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Table of Contents3 THEORY MEETS PRACTICE

Students as translators for the Canadian Model of Occupational Performance and EngagementCynthia Zhang, Carly McCarthy and Janet Craik

6 Working together through innovative practice: Interprofessional clinic receives top marksErica Lyle

9 Free access to Cochrane Library for CAOT membersMary Egan

11 Posters: A great option for conference presentations!Mary Manojlovich

13 Occupational therapy: Paving the way for accessibility on campusDerek Adam, Diana Cornelisse, Johanna Harding, Jane Zambon, Sue Baptiste andElizabeth Steggles

16 CAOT 2007 – 2008 midyear reportClaudia von Zweck

21 SENSE OF DOINGDrug use as an occupation: Reflecting on Insite, Vancouver’s supervised injection siteEmmeline Chang

24 Highlights of the March 2008 CAOT Board MeetingErica Lyle

25 INTERNATIONAL CONNECTIONSFieldwork in South Africa: Comparing the ‘country of contrast’ to CanadaAnita Goyal

28 Update from the Canadian Occupational Therapy Foundation

30 Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists endorsed courses

THERAPY NOWOCCUPATIONAL

may/june 2008 • VOLUME 10 • 3

ISSN: 1481-5532 CANADA POST AGREEMENT #40034418

Occupational TherapyNow is published 6 timesa year (bimonthly beginningwith January) by the

Canadian Association of OccupationalTherapists (CAOT).

MANAGING EDITORBrendaMcGibbon Lammi,MSc(RS), BHSc(OT), OT Reg(Ont)Tel. (613) 587-4124 Fax. (613) 587-4121 E-mail: [email protected]

ASSISTANT EDITORAlex Merrill

TRANSLATIONDe Shakespeare à Molière, Services de traduction

DESIGN & LAYOUTJAR Creative

ON-LINE KEYWORD EDITORKathleen Raum

CAOT EDITORIAL BOARDChair: Anita Unruh

Members: Emily Etcheverry,Mary Forham, April Furlong,Stephanie Koegler & Catherine Vallée

Ex-officio:Marcia Finlayson & BrendaMcGibbon Lammi

COLUMN EDITORSCritically Appraised Papers

Lori Letts, PhD

International ConnectionsSandra Bressler,MEd

In Touch with Assistive TechnologyRoselle Adler, BScOT & Josée Séguin,MSc

OT ThenSue Baptiste,MHSc

Private Practice InsightsLorian Kennedy,MScOT

Sense of DoingHelene J. Polatajko, PhD & Jane A. Davis,MSc

Tele-occupational TherapyLili Liu, PhD &Masako Miyazaki, PhD

Theory Meets PracticeHeidi Cramm,MSc

Watch Your PracticeSandra Hobson,MAEd

occupational therapy now volume 10.32

Statements made in contributions toOccupational Therapy Now (OT Now)are made solely on the responsibility ofthe author and unless so stated do notreflect the official position of CAOT, andCAOT assumes no responsibility forsuch statements.OT Now encouragesdialogue on issues affecting occupa-tional therapists and welcomes yourparticipation.

EDITORIAL RIGHTS RESERVEDAcceptance of advertisements does notimply endorsement by OT Now nor bythe CAOT.

CAOT PATRONHer Excellency the Right HonourableMichaëlle Jean C.C., C.M.M., C.O.M., C.D.Governor General of Canada

CAOT PRESIDENTSusan Forwell, PhD

CAOT EXECUTIVE DIRECTORClaudia von Zweck, PhD

RETURN UNDELIVERABLECANADIAN ADDRESSES TO:CAOT – CTTC Building3400 – 1125 Colonel By Drive Ottawa,Ontario KIS 5R1 CANE-mail: [email protected]

INDEXINGOT Now is indexed by: CINAHL, ProQuestand OTDBase.

ADVERTISINGLisa Sheehan (613) 523-2268, ext. 232E-mail: [email protected]

SUBSCRIPTIONSLinda Charney (613) 523-2268, ext. 242E-mail: [email protected]

COPYRIGHTCopyright of OT Now is held by theCAOT. Permission must be obtained inwriting from CAOT to photocopy, repro-duce or reprint any material publishedin the magazine unless otherwisenoted. There is a per page, per table orfigure charge for commercial use.Individual members of CAOT or ACOTUPhave permission to photocopy up to 100copies of an article if such copies are dis-tributed without charge for educationalor consumer information purposes.

Copyright requests may be sent to:Lisa SheehanE-mail: [email protected]

In the January 2008 issue of Occupational TherapyNow, the first of a series of articles introduced thenew Canadian guidelines for occupational therapyentitled: Enabling Occupation II: Advancing anOccupational Therapy Vision for Health,Well-being,&Justice Through Occupation (Townsend & Polatajko,2007). The article informed readers about how thisedition of the eighth Canadian guidelines were writ-ten with a national advisory panel, input throughforums and over 60 perspectives from across Canada.This second article will introduce occupational thera-pists to the Canadian Model of OccupationalPerformance and Engagement (CMOP-E) (Polatajko,Townsend & Craik,2007) and profile the role of stu-dents as translators for the model.

Introducing the CMOP-ESince 1997, the description of the primary role ofoccupational therapy has been to enable occupation(Canadian Association of Occupational Therapy[CAOT], 1997, 2002). Enabling is the therapy, the spe-cial ways occupational therapists work with peopleand occupation is the central domain of concernaround which enabling takes place. Occupationaltherapists work with a very broad definition of occu-pation. The definition in the 2007 guidelines isas follows (excerpted from Enabling Occupation,CAOT, 1997) :Occupation refers to groups of activities andtasks of everyday life, named, organized, andgiven value and meaning by individuals and aculture. Occupation is everything people do tooccupy themselves, including looking after them-selves (self-care), enjoying life (leisure), and con-tributing to the social and economic fabric of theircommunities (productivity). (Townsend &Polatajko, 2007, p. 369)

Occupational therapists, like many other profes-sionals, use models to organize thoughts around coreconstructs. The Canadian Model of OccupationalPerformance (CMOP) was first published in the guide-lines Enabling Occupation: An Occupational TherapyPerspective (CAOT, 1997). The CMOP specified threecore constructs of interest for the profession of occu-pational therapy: occupations, persons and environ-ments, and portrays occupational performance as aresult of the dynamic interaction of these (CAOT, 1997,2002) (see Figure 1, part A).

Over the past decade, the CMOP image becamevery familiar to occupational therapists and playedan important function in shaping our occupationalperspective nationally and internationally. However,questions remained such as what is our core domainof concern? And what makes occupational therapydifferent from other professions such as sociology,geography and environmental psychology that alsolook at the interplay between humans, their sur-roundings and functioning in society? A criticalreview of the CMOP led to the portrayal of a trans-sectional view (see Figure 1, part B). The trans-sec-tional view of the CMOP can be used to show thefollowing:


Students as translators for theCanadian Model of OccupationalPerformance and Engagement

Cynthia Zhang, Carly McCarthy and Janet Craik

Figure 1: The CMOP-E: Specifying our domain of concern

A. Referred to as the CMOP in Enabling Occupation (1997a, 2002) and CMOP-Ein Enabling Occupation II

B. Trans-sectional viewPolotajko, H.J., Townsend, E.A., Craik, J. (2007). Canadian Model of OcupationalPerformance and Engagement (CMOP-E) in Enabling Occupation II, page 23.

