021Prevalence of Decreased Sound Tolerance (Hyperacusis) in Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Meta-Analysis.Ear and hearingSound sensitivity is common in autism. Pooled across 91 samples of 13,433 people, 41.42% had current hyperacusis and 60.58% had experienced it at some point in their lives, mostly measured with parent-report interviews or questionnaires.
• PTOTCohort2026Father and Sibling Involvement in Home Rehabilitation: Longitudinal Effects on Infant Development and Maternal Wellbeing in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.Child: care, health and developmentInfants whose fathers and siblings joined the home rehabilitation programme scored 4.4 points higher on the Bayley cognitive scale after three months than those with mothers alone. Mothers' mental health improved most in the three-caregiver group. Families were not randomly assigned, so causation is unproven.
• PTOTRCT2026Effect of core stability exercise training on activities of daily living, fatigue level and balance in haemodialysis patients: A randomised controlled study.Hong Kong physiotherapy journal : official publication of the Hong Kong Physiotherapy Association Limited = Wu li chih liaoCore stability exercises added to a breathing programme improved daily living independence, fatigue, balance and thinking and memory more than breathing alone, in 60 haemodialysis patients over 12 weeks. Both groups improved; the added exercises gave the extra gain.
• OTCohort2026Mental Health Classification and Care for Individuals With Intellectual Disability and Severe Challenging Behaviour: A Three-Year Follow-Up on Quality of Life.Journal of applied research in intellectual disabilities : JARIDHaving a mental health diagnosis did not lead to better quality of life or less challenging behaviour over three years in adults with intellectual disability and severe challenging behaviour. Quality of life rose regardless, and those who improved had fewer support goals set.
• PTOTCohort2026Diverging Paths: Longitudinal and Reciprocal Associations Between Two Fundamental Motor Skill Assessments in Preschoolers.Child: care, health and developmentAt ages 3 and 4 the two motor tests partly agreed about a child. A year later they did not: a child's score on one gave no useful clue about the other. They are not interchangeable as children get older.
• OTSystematic Review2026Promoting and Measuring Fidelity of Occupational Therapy Interventions: A Scoping Review.OTJR : occupation, participation and healthNo single method ensures occupational therapy is delivered as intended. Training, manuals and supervision were the most common ways to support delivery; checklists, rating scales and recordings the most common way to check it. Session recording is called gold standard but is often impractical.
• OTCohort2025From Uncertainty to Competence: A Longitudinal Study of Confidence Development in Occupational Therapy Education.Occupational therapy internationalOT students' confidence in neuroscience rose over a 15-week course, from a mean of 1.54 out of 5 to 3.57 and 3.45. Hands-on labs, peer work and applied cases were what they said built it; anxiety about the volume of content was common early.
• OTSystematic Review2026Including significant others in vocational rehabilitation: a scoping review.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciencesOnly eight published vocational rehabilitation interventions were found that deliberately involve a partner or relative, and they differ in who they include and why. Most give the significant other no training, and few are built on any theory.
• OTPilot2026Pilot Implementation of an Intervention Program to Promote Fine Motor Skills in Preschoolers: Feasibility and Acceptability.Occupational therapy international22 of 30 preschoolers with suspected fine motor delay screened as age-appropriate after a teacher-led program; 8 were unchanged. Without a control group, that cannot be credited to the program. Teachers found it easy to use and wanted activities grouped by ability, not age.
• OTRCT2026Primary Care Lifestyle Redesign® Clinical Trial: Diabetes Outcomes, Healthcare Utilization, and Costs.Canadian journal of occupational therapy. Revue canadienne d'ergotherapieAdding occupational therapy to primary care for people with poorly controlled diabetes did not significantly improve blood sugar, blood pressure, cholesterol or BMI. It did cut emergency visits and hospital days, with an estimated $250,518.96 saving.
• OTQualitative2026"My Sensory Experiences Tool": A Neurodiversity-Affirming Therapeutic Tool to Support the Sensory Challenges and Preferences of Autistic Children and Adults.Occupational therapy internationalAutistic people, their families and the therapists who used this picture card-sort tool said it produced richer, more personal information about sensory experiences than standard questionnaires, and helped autistic people explain themselves to others. It has not been tested for outcomes.
• PTOTQualitative2026Developing occupational therapy and physiotherapy clinical support workers in their role in supporting student education.The British journal of occupational therapySupport workers in occupational therapy and physiotherapy already supervise and teach students, sometimes all day, but most had no training for it and would route feedback through the qualified educator. After a short online course, they described giving feedback to students directly.
