OT Potential Podcast | Occupational Therapy CEUs

There is a growing public consciousness around the power (and difficulty) of habit change, especially as the impact of chronic conditions soars.  

And, as we’ll see in the featured scoping review on OT and habit change/health promotion, we’ve been addressing habits since 1912, it is a core part of our 2020 practice framework, and is increasingly embedded in OT research. 

On this OT Potential Podcast episode, we’ll welcome Dr. Zippora...

The number of OT entry-level doctoral (OTD) programs has been expanding rapidly. In 2017 there were 7 programs. As of 2023, there are 95, with an additional 76 in development. 

The article we'll cover in this course presents early stage research on the doctoral capstone experience and employment opportunities. It backs up what I have now personally observed through mentoring a student: that doctoral students are uniquely prepar...

I’ve been surprised as my own kids enter elementary school to anecdotally find that constipation is a common reason to miss activities. 

But, this aligns perfectly with the research we look at today, and the growing concern that constipation has become a public health concern. 

As many as 32% of kids (0-18) experience constipation. And, a growing number of occupational therapy professionals are seeing these kids on their caseload. To...

It takes an average of 17 years for evidence to make its way into practice. 

The fields of knowledge translation and implementation science are seeking to change this. And, today we are looking at a scoping review of knowledge translation research in rehab. 

To be frank, I think the article is pretty convoluted. (Which is funny since it comes from researchers interested in knowledge translation.🤔)  But, it certainly gives us a good ...

The art and science of digital prosthetics is rapidly advancing. 

Yet, many people with amputated fingers do not wear a prosthetic. 

Part of the problem may be our own fault as health providers. We may be stuck in old stereotypes of poor outcomes and limited options related to digital prosthetics. 

In this one-hour podcast-base course, we’ll look at a research article that explores the experiences of people who wear digital prosthetic...

In previous courses, we’ve discussed that one of the primary ways we can improve our care, as OT professionals, is to increase the diversity of our workforce—with the ultimate goal of having our workforce’s diversity mirror the diversity of the populations we are seeing.  This goal will ensure we have the multiple perspectives needed to respond to the needs of our clients. 

But, until now, we’ve mostly talked about this theoreticall...

Through OT Potential, we’ve released over 70 episodes all exploring new influential OT research. As we enter 2024, it’s time to reflect on the research and ask: 

What trends are we seeing in OT? How is new research enriching how we think about our practice? 

In this 1 hour-episode, we’ll talk about new trends, with a particular focus on what commonalities we see leaders in our field doing in their occupational therapy process. We’ll ...

Since this keynote address from the World Federation of Occupational Therapy Congress was published in 2019, it has been cited so many times that it made our list of the 100 most-cited OT journal articles. 

It’s easy to see why this has become such a popular read. The article stitches occupational therapy together with global trends, in particular growing inequality. 

The author challenges us to see this problem clearly. And, calls u...

Dyslexia is the most common form of neurodivergence. 

It affects around 20% of the population, meaning that people with dyslexia are on almost every occupational therapy professional’s caseload. And yet, not enough OT-specific research and resources have been devoted to how we can help this population. 

Today, we look at a leading theory of dyslexia that basically reads like a call to action for OT’s to re-examine how needed our skil...

For OT professionals working with adults with intellectual disabilities it can feel like there is a  lack of resources around best practices for working with this population. 

Today’s article flips that long-held narrative on its head. The authors set out to find evidence to inform OT for adults with intellectual disability—and to their own surprise they found so much it has become 3 papers. 

We’ll review the evidence they found to s...

Maternal deaths are on the rise, here in the United States. 

And, we have a postpartum mental health crisis. 

In OT 90% of us are women, and many of us have personally experienced the inadequate support given to birthing individuals. 

But, not enough of us have stepped back to ask: why aren’t we (with our training in mental health & daily participation) helping women in the hospital after birth?

Luckily, there is a growing number o...

I once heard a neuroscientist say: 

Many of our frameworks end up being wrong—because the body is more complicated than we ever imagined. 

Pain science perfectly illustrates this. We are living in an era where new frameworks are being written—because classical understandings of pain have not only been inadequate, they have led to ineffective and even harmful treatment. 

Today, we look at a new framework for understanding pain. 

And, th...

The main finding of this important research from JAMA is extremely promising for early intervention OT professionals.

In the study, greater early intervention service intensity was associated with better functional gains. 

But, there’s a problem. 

Federal spending per child on early intervention services has declined over the past decade. And, in this climate of tightening budgets: 

Most children in the study had delayed care. 

And, low...

The number of OT’s providing perinatal care is on the rise. 

Which is exciting…and necessary. 

There remain so many gaps in the care of new and expecting moms, among which is treating incontinence.  

As we’ll see in our featured journal article,  a staggering percentage of women experience incontinence postnatally, despite the known effectiveness of pelvic floor muscle training as a treatment. The article specifically explores the cos...

The OT treatment approaches that are gaining support from evidence, seem to have one common thread between them:

The clients set their own goals. 

Today, we look at a pioneer of this client-centered process, The CO-OP Approach™. We’ll dive into a new research article where, yet again, we see CO-OP outperforming conventional therapy—this time for children with cerebral palsy and spina bifida.

After we review the article, we’re honored ...

The number of children diagnosed with ADHD has been steadily increasing. Now it is estimated that 1/10 children will be diagnosed with ADHD at some point.

Even though about half of these children receive some type of behavioral treatment, there has been a lack of studies around OT-specific support for ADHDer children. 

In this one hour OT CEU course, we will look at a study of an OT program for ADHD that features: 

• Children settin...

Self-determination interventions are linked to positive academic and functional attainment results—and, most compellingly, can improve post-secondary outcomes. 

But what does it look like for OT professionals to foster self-determination in the school setting? 

In this one hour course, we’ll breakdown a scoping review that examines the Independence Curriculum, which is designed to enhance middle-school-aged autistic students’ self-de...

If you are an occupational therapy professional working with autistic people, you’ve likely heard of strengths-based practice (SBP). 

But, does this approach work? 

And, what are the benefits of it? 

In this one hour OT CEU course we will discuss a scoping review that explores these questions. As we’ll see, strengths-based interventions were related to:

• Positive social engagement
• Learning
• Self-advocacy
• Anxiety reduction

After revi...

Where does OT fit in psoriatic arthritis (PsA) care? 

In this one hour course we’ll dive into a comprehensive guideline for psoriatic arthritis treatment, which recommends patients utilize a mix of non-pharmacological tools, like occupational therapy. 

This article will help you brush up on psoriatic arthritis, see OT within a holistic approach to care, and appreciate the importance of individualized care (which we are so skilled in ...