Definition of the CMOP-E : An extension of the1997/2002 conceptual framework that describesoccupational therapy’s view of the dynamic, interwovenrelationship between persons, environmentsand occupations; engagement signals occupationaltherapy interests that include and extend beyondoccupational performance over a person’s lifespanand in diverse environments. (From the glossary ofEnabling Occupation II, pg. 364)

THEORY MEETS PRACTICE

Column Editor: Heidi Cramm

Occupation is of central interest and delimits ourconcernwith persons and environments.The transverseview –with occupation front and centre – presents occu-pation as our core domain of interest, showing that weare primarily concernedwith human occupation, and

the connections with the occupa-tional person and the occupa-tional influences of the environ-ment; those aspects of person orenvironment that are not relatedto occupation are beyond ourscope (Townsend& Polatajko,2007, p. 24).

An occupational therapistworking with a client whorecently experienced a strokeand has a history of diabetesneeds to focus on occupationsthat the client wants/needs toengage in, family/communityand societal environmental fac-tors that may influence occupa-tional engagement and aspectsof the person, including thoseresulting from the diabetes andstroke that may influence occu-pational engagement. The occu-pational therapist does notrequire a complete knowledge ofendocrinology and neurology toenable occupation for this client.However, it is imperative thatthe occupational therapist

understands how the client’s current and potentialbody and system impairments and the socioculturaland geographic context may impact occupationalengagement.

As illustrated in Enabling Occupation II, to haveoccupations is not the same as to perform occupa-tions. Furthermore, humans frequently engage inoccupations without performing them. In EnablingOccupation II, the focus of the CMOP on performancealone is critiqued as only a segment of our concernwith human occupation as described in the followingexerpt:

Beyond occupational performance, occupationaltherapists are also interested in other modes ofoccupational interactions. Among these are occu-pational behaviour, occupational capacity, occupa-tional competence, occupational development,occupational engagement, and occupational

history … Occupational engagement captures thebroadest of perspectives on occupation … engageencompasses all that we do to involve oneself orbecome occupied; participate …. Today, occupa-tional therapy concerns are congruent with thebroad meaning of occupational engagement(Townsend & Polatajko, 2007, p. 24).

To elaborate, our concerns with human occupa-tion are not only regarding the actual performance ofan occupation, but also with the level of importanceit holds or the degree of satisfaction it brings to theindividual, family, group or organization.Occupational therapists are also concerned withpotential and possibilities for occupational engage-ment as afforded by occupation-person-environmentinteractions. The familiar CMOP now becomes theCMOP-E with the added word – engagement - toextend our occupational perspective.

Translating the CMOP-E to practiceThe literature proposes that engaging students astranslators of new knowledge may be an effectivemethod to facilitate knowledge translation (Harrison,2000). Although students do not have a lot of experi-ential knowledge, they have a unique skill set to offer.Students have a firm grounding in current theoriesand models, access to library resources and scholasticexpertise and the ability to provide a fresh perspec-tive, thus making them a possible bridge for integrat-ing new knowledge with practice (Harrison, 2000). Itis beneficial for occupational therapy practitionersand students to combine efforts to facilitate thetranslation of new knowledge into practice andspecifically in this instance, answer the two ques-tions: how do I ensure my practice is occupation-based and how can the Canadian Model ofOccupational Performance and Engagement (CMOP-E) be applied in practice?

Carly McCarthy and Cynthia Zhang are studentsin the Master of Science (Occupational Therapy) pro-gram at Dalhousie University. They are completing anapplied research project that emphasizes knowledgetranslation through educational program developmentand evaluation with Dr. Elizabeth Townsend.Their proj-ect is examining how occupational therapists respond


About the authors –CarlyMcCarthy, is a sec-ond yearMaster of Science(OccupationalTherapy) stu-dent at DalhousieUniversity. Carly has hadprevious experiencework-ingwith childrenwith dis-abilities and completed herfirst placement in ruralcommunitymental health.Cynthia Zhang is a secondyear Master of Science(Occupational Therapy)student at DalhousieUniversity. Cynthia hashad previous experienceworking in vocationalrehabilitation, geriatricsand community occupa-tional therapy.Janet Craik is an occupa-tional therapist currentlyworking for CAOT as theProfessional EducationManager. Janet was theproject manager for theEnabling Occupationproject. You can contactJanet at [email protected]

“The familiar CMOP now becomes the CMOP-E with theadded word – engagement - to extend our occupationalperspective.”

to a workshop on integrating theory and practiceusing the new guidelines. To that end at DalhousieUniversity onWednesday, November 28, 2007 theyorganized an Enabling Occupation II two-hour work-shop, an accompanying workbook and a workshopfeedback survey. Over 30 occupational therapists fromthe Halifax Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centreattended the workshop. The students will use thefeedback to revise their work and present it again torefine their knowledge translation skills.

During the workshop, student presenters dis-cussed the importance of occupation-based practiceand the necessity of integrating theory with practice.Occupational therapists were interested in how theCMOP-E changed from the CMOP and how to apply itto practice. In one exercise, participants worked inpairs with cases from their own workloads. The stu-dents introduced the updated model and guidedpractitioners to reflect on their cases with referenceto the CMOP-E. Practitioners identified their clients’occupational performance and/or engagement issuesencountered in practice. This exercise intended tobring occupation to the forefront and ignite criticaldialogue about how to make enabling occupationmore visible and explicit.

The interaction of students and practitionerswas stimulating and thought-provoking. Practitionersspoke of their clinical experience and knowledge,while the students asked questions about how theymight apply the CMOP-E. Occupational therapistshighlighted challenges with clients identifying occu-pational performance and/or engagement issues. Attimes participants reported that seeing the big pic-ture could bring occupation to the forefront, butoccupation could easily be missed in the smallerdetails of daily practice. The workshop sparked discus-sion among participants about occupation-basedpractice in a way that educated the students and fur-thered their skill application.

Enabling Occupation II presents the transverseview of the CMOP-E to define and delimit occupa-tional therapists’ domain of concern as human occu-pation. The workshop discussion of the CMOP-Eemphasized our scope of concern beyond occupa-tional performance and the opportunities to furtherdevelop our occupational perspective to include thebroad construct of occupational engagement.Student facilitators were ideal translators of the newideas encountered in Enabling Occupation II andother academic texts, while they also recognized thechallenges and opportunities faced by practitioners.

Your feedback is welcome at OT Now and on theCAOT website’s Enabling Occupation public discussionboard. We would love to hear comments on the ques-tion: How might occupational therapists use theCMOP-E to profile our focus on and domain of con-cern in occupation, occupational performance, occu-pational engagement and other occupational con-structs?

Please address any questions or feedbackregarding this publication on the EnablingOccupation II public discussion board at:

• www.caot.ca• Periodicals and Publications

• Enabling Occupation• Public discussion board

ReferencesCanadian Association of Occupational Therapists. (1997).