• OTSLPOther2026Developing a consensus research definition for profound autism using a modified Delphi method.Molecular autismResearchers, clinicians, caregivers and autistic people agreed a research definition of profound autism: round-the-clock adult supervision needed, adaptive skills far below age level, IQ under 50 or minimal speech, and age 8 or over. No IQ cut-off reached agreement.
• OTRCT2026The Model of Occupational Self-Efficacy: A Contemporary Model to Enhance Work Skills, Cognitive and Emotional Skills of Individuals With Brain Injury-A Pilot Randomized Control Trial.Occupational therapy internationalNo questionnaire score differed significantly between groups: work-related skills, cognition, depression and anxiety all favoured MOOSE but none reached significance, anxiety coming closest at P = 0.06. At the end, 8 of 14 MOOSE participants were in competitive work, against 4 of 14 in usual care.
• PTOTCohort2026Real-world participation after spinal cord injury: longitudinal associations with return to work and long-term social integration.European journal of physical and rehabilitation medicineIn this US spinal cord injury registry, better mobility, more education and greater life satisfaction went with both working and better social integration, while non-private housing and greater care needs went with worse. Depressive symptoms tracked with social integration, not employment.
• OTQualitative2026Building post-primary school teachers' capacity to support student organisational skill difficulties: A collaborative occupational therapy and education intervention.The British journal of occupational therapyTeachers said the training changed what they do: they build organisation time into lessons, colour-code materials and ask what is behind a student's disorganisation rather than give out about it. Timetable, attendance and COVID rules got in the way. No student outcomes were measured.
• PTOTSLPCohort2026Rehabilitation outcomes of patients with posterior circulation stroke after acute inpatient rehabilitation.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciences90.3% of patients were home three months after a posterior circulation stroke and 59.7% walked independently with or without an aid, up from one person when they arrived on the rehabilitation ward. Only 11.1% had returned to work. No comparison group.
• PTOTSLPOther2026Moving Toward Participation-Focused Goals for Students With Disabilities: Outcomes of a Knowledge Translation Program for School-Based Therapists.Child: care, health and developmentAfter training in the PREP participation framework, therapists' goals shifted away from skills like handwriting toward what students do at school: playing with friends, joining activities, making choices. Only a single group was followed, so the training is not proven to be the cause.
• OTSurvey2026Impact of Caregiver Burden and Care Recipients' Activities of Daily Living Abilities on Caregivers' Occupational Dysfunction.Occupational therapy internationalNearly half the family caregivers of older adults in daycare rehabilitation were struggling with their own daily activities: 45.3% scored as occupationally dysfunctional, and the worse that was, the heavier their caregiver burden. A path model also linked lower care recipient ADL to more burden. Cross-sectional, so no cause is shown.
• OTOther2026Examination of the Reliability and Responsiveness of a Japanese Version of the Movement Imagery Questionnaire for Children: Toward Application in Children With Developmental Coordination Disorder.Occupational therapy internationalA new Japanese children's movement-imagery questionnaire mostly held up in 33 typically developing children, except its 'internal visual imagery' part, which gave inconsistent answers on repeat testing. Short ball practice improved how vividly children pictured the task, but not their overall imagery scores.
• OTSurvey2026Parental Self-Efficacy and Family Support in Oral Health and Nutrition of Children With Disabilities.Child: care, health and developmentParents felt more confident in their caregiving when they had more family support, social security and schooling, and when they felt prepared for the diagnosis. 61% of the children had had toothache; 64.6% of parents had never had oral health advice.
• OTOther2026Reshaping daily life: An observational study on the impact of rheumatoid arthritis on occupational repertoire.The British journal of occupational therapyBrazilian adults with rheumatoid arthritis had stopped about 13% of the activities they used to do before diagnosis, with the biggest losses in physically demanding leisure, household and work tasks, while health appointments and medication management increased.
• OTPilot2026Autistic Adult Online Interoception Feasibility Pilot Program.Occupational therapy internationalNo improvement in anxiety, alexithymia, interoception or quality of life was large enough to rule out chance after this 8-week online program, and there was no control group. All ten who finished would recommend it and 70% said they understood their body signals better.
• OTQualitative2026Occupational therapists' experiences in Australia's primary mental health funding scheme: Navigating complexity in a constrained system.Australian occupational therapy journalOccupational therapists described clients far more complex than this scheme's 10-session, psychology-first design allows for. They adapted psychological strategies through an occupational lens, absorbed unpaid advocacy work, and worked across several funding streams to stay viable.