Enabling occupation: An occupational therapy perspec-tive. Ottawa, ON: CAOT Publications ACE.

Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists. (2002).Enabling occupation: An occupational therapy perspec-tive (Rev. ed.). Ottawa, ON: CAOT Publications ACE.

Harrison, K. (2000). Put it to practice. Students enable clini-cians’ understanding of the occupational performanceprocess model. Occupational Therapy Now, 2(5), 16-18.

Polatajko, H.J., Townsend, E.A., & Craik, J. (2007). Canadian Modelof Occupational Performance and Engagement (CMOP-E). In E. A. Townsend & H. J. Polatajko, Enabling occupa-tion II: Advancing an occupational therapy vision forhealth, well-being & justice through occupation.Ottawa,ON: CAOT Publications ACE.

Townsend, E.A., & Polatajko, H. J. (2007). Enabling occupation II:Advancing an occupational therapy vision for health,well-being, & justice through occupation. Ottawa, ON:CAOT Publications ACE.


“The familiar CMOP now becomes the CMOP-E with theadded word – engagement - to extend our occupationalperspective.”

Using a team approach to teaching while providingcommunity health care services just makes sense toDr. Claire-Jehanne Dubouloz, Associate professor ofOccupational Therapy at the University of Ottawa,Associate Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences andDirector of the School of Rehabilitation Science. Dr.Dubouloz envisioned this team approach in actionwhen she played an integral role in the opening ofthe groundbreaking University of OttawaInterprofessional Rehabilitation University Clinic inPrimary Health Care in 2006.

Dr. Dubouloz's aim was to match educationalprograms’ need for French language health care field-work placements in the Ottawa region with the reha-bilitation needs of the local francophone population.This initiative employs the Social ParticipationPerspective of Health (Disability Creation ProcessModel) (Fougeyrollas, Cloutier, Bergeron, Côté & St.Michel, 1998) and offers students in different healthcare programs the opportunity to learn each other’sroles and responsibilities using a collaborativeapproach. “I didn’t know that occupational therapistsvisit their clients’ kitchens to assess their daily livingneeds!” one student at the clinic remarked. Momentsof realization like this show why an interprofessionalcollaborative approach to teaching and providing pri-mary health care services is key to advancing educa-tion and training.

“Before we opened the clinic each educationalprogram tended to teach in isolation,” Dr. Duboulozsays. “Through a placement at this clinic, studentsbecome aware of what the others are thinking anddoing. The clinic’s collaborative environment encour-ages interaction with one another and clients andtheir caregivers receive one-stop care. It’s win-win.”

Answering a needThe clinic, located on the University of Ottawa cam-pus, addresses a lack of accessibility to French lan-guage rehabilitation services in the Ottawa region.“We answered a need in the community,” says Dr.Dubouloz. “Before, clients could be waiting up to sixmonths to see a clinician or receive service at home.”

During the initial stages, the clinic has focussed

on treating school-aged children with mild impair-ments that limit participation at home and school, aswell as adults aged 50 and over with physical limita-tions due to chronic disease. Care also extends tofamily members and caregivers who help with homeprograms.

By the end of the clinic’s first year, it had servedover 90 clients free of charge with 22 more beingplaced on a waiting list. Clients access the clinicthrough various channels. A few come through wordof mouth, but most are referred either by colleaguesworking in hospitals or by Community Care AccessCentres or local school boards who are familiar withthe unique service the clinic provides. It is anticipatedthat by the close of the 2007-2008 school year, thenumber of clients will have almost doubled.

Working together through innovative practice:Interprofessional clinic receives top marks

Erica Lyle


Dr. Claire-Jehanne Dubouloz played a key role in opening theInterprofessional Rehabilitation University Clinic.

“Before we opened the clinic each educational programtended to teach in isolation,” Dr. Dubouloz says. “Througha placement at this clinic, students become aware of whatthe others are thinking and doing. The clinic’s collabora-tive environment encourages interaction with oneanother and clients and their caregivers receive one-stopcare. It’s win-win.”


Integrated education in FrenchEmbodying Dr. Dubouloz’s original vision, the clinicattracts francophone students who seek integratedtraining and fieldwork assignments in their own lan-guage. Student placements last from one to twelveweeks in one of eight different disciplines, includingaudiology, occupational therapy, medicine, speech-language pathology, physiotherapy, nursing, kinesiol-ogy and social work. Soon a ninth discipline, nutrition,will join. Students provide services under the supervi-sion of regulated health professionals who workalongside them to guarantee quality of care and rele-vance of learning opportunities.

Evaluating life habitsCare at the clinic is determined by evaluating theclient’s life habits, using a process known as Life-HEvaluation (Fougeyrollas et al, 1998). This evaluationexamines life habits not realized and perceived by theclient as meaningful and important. Once barriers toparticipation are identified, the impact of these limi-tations is determined and a plan for interprofessionalintervention of treatment is recommended using ateam approach.

Collaboration and coordinationIn the clinic’s first year, 75 students had the opportu-nity to learn in the interprofessional environment.Students are really pushed to the limit in this pro-gram, says Dr. Dubouloz. Not only are they responsi-ble for their own professional learning, but they arealso involved in and must recognize, value and trustin each other’s roles and responsibilities. To worktogether successfully, students must demonstrate awillingness to collaborate, communicate and berespectful during clinical interventions. “Students aregenerally very curious but also careful not to walk onsomeone else’s turf,” Dr. Dubouloz explains. “Theylearn quickly to work with students from other pro-fessions and with preceptors who are not from theirown discipline.” For each client assessment, a prelimi-nary evaluation is carried out to match the needs ofthe client with at least two to three individualsassigned to participate in the client’s visit.

Coordinating the clinic is no small feat. Strongmanagement skills are required and occupationaltherapist Jacinthe Savard keeps the clinic’s programon track. Currently completing her PhD in communityhealth, Ms. Savard juggles the timetables of students,clinicians, clients and professors from eight differentprograms or schools. She manages a dedicated team

of clinician-educators who assist or supervise stu-dents during direct or indirect services, while grab-bing any opportunity to enhance the quality anddepth of learning experiences.

Future hopefulTo date, this interprofessional clinical program hashad strong financial support from all levels of govern-ment. The clinic’s mission responds to the Ontariogovernment’s strategy of developing InterprofessionalEducation for Collaborative Patient-Centred Practice,

which promotes collaborative learning among healthcare providers to ensure comprehensive transfer ofknowledge within the health care system. The clinichas also received funding from the University ofOttawa’s Faculty of Health Sciences, the Consortiumnational de formation en santé (CNFS), and HealthCanada’s la Société santé en français, a program todevelop health services in French. Collectively theyhave provided the clinic with more than $1.6 million.

“Our strategies are clearly aimed at where ourvision can get funding,” Dr. Dubouloz says. The uni-versity has been very supportive and interested in thesuccess of the clinic. Funding for the project has beenextended for an additional three years and CNFS ispleased that the clinic has contributed to the federalgovernment’s mission to train francophones outsideof Québec.