• OTSLPQualitative2026Exploring Parents' Values in Healthcare Decision-Making for Rare Genetic Neurodevelopmental Disorders: A Qualitative Study to Inform Guideline Development.Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDRParents of children with rare genetic conditions weigh a procedure's harm against its uncertain benefit and whether it fits family life. They want their knowledge taken seriously, their child asked directly even when the child cannot answer, and care that continues into adulthood.
• OTQualitative2026Preparedness of the University of KwaZulu-Natal Occupational Therapy Students and Novice Occupational Therapists for Acute Mental Health Practice: A Qualitative Exploration of Lived Experiences.Occupational therapy internationalSouth African OT graduates said their training left them short for acute mental health work: too little acute placement time, no DBT or crisis skills, nothing on patients whose families explain illness through ancestors or bewitchment, and no preparation for the emotional load.
• OTSurvey2026Neurology and Cognitive Occupational Therapy Practice Across the Middle East and North Africa: An Exploratory Multicountry Cross-Sectional Survey.Occupational therapy internationalSeven in ten occupational therapists across 13 MENA countries reported using neurodevelopmental treatment for adult neurology, an approach current stroke guidelines do not endorse, and nearly as many also reported motor-learning approaches. Reported barriers were mainly organisational, not individual.
• OTQualitative2026Experiences and Perceptions of Persons With Substance Use Disorders on Aftercare Services in KwaZulu-Natal.Occupational therapy internationalFor these men in recovery, a weekly Monday aftercare group was the core of their sobriety: peer talk, random drug tests and social workers who kept showing up. Transport, working hours and watching others relapse were what got in the way.
• OTCohort2026Adaptive Functioning in Clients With Intellectual Disabilities or Borderline Intellectual Functioning and Psychiatric Comorbidity.Journal of applied research in intellectual disabilities : JARIDIn 4,376 Dutch clients with intellectual disability or borderline intellectual functioning, only autism was linked to lower adaptive functioning, 22.76 points lower on a 62 to 310 scale. Clients with depression scored 18.21 points higher, and each extra diagnosis lowered scores slightly.
• OTSurvey2026Critical thinking in occupational therapy education: A mixed-methods study.Australian occupational therapy journalOccupational therapy educators in 29 countries all called critical thinking essential, but meant different things by it. English speakers described practical reasoning and evidence; Portuguese and Spanish speakers described questioning knowledge and social justice.
• OTSystematic Review2026Occupational therapists, self-regulation, and primary schools: A scoping review.Australian occupational therapy journalNone of the seven primary-school papers this review found measured self-regulation directly. Occupational therapists targeted related constructs such as executive function or sensory processing, or ran whole-school programmes like Alert Program® and Zones of Regulation®, and no agreed occupational tool exists for measuring it.
• OTQualitative2026Managing Everyday Life in Double Exposure: Frail Older People's Experiences During a Pandemic.Scandinavian journal of occupational therapyFrail older people already limited by illness and ageing called the pandemic a 'lost year'. They felt powerless under rules they could not control and coped by accepting those rules and seeking small meaningful things: outdoor coffee with a neighbour, walks, phone calls.
• OTCohort2026Exclusion From Childcare Centre Attendance in Toddler and Preschool Patients in a Psychiatric Day Clinic: Patterns From Comparison of a 2018/2019 and a 2023/2024 Cohort.Child: care, health and developmentIn one German psychiatric day clinic, 8.00% of toddlers and preschoolers were excluded from childcare in 2018/2019 against 25.49% in 2023/2024. Boys were most affected. The authors say the gap may reflect referral and diagnostic changes, not a real rise.
• OTOther2026Supported Decision-Making Inventory: Psychometric Validation of the Catalan and Spanish Versions.Journal of applied research in intellectual disabilities : JARIDThe Catalan and Spanish interview versions of the Supported Decision-Making Inventory keep the six areas the original was built around, and people answer them the same way in either language. Score the areas separately: the two environment sections must not be added together.
• OTCohort2026Long-term follow-up for mothers of children with disability after healthy mothers healthy families e-workshops.Australian occupational therapy journalMothers who attended the peer-led online programme reported more healthy activity and fewer symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress, still present 12 weeks later. With no control group and only 20 of 56 women followed up, other explanations remain.
• OTQualitative2026An exploration of the changes to occupational participation during military-to-civilian transition: The experiences of Australian Defence Force members.Australian occupational therapy journalFormer ADF members described spending about 86% of their time on military activities, leaving little room for family, friends or hobbies. Most only saw the cost after they left, and said nothing during service had prepared them for building a civilian life.