Dr. Dubouloz’s innovative approach to providingadvanced learning opportunities, primary health careto the community as well asresearch on interprofessionalismhas not gone unrecognized. InSeptember 2007, the OttawaCentre for Research andInnovation (OCRI) honoured herwith its Health InnovationAward. The OCRI Life SciencesAchievement Awards recognizeoutstanding achievements inOttawa’s life sciences sector. TheHealth Innovation Awardacknowledges an individual in the health care systemthat comes up with an idea, improvement or inven-

“Students are really pushed to the limit in this program.Not only are they responsible for their own professionallearning, but they are also involved in and must recog-nize, value and trust in each other’s roles and responsibili-ties.”

About the author –Erica Lyle is the CAOTCommunicationsCoordinator. Youmay reach Erica at613-523-2268 ext.225(Toll Free:1-800-434-2268) orat her e-mail address:communication@ caot.ca

tion that significantly impacts health care.Proponents of the clinic have their sights firmly

set on the future of this program. By next year theclinic will include services involving nutrition and,depending on funding, will expand its treatment toclients outside the Ottawa region. The next phase willassess the possibility of developing a research centre,increasing the number of primary health care serv-ices offered to clients, offering more French language

placements to students, and improving the quality ofservices and clinical education. It’s no wonder thatother Canadian universities have expressed an inter-est in developing a similar program.

ReferencesFougeyrollas, P., Bergeron, H., Cloutier, R., Côté, J., St. Michel, G.

(1998). La Mesure des habitudes de vie, version 3.0. LacSt-Charles, QC: RIPPH


When I learned that the Canadian Association ofOccupational Therapists was providing memberswith free access to the Cochrane Library I could notcontain my excitement. Now, before you send me foran urgent occupational therapy evaluation of myoccupational balance, please hear me out. I am sureyou will share my enthusiasm on hearing of theriches contained in this new members’ benefit.

Best possible evidenceThe Cochrane Library is an electronic database of sys-tematic reviews of the effectiveness of different typesof health care interventions. For those new to thelingo, systematic reviews are rigorously producedevaluations and syntheses of all studies that addressa particular research question. To date, most of thesequestions relate to the effectiveness of particulartreatments for specific health problems.

Since the writers are extremely thorough intheir search for relevant studies and because themethods used to develop these reviews are so metic-ulous, the conclusions of these reviews are consid-ered the best possible evidence for determining theeffectiveness of an intervention. So, for example, ifyou want evidence to demonstrate to funders thatoccupational therapy has been proven to help indi-viduals with rheumatoid arthritis carry out dailyactivities with less pain, look no further than the

Cochrane reviews. Here you will find evidence of thisin a systematic review of occupational therapy forrheumatoid arthritis (Steultjens et al., 2004).

Many Cochrane reviews also include informa-tion regarding the relative merits of related interven-tions. For example, an occupational therapist lookingto recommend the best possible mattress for the pre-vention of pressure sores will find “head to head”

comparisons of different types of mattresses alongwith an excellent estimate of the overall effectivenessof specialized mattresses compared to standard hos-pital mattresses in the prevention of this problem(Cullum,McInnes, Bell-Syer & Legood, 1998).

Cochrane Review GroupsEach Cochrane review is produced by groups ofresearchers and clinicians who form a clinical ques-tion and then work with one of the over 50 CochraneReview Groups to register their title, develop the pro-tocol for their review, complete the review processand update the review as necessary(http://www.cochrane.org/contact/entities.htm#CRGLIST). CAOT members might beinterested in browsing a group’sreviews or even working with agroup to develop a Cochranereview of their own!

As well, each CochraneReview Group posts both thetitles and the protocols of pro-posed reviews from the timethese are accepted. Reviews canbe rather labour-intensive, soCAOT members finding plannedreviews of topics of great interestto themmay wish to contact thereview author and offer their help in the review

Free access to Cochrane Library for CAOT membersMary Egan


“Since the writers are extremely thorough in their searchfor relevant studies and because the methods used todevelop these reviews are so meticulous, the conclusionsof these reviews are considered the best possible evidencefor determining the effectiveness of an intervention.”

This is your starting point for searching the Cochrane Library.

About the author –Mary Egan, PhD, OTReg. (Ont) is the CAOTRepresentative to theCanadian CochraneNetwork and Centre.She is AssociateProfessor in the Schoolof RehabilitationSciences at theUniversity of Ottawa.You may contact Maryat:[email protected]

process. As a review author, I can tell you that thiswould probably be most welcomed.

Wealth of informationThe Cochrane home page contains a wealth of infor-mation for new users. As well, if you have tried toaccess reviews in the past and found them a bit over-

whelming, you may want to look again. A lot of recenteffort has gone into making reviews much more user-friendly. Each review now contains a plain languagesummary, making the essential review results quicklyaccessible. Some recent reviews are also available asdownloadable podcasts.

To access the Cochrane Library, go to theMember’s Area Login on the CAOT home page andthen click on Information Gateway on the left handside of the screen. You will find the link for theCochrane Library on the right hand side of the nextscreen.

Happy reading and/or listening to this supernew member resource!

References:Cullum, N., McInnes E., Bell-Syer S.E.M., & Legood R. (1998).

Support surfaces for pressure ulcer prevention. CochraneDatabase of Systematic Reviews, Issue 1. Art. No.:CD001735. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD001735.pub2

Steultjens, E.M.J., Dekker, J., Bouter, L.M., van Schaardenburg, D.,van Kuyk, M.A.H., & van den Ende, C.H.M. ( 2004).Occupational therapy for rheumatoid arthritis. CochraneDatabase of Systematic Reviews, Issue 1. Art. No.:CD003114. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD003114.pub2


One of the many systematic reviews now available for free toCAOT members.

Are you thinking about submitting an abstract topresent at the Canadian Association of OccupationalTherapists (CAOT) conference in Ottawa in 2009? Haveyou considered a poster format for your presentation?Posters are an excellent vehicle for presenting certaintypes of information and have a greater possibility ofbeing successful in the abstract selection process.

Each year, the CAOT Scientific ProgramCommittee receives far more abstracts for paper pre-sentations than for poster presentations even thoughthere are an equal number of slots for each type ofpresentation format at conference. For example, in2007 the committee received 230 paper submissionsfor a possible 88 slots, but only 60 poster submissionsfor a possible 88 slots. Part of the review process is toscreen paper submissions as potential poster presen-tations.

Presentation optionsProspective presenters should carefully weigh thepros and cons of each of the three types of presenta-tion format options before making their final choice.A poster is a graphic representation of your topic. It isprepared in advance, to specific size requirements aslaid out on the CAOT website (www.caot.ca), and dis-played in the poster area of the conference site for anentire day of conference. Poster presentations areallotted a 25-minute time slot for a brief, usuallyinformal and interactive presentation with questionsand discussion. A paper presentation is a formal 20-minute presentation using a PowerPoint to an audi-ence in a classroom type setting, followed by a five-minute discussion. The third option for presentation,for which there are many fewer slots, is an extendedsession. The extended session is 55 minutes long,including a presentation of 15 - 20 minutes, followedby a 15 to 20-minute facilitated session in which theaudience engages in an activity, typically followed byfeedback and discussion.