• OTMeta-Analysis2026Yoga as a modality in occupational therapy practice for adults experiencing mood disorders: A systematic review and meta-analysis.The British journal of occupational therapyAcross 22 mostly small, mixed-quality trials, yoga improved mood disorder symptoms more than the comparison conditions on average, but the trials disagreed so wildly that the size of the benefit cannot be trusted. Three trials found yoga no better than the comparison.
• OTQualitative2026Facilitating return to work after major traumatic injuries through early vocational rehabilitation: Therapists' activities and perspectives.Australian occupational therapy journalTherapists delivering early vocational rehabilitation after major trauma spent most of their time coordinating with others, giving emotional support and doing individualised work tasks, in 12 sessions of 33 minutes on average. They said early employer contact kept work goals alive.
• OTSurvey2026Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Awareness, Knowledge, and Practice Among Australian Occupational Therapists: A Cross-Sectional Survey.Australian occupational therapy journal66.7% of these 90 Australian occupational therapists felt unprepared to raise FASD concerns with clients. Completed FASD training and prior experience with clients were linked to confidence recognising FASD; confidence in finding reliable information was not linked to feeling prepared.
• OTSystematic Review2023Occupational fatigue and health of gas station workers: A review.Work (Reading, Mass.)Gas station workers in 20 reviewed studies reported high rates of sleep problems, stress, back pain, and hearing and cognitive effects from shift work and chemical exposure. No treatment was tested, and the studies were too different to pool.
• OTRCT2023Pilot RCT examining feasibility and disability outcomes of a mobile health platform for strategy training in inpatient stroke rehabilitation (iADAPT).Topics in stroke rehabilitationBoth groups improved meaningfully in disability, but the mobile health platform was not shown to be superior to the workbook. Fifty-five of those approached declined due to technology discomfort, and attrition was high in both groups. This is a feasibility signal, not an efficacy result.
• OTSystematic Review2022Occupational therapy in Australian residential aged care facilities: A systematic mapping review.Australian occupational therapy journalOnly 12 Australian studies on occupational therapy in residential aged care met inclusion criteria, and most were small qualitative or quasi-experimental designs. The profession lacks the local evidence base it needs to advocate for its scope of practice.
• PTOTSystematic Review2022State of the science in inflammation and stroke recovery: A systematic review.Annals of physical and rehabilitation medicineCRP and IL-6 in the first 24 hours after stroke are associated with worse functional recovery at 1 year. Twelve weeks of resistive training did not increase inflammation in 20 subacute patients. Evidence is preliminary; studies are small.
• PTOTSLPMeta-Analysis2021Pharmacological and neurosurgical interventions for individuals with cerebral palsy and dystonia: a systematic review update and meta-analysis.Developmental medicine and child neurologyIntrathecal baclofen and deep brain stimulation may improve dystonia and some functional outcomes in cerebral palsy, but all evidence is low to very low certainty. Trihexyphenidyl and levodopa show little to no benefit. Four of ten interventions have no evidence at all.
• OTMeta-Analysis2021Meta-Analysis of Factors Associated with Occupational Therapist Burnout.Occupational therapy internationalJob satisfaction, engagement, and professional identity had the strongest links to lower burnout among occupational therapists, while job challenges and work addiction linked to higher burnout. Personal factors like age and education showed weaker associations across 17 studies of 2,430 therapists.
• PTOTSystematic Review2025Clinical Tools for Assessing One-Handed Skills in Children With Cerebral Palsy: An Umbrella Review.Occupational therapy internationalAmong 17 tools for measuring one-handed skills in children with cerebral palsy, three (PMAL-R Uswatte, COPM, ACHES) earned the highest ratings for both measurement quality and practical use in clinic.
• PTOTSystematic Review2025Dyad interventions for health-related quality of life, activity, and participation after stroke: a systematic review.Disability and rehabilitationAcross 17 trials of stroke survivor-caregiver dyad interventions, health-related quality of life results were mixed. Joint psychosocial approaches had the biggest effects in the studies that found any, while caregiver training and caregiver-mediated exercise did not consistently help.
• PTOTMeta-Analysis2024Whole-Body Vibration to Improve Physical Function Parameters in Nursing Home Residents Older Than 80 Years: A Systematic Review With Meta-Analysis.Physical therapyWhole-body vibration on a platform improved lower limb strength, balance, and mobility in nursing home residents over 80. Walking speed did not improve. The 14 trials used very different protocols, so the best settings remain unclear.