When to choose postersMany types of presentations are better suited to aposter format than to either a paper or an extendedsession format. It is not unusual for an abstract

reviewer to suggest that the objectives stated in apaper abstract would be better served in a posterpresentation.

Posters are an excellent option to present quan-titative data. Delegates can take as much time as theywish to review and digest the information ratherthan the brief glimpse of data that is often offeredduring a paper presentation. Poster presentationsmay be the best choice to present a narrow topic or avery specialized topic which will likely appeal to asmall but passionately interested audience.

Posters may also work well when the topic orarea of research is relatively novel or obscure. This for-mat provides a means to introduce the theme to con-ference delegates and perhaps, lead to a paper pres-entation or an extended session the following year atconference.

Posters: A great option for conference presentations!Mary Manojlovich


Poster presentations are an excellent way to reach a large audience.

“Posters are an excellent option to present quantitativedata. Delegates can take as much time as they wish toreview and digest the information rather than the briefglimpse of data that is often offered during a paper pres-entation.”

Informal and intimateMany delegates prefer to participate in poster pre-sentations. They enjoy the relative informality of thepresentation, the enhanced opportunity for questionsand discussions and the opportunity to network withlike-minded colleagues. The more relaxed and inti-mate environment allows greater interactionbetween the presenter and the delegates who areinterested in the topic. Many delegates make a pointof browsing the posters each day. It is an excellentway to sample information on a range of topics andto be exposed to knowledge in an area that may benew to you.

Poster presentations may provide a less intimi-dating option for first time presenters. The bulk of the

work occurs in preparing theposter before the conference,and the more casual presenta-tion style is likely to be less anx-iety provoking at conference.

Larger audienceAlthough there is a designatedtime for the presenter to speakto the contents of the poster, itis on display for the entire dayand thus may reach a larger

audience than would a 25-minute paper presenta-tion. Many poster displays include handouts andbusiness cards to encourage delegates to share theinformation with colleagues, or, perhaps, make a fol-low-up contact.

After the conference is over, the poster can bedisplayed in a public area, thereby providing theopportunity to share the information with a broaderaudience, increase awareness of the work or researchbeing carried out by occupational therapists, andencourage other clinicians or students to participatein scholarly work.

Process is well-outlinedThe process of creating a poster is well outlined inthe CAOT Presenter’s Handbook (Croskery & Nance,2007) available in the conference section on CAOT’swebsite (www.caot.ca). The handbook suggests vari-ous software programs and formats that can be used.Many organizations have resources to assist in thedesign and creation of posters. The print shop or con-tinuing education department may be good places toinquire about organizational resources.

A poster presentation may be the best option topresent your research, practice or educational knowl-edge at conference. Careful consideration of yourtopic, the type of data you will be presenting, the

potential audience, and your own goals for present-ing will assist you in determining the most appropri-ate format. The various resources provided in the con-ference section on the CAOT website will assist you increating an informative abstract best suited to yourtopic that will be rated favorably be reviewers, andwill most effectively present your topic at conference.

ResourcesCroskery, M. & Nance, M. (2007). Canadian Association of

Occupational Therapists presenter’s handbook. RetrievedJanuary 30, 2008 from http://www.caot.ca/default.asp?pageid=2215


About the author –Mary Manojlovich isthe current chair of theCanadian Associationof OccupationalTherapists ScientificProgram Committee.You may contact Maryat:[email protected]

“Poster presentations may provide a less intimidatingoption for first time presenters. The bulk of the workoccurs in preparing the poster before the conference, andthe more casual presentation style is likely to be less anxi-ety provoking at conference.”

IntroductionWe are four student occupational therapists about toembark on the journey of becoming practising occupa-tional therapists, but before we do,we would like toleave behind a few thoughts from our final practicumplacement. Here is our story.

Our final placement took place during the sum-mer of 2007. It was termed“role-emerging”,meaningthat we were responsible for paving the way for a newrole for occupational therapists in a specific sector. Thesector, in our case,was accessibility. Occupational ther-apy brings a unique perspective to the field of accessi-bility, viewing accessibility issues through a lens offunction and usability. It is possible for an environmentto be deemed accessible, but at the same time to notbe considered usable; occupational therapists identifythe difference.

The initial process for our placement wasdesigned and supervised by two occupational thera-

pists and an accessibility design consultant togetherwith an advisory committee.We were told that itwould be an “accessibility audit” of the McMasterUniversity campus and that we had eight weeks tocomplete this pilot project. The accessibility audit proj-ect was initiated in collaboration with faculty, volun-teers, and advisors and came about in response to

recent changes in the Provincial legislation known asthe Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act(AODA), 2005. The act was designed to ensure an acces-sible province for all Ontarians, by “developing, imple-menting and enforcing accessibility standards in orderto achieve accessibility for Ontarians with disabilitieswith respect to goods, services, facilities, accommoda-

Occupational therapy: Paving the way foraccessibility on campus

Derek Adam, Diana Cornelisse, Johanna Harding, Jane Zambon, Sue Baptiste and Elizabeth Steggles


Attitudes towards disability are a major concern on campus.

“It is possible for an environment to be deemed accessible,but at the same time to not be considered usable; occupa-tional therapists identify the difference.”

tion, employment, buildings, structures and premiseson or before January 1, 2025”, and by “providing for theinvolvement of persons with disabilities, of the

Government of Ontario and ofrepresentatives of industries andof various sectors of the econ-omy in the development of theaccessibility standards” (Ministryof Community and SocialServices, 2007). Under the AODA,universities will be required toensure that all barriers areremoved by 2025 where reason-ably possible.

Practicum processWith our occupational therapyhats firmly in place, and ourfocus on function and usability,we chose an occupation-basedapproach to barrier identifica-tion. This involved focusing onmore than just physical meas-urements.We chose to follow atypical day in the life or “journeysequence”of user experts toexplore key activities involved infulfilling one’s occupation ofbeing a university student.

We first conducted a thor-ough review of relevant litera-ture to inform the project andrecommendations.We nextsought to gain an understand-ing of the challenges and barri-ers faced by students with dis-abilities attending the university.Five volunteers with a broadrange of disabilities were inter-viewed, including individualswith visual, physical andmentalhealth concerns.We conductedsemi-structured, qualitativeinterviews using the CanadianOccupational PerformanceMeasure (COPM)1 (Law et al.,2005) to guide the interviews.The volunteers identified anddiscussed challenges that theyencountered while pursuingtheir education on campus.Wealso participated with the volun-

teers in campus walk-abouts,which proved to be apowerful mechanism of barrier identification aroundcampus. Key issues that emerged included barriersrelated to:

• parking, pathways, ramps, entrances, doorways,elevators;

• amenities such as washrooms and classrooms;• student services such as notetaking; and• libraries and social spaces.

We chose the campus student centre as the siteof a pilot audit, recognizing that it is a “central hub” forstudent services, key amenities and social spaces. Theaudit of the student centre was completed under theguidance of an accessibility design consultant. Theaudit considered physical, cultural, social, and institu-tional environments, highlighting strengths as well asbarriers. All data were combined and top priorities andkey issues identified. A presentation was made to theuniversity’s advisory committee and a full report withdetailed recommendations was provided.

Raising awarenessThe volunteers in our project identified attitudes as amajor concern on campus. Occupational therapistsbring strong advocacy skills, working with consumersto help educate the general population to increaseawareness and to change attitudes. One of the high-lights of our practicum became the creation of a dis-ability awareness video, produced with the participa-tion of all five volunteers. This video was to provide anaudiovisual record of the challenges and barriers facedon a typical day on campus.We particularly hoped itcould be used to address attitudinal issues thatemerged from the project.

This video was included in our final presentationto the advisory committee. Through undertaking thispresentation,we found it rewarding to be able to edu-cate members of the university community, reaffirm-ing to them that accessibility entails more than justphysical structures andmeeting building codes.Manyideas appear great on paper, however do not translatewell in reality. Using our Person-Environment-Occupation (PEO) perspective,we were able to demon-strate that ‘operational’ does not equate with ‘func-tional’. In one example, the pathway to a door operatormust be barrier free to be functional; simple policychanges and awareness can help ensure that staff willrecognize and remove barriers. Our video included


About the authors –Derek Adam,M.Sc. (O.T.),OT Reg. (ONT) is a recentgraduate of theMcMaster UniversityOccupational Therapyprogram.He is currentlyself-employed and con-sults on cases involvingclients who have beeninjured in motor vehicleaccidents. He can bereached [email protected] Baptiste is aProfessor at the Schoolof RehabilitationScience, Faculty ofHealth Sciences,McMaster University.Diana Cornelisse,M.Sc.(O.T.), OT Reg. (ONT), is arecent graduate fromthe McMaster UniversityOccupational Therapyprogram. She can bereached [email protected] Harding,M.Sc.(O.T.), OT Reg. (ONT), is arecent graduate ofMcMaster Universityand an occupationaltherapist with CBIPhysiotherapy andRehabilitation Centres inthe GTA. She can bereached [email protected] Steggles is anoccupational therapistand a project coordina-tor at the School ofRehabilitation Science,McMaster University.Jane Zambon,M.Sc.(O.T.), OT Reg. (ONT), is arecent graduate fromthe McMaster UniversityOccupational Therapyprogram. She can bereached at [email protected]

1The COPM is an individualized client-centred measure used byoccupational therapists to detect change in a client’s self-percep-tion of occupational performance over time. It is designed for usewith clients of all ages and with varying disabilities (Law et al.,2005).

footage of volunteers attempting to use obstructedand/or non-functioning automatic door operators. Thefeedback received during this presentation demon-strated that our efforts were of value and that our dis-ability awareness message had been received. Staffacknowledged that some simple changes could make ahuge difference in the lives of students with disabili-ties, without a large cost attached. For example, placingan “out of order” sign on a broken elevator could save alot of frustration and time for students and is not costly.

Unique learning opportunityThis practicum provided us with a unique learningopportunity that will help us as occupational thera-pists in future clinical practice. It gave us a glimpse intothe reality and complications of large institutions withmultiple priorities. It provided an opportunity to fullyunderstand the PEO interaction from the perspectiveof volunteers participating in meaningful occupations.We have been enriched by this experience and recom-mend this kind of project to any future student occu-pational therapists.

As students we are only privy to a fraction ofwhat transpires in a university setting. During thisproject, we realized very quickly that there are manyvarying viewpoints throughout the university commu-nity, and we recognized the complexity of how a largeinstitution functions.We discovered that there wereseveral projects related to accessibility in progress oncampus, but no coordinated process had been estab-lished. This fragmented approach suggests that thereis a genuine desire at many levels to remove barriers;however, a coordinated approach would be the mosteffective in terms of both resource use and outcomes.

We learned that improving accessibility on a uni-versity campus is a long term and dynamic process.There are many players involved and a finite budgetavailable to remove barriers.We worked with a mem-ber of the university alumni who shared with us hisexperiences of what the campus was like when he wasa student. This helped us to realize that the campus iscontinually evolving and growing and that space allo-cation, needs and priorities change. In order to remainclient centred,we need to continually be aware of, andreassess, the environment around us and how itimpacts on occupation and participation.

Another highlight of this learning opportunitywas collaborating with volunteers as consumersengaged in the occupation of being a student. Thishands-on learning is not something we could havefound in a textbook. Students with disabilities areexperts on campus accessibility and their experiences

provided us with a richer understanding of institu-tional accessibility issues. They were an integral part ofthe audit process.

Improving accessibilityAs occupational therapists, our understanding of con-sumer perspectives and disability issues combinedwith our understanding of physical, social, cultural, andinstitutional environments enabled us to shift fromworking at an individual level to taking a larger contex-tual approach. Our knowledge of accessibility relatedto function was critical in makingmeaningful recom-mendations that would allow individuals to partici-pate fully in the university experience. Our knowledgegained while completing interviews and campus walk-abouts with individual consumers was used to fuelglobal recommendations for improved accessibility oncampus for all.

ConclusionThis experience has helped us to understand accessi-bility issues and to look at the world through a newaccessibility filter on our occupational therapy lens.This experience proved to be invaluable and will beuseful to us nomatter what our future practice set-ting.We can never look at the world in the same wayagain.We learned, and will carry with us, that a bestpractice standard is always a better goal than simplythe minimum standard. It was the process that wewent through and the involvement of the volunteersthat presented the greatest learning value,more sothan simply carrying out a structured physical accessi-bility audit. Occupational therapists certainly have avaluable role in the field of accessibility, providing edu-cation and disability awareness to ensure that theintent of the AODA can be attained in an effective andrespectful manner. As occupational therapists we havean obligation to promote our role in helping to makethe environment accessible for all.While it will be along journey, it is one worth taking.

ReferencesLaw,M., Baptiste, S., Carswell, A.,McColl,M., Polatajko, H., &

Pollock, N. (2005). Canadian occupational performancemeasure (4th ed.). Ottawa: CAOT Publications.

Ministry of Community and Social Services. (2007).Accessibilityfor Ontarians with disabilities. Frequently AskedQuestions about the AODA.What is the goal of theAccessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005?Retrieved July 4, 2007 from http://www.mcss.gov.on.ca/mcss/english/pillars/accessibilityOntario/questions/aodo/act2005.htm


CAOT is your organization, working with you toadvance excellence in occupational therapy inCanada. The success of CAOT is possible only throughthe coordinated efforts of you and other volunteersand staff, working together with groups and organi-zations with mutual goals and objectives. The follow-ing report on CAOT strategic priorities outlines thesignificant results of our efforts. As we move forwardtowards our vision of ensuring all people in Canadavalue and have access to occupational therapy, wecan take pride in the progress we have attained.

Strategic Priority 1: Develop workforcecapacity in occupational therapyCollecting the dataA central focus of the work CAOT is the developmentof an occupational therapy workforce that meets thehealth needs of the people of Canada. Meeting thisstrategic priority requires we have a good under-standing of the supply and distribution of occupa-tional therapists in Canada. For over two years CAOThas worked on a Health Canada funded project coor-dinated by the Canadian Institute for HealthInformation (CIHI) to develop a centralized databaseof information regarding occupational therapists inCanada. In November 2007, CIHI provided the firstannual report on the information collected in thisdatabase (CIHI, 2006). This report provides an initialpicture of the Canadian occupational therapist work-force and represents the first step toward betterhuman resource planning for occupational therapy inCanada.

Recruiting and retainingCAOT is working to develop capacity to educate occu-pational therapists in Canada to address knownshortages of occupational therapists. For exampleCAOT, together with the British Columbia Society ofOccupational Therapists (BCSOT) met with the BritishColumbia provincial government to advocate for animmediate increase in the student intake to the occu-pational therapy program at the University of BritishColumbia.

CAOT has also worked actively with theSaskatchewan Society of Occupational Therapists(SSOT) over the past year to advocate for a new occu-pational therapy education program inSaskatchewan. The University of Saskatchewanannounced last fall that a proposal for an occupa-tional therapy education program is under develop-ment. The CAOT Academic Credentialing Council hasrecently addressed accreditation issues for such neweducation programs. A policy for new education pro-grams was developed and implemented at theUniversity of Sherbrooke in Quebec where studentintake for an occupational therapy program began inSeptember 2007.

Recognizing international credentialsTo increase workforce supply, CAOT also continues toaddress the recommendations of the 2006 report onthe CAOTWorkforce Integration Project. A projectfunded by the Government of Canada’s ForeignCredential Recognition Program to develop a frame-work for qualifications recognition of internationalgraduates was completed in January 2008 in collabo-ration with the Association of Canadian OccupationalTherapy University Programs (ACOTUP) and theAssociation of Canadian Occupational TherapyRegulatory Organizations (ACOTRO). A follow up proj-ect, also funded by the Foreign Credential RecognitionProgram, is now underway to develop a web portal toprovide information for internationally educatedoccupational therapists wishing to work in Canada.

CAOT has also supported universities in seekingfunding for upgrading programs for internationalgraduates that assist with meeting registrationrequirements to work in Canada.

Developing competency frameworkA major CAOT accomplishment was the recent publi-cation of the third edition of the Profile ofOccupational Therapy Practice in Canada. Developedwith the assistance of a national advisory committee,this document articulates the skills, knowledge andabilities needed to practice as an occupational thera-pist in Canada.Work is currently underway by the

CAOT 2007 – 2008 midyear reportClaudia von Zweck


CAOT Certification Examination Committee to revisethe table of specifications of the national certificationexamination for alignment with the new Profile. Thedevelopment of a similar competency framework foroccupational therapy support personnel by CAOT isongoing. This project builds on the model for theframework described in the report Practice Profile forSupport Personnel in Occupational Therapy in Canada:Conceptual design and design elements published byCAOT in late 2007. The new competency frameworkwill be used for accrediting support personnel educa-tion programs. The accreditation program will includea qualifications recognition process and is underdevelopment in collaboration with the AccreditationCouncil of Canadian Physiotherapy AcademicPrograms.

The Accreditation of Interprofessional HealthEducation project, funded by Health Canada began inSeptember 2007 with a mandate to create joint prin-ciples for formulating standards for interprofessionaleducation. The partnership, representing the disci-plines of physiotherapy, occupational therapy, phar-macy, social work, nursing and medicine will consultwith a wider range of stakeholders to develop princi-ples for use in formulating accreditation standardsfor their organizations.

Strategic Priority 2: Advocate for occupa-tional therapy as an essential serviceEnhancing awareness and accessCAOT advocacy activities are directed toward enhanc-ing awareness and access to occupational therapyservices. CAOT provides a national voice on issuesrelating to occupation and the role of occupationaltherapy.

Many CAOT advocacy activities are undertakenin collaboration with provincial/territorial associa-tions. For example, the combined advocacy work ofSSOT and CAOT has been successful to obtain provin-cial funding for several pilot site projects that demon-strate the role of occupational therapy in new areasof practice in Saskatchewan. The first two year pilotproject began in a community mental health settingin Saskatoon in January 2008. CAOT is also workingwith representatives of the Newfoundland/LabradorAssociation of Occupational Therapists to advocatefor extended health insurance coverage for occupa-tional therapists in the Atlantic region.

“Yes I can”was adopted this year as the perma-nent theme of OT Month by CAOT and provin-cial/territorial professional associations. The inclusive

and generic meaning of this theme can be linked todifferent focus areas and adapted to all areas of occu-pational therapy practice. CAOT celebrated OT Monthby publishing a special consumer edition ofOccupational Therapy Now focusing on the role ofoccupational therapy in enabling participation inhealthy occupations with older adults. In addition todeveloping a variety of other OT Month planningresources, a calendar featuring monthly consumertips was distributed to CAOT members.

Participating in national projectsCAOT frequently undertakes national projects todemonstrate the role of occupational therapy inimportant areas of practice. In late 2007, CAOTlaunched the National Blueprint for Injury Preventionin Older Drivers project in collaboration with McGillUniversity and with funding support from the PublicHealth Agency of Canada. Led by Dr. Nicol Korner-

Bitensky, this initiative will result in a national inter-disciplinary strategy that will reduce driving acci-dents that involve older drivers. CAOT will be workingwith a variety of stakeholders including older driversand their families, health care professionals, drivingevaluators, and policy-makers to conduct researchand address health needs for older drivers. Also in late2007, CAOT completed the site implementation trialof the Stable, Able and Strong project. The overall goalof this project funded by the Public Health Agency ofCanada was to develop supports for communitydwelling older adults who have experienced a fall toenable them to maintain or resume engagement inmeaningful occupations. The project developed anumber of helpful tools including a programmanual,a peer mentor training guide and an online resourcedatabase hosted on otworks.ca.

The Canadian Policy Research Network (CPRN)was commissioned by CAOT to conduct a review offederal government policy in areas where potentialexists for an increased role of occupational therapy.The findings of the review will serve to inform twoprofessional issue forums that will be held atConference 2008, as well as CAOT advocacy efforts topromote the provision of occupational therapy serv-ices for members of the federal public service, thearmed forces and veterans. The CPRN report is avail-able to members on the CAOT web site.


“A major CAOT accomplishment was the recent publica-tion of the third edition of the Profile of OccupationalTherapy Practice in Canada.”

Strategic Priority 3: Foster evidence-basedoccupational therapySupporting researchCAOT has undertaken a range of activities to promoteevidence-based decision-making in occupationaltherapy. Our initiatives support members in theirresearch and in their use of research evidence. Visitsto our website reveal numerous services and

resources for searching and sharing research infor-mation, including a new member service providingfree access to the Cochrane Library on theInformation Gateway (see article in this issue, Freeaccess to Cochrane Library for CAOT members).

CAOT also works with researchers to dissemi-nate research findings through our publications andconferences. Significant work has been undertaken toreduce the wait time for publication of acceptedmanuscripts in the Canadian Journal of OccupationalTherapy (CJOT). As a result of initiatives such asincluding additional pages in each issue of the 2007volume year, the wait time for publication in the CJOThas fallen to nine months in 2008. A number of newpolicies were also developed to support the new mis-sion of the CJOT as advancing excellence in occupa-

tional therapy research to inform education, policyand practice. CAOT has pursued agreements withorganizations such as Ingenta and CINAHL to provideaccessibility of CJOT articles to new audiences.Utilization statistics indicate a high and growing levelof interest in CJOT material. Funding was approved bythe CAOT Board in the fall of 2007 for a special themeissue of the journal on the topic of influencing policyto advance practice. Dr. DianeWatson will serve asguest editor for this special issue that will provideinformation occupational therapists can use to con-tribute to policy decisions to influence the nature,quality and effectiveness of their practice.

Developing new resourcesNew resources were developed and posted on theCAOT web site by the Conference Scientific ProgramCommittee to guide reviewers of abstracts submittedfor presentation at CAOT conferences. A handbook forpresenters was also developed to assist with thepreparation of abstracts and presentations. A recordhigh number of abstracts was submitted for our2008 conference. Look for an exciting program of pre-sentations of the latest occupational therapy researchinWhitehorse, Yukon as we explore the frontiers ofoccupation.

Promoting research fundingCAOT continues to work with research organizationssuch as the Canadian Health Services ResearchFoundation (CHRSF), Research Canada and the


“ ‘Yes I can’was adopted this year as the permanent themeof OT Month by CAOT and provincial/territorial professionalassociations. The inclusive and generic meaning of thistheme can be linked to different focus areas and adapted toall areas of occupational therapy practice.”

The National Blueprint for Injury Prevention in Older Drivers was launched in late 2007.

Canadian Institutes for Health Research to promoteoccupation-based research. In addition, CAOT remainsstrongly committed to the work of the CanadianOccupational Therapy Foundation (COTF). Annually,CAOT provides eight percent of CAOT membership feerevenue plus in kind support to fund the operatingcosts of the Foundation. This year marks the 25th yearsince CAOT founded COTF to advance research andscholarship in occupational therapy. During this quar-ter century, many Canadian occupational therapistshave become established researchers as result of theinitial assistance provided by the Foundation.

Strategic Priority 4: Advance leadership inoccupational therapyEnabling occupationCAOT initiatives are directed toward providing infor-mation, tools and resources that enable members tolead best practices in occupational therapy. CAOT isproud to introduce the French version of EnablingOccupation II: Advancing an occupational therapyvision for health, well-being and justice through occu-pation at Conference 2008 inWhitehorse. Many activ-ities are centred on promoting concepts included inthe publication. A series of articles have been devel-oped for Occupational Therapy Now to help Canadiantherapists understand how the advances outlined inEnabling Occupation II might be incorporated intotheir practice. A free webinar has also been posted onthe CAOT web site. Plans for additional online servicesto accompany Enabling Occupation II, as well as forworkshops in different locations across Canada arealso underway to assist with knowledge translation.The publication is becoming widely used both inCanada and internationally. A highly successfullaunch was organized in Australia with the CanadianHigh Commissioner, the President of OT Australia andDr. GailWhiteford in the fall of 2007. In addition, therights to translate, publish and sell Enabling II inDanish have recently been arranged.

Mentoring leadershipCAOT recognizes the importance of mentoring newleaders in our profession.We plan to introduce theMentoring Gateway as a new online service for mem-bers in the late spring of 2008. The MentoringGateway will provide members with easy access totools and resources for mentoring. CAOT is also work-ing with CPA and CASLPA to host the primary healthcare leadership summit It’s All About Access inNovember of 2008. The purpose of the summit is to

develop capacity for effective leadership and strategicadvocacy among audiologists, occupational thera-pists, physiotherapists and speech-language patholo-gists. Individuals from the four professions willdevelop or enhance their skills in leadership throughadvocacy, negotiations and media relations trainingto work strategically to advocate for integration oftheir services within interprofessional primary healthcare. A new framework for planning occupationaltherapy services in primary health care is underdevelopment by CAOT that will assist with the estab-lishment of this growing area of practice. Lead by Dr.Mary Ann McColl, the project is supported by aninterprofessional advisory group. A pre-conferenceworkshop on this topic will be held inWhitehorse.

CAOT will draw upon the experience and knowl-edge of our current leaders to examine the issue ofleadership within the profession. An inaugural CAOTFellows luncheon will be hosted at the time ofConference 2008 celebrate our leaders and discussleadership development and opportunities. The lunchwill immediately precede our annual awards ceremonywhere CAOT will honour our 2008 award winners.


“We plan to introduce the Mentoring Gateway as a newonline service for members in the late spring of 2008. Thementoring gateway will provide members with easyaccess to tools and resources for mentoring.”

Strategic Priority 5: Advance CAOT as thepremier and respected national occupa-tional therapy professional association inCanadaEnhancing membership valueCAOT continues to look for ways to enhance the valueof your membership in our Association. This year,CAOT was able to work with our broker Aon ReedStenhouse to substantially increase the coverageoffered by our professional liability programs, while

also maintaining or decreasingcosts for the insurance products.We have introduced new serv-ices for members such as freeaccess to the Cochrane Library, aswell as undertaken reviews tocontinuously improve our prod-ucts and resources. For example,the OT Education Finder data-

base was recently enhanced for increased ease of useand functionality and is now one of the most fre-quently accessed areas of the CAOT web site.We havealso introduced new policies relating to the topics ofemergency preparedness and protection of the envi-ronment to ensure we remain responsible and viablein our operations.

CAOT is seeking out new sources of revenue toreduce reliance on membership fees to cover operat-ing costs, such as through the planned introductionof a new product recognition program.We are alsoinvestigating new models of partnering with provin-cial associations to provide a strong and consistentvoice for the profession, while also maximizing orga-nizational efficiency through decreased duplicationof services and streamlined use of staff and volun-teers. Several changes to the CAOT bylaws wererecently recommended following a review by a CAOTtask force. More information regarding the proposedchanges is included in the annual general meetingmaterials sent to all members earlier this year. Votingon the bylaw revisions as well as fee rates for theupcoming membership year will occur at our nextannual general meeting on June 12, 2008 inWhitehorse. Because of our success in containing ourexpenses and seeking new sources of revenue forAssociation activities, the CAOT Board of Directors arepleased to propose a zero percent member feeincrease for the fifth year running.

Your opinion regarding the work of CAOT isimportant.We look forward to hearing from you.Please plan on joining us for our annual meeting orsend your comments to me at [email protected].


About the author –Claudia von Zweck, PhD,OT Reg (Ont),OT (C), is theexecutive director of theCanadian Association ofOccupationalTherapists.You can contact Claudia [email protected]

In the realm of healthcare, detrimental, non-thera-peutic drug use has often been deemed as an unde-sirable behaviour, and labeled drug abuse by society.As such, healthcare professionals are more than eagerto help clients leave it behind. “Why would you dodrugs?” is a common question from professionals.Stemming frommy reaction to the possibility of theclosure of Insite, Vancouver’s supervised drug injec-tion site (see sidebar), this paper explores theresponse to this question from an occupational per-spective. Occupational science seeks to understandthe significance of occupation in the lives of individu-als and its relationship to health and well-being(Carlson & Clark, 1991; Polatajko, Molke, et al. , 2007;Yerxa et al., 1989). It could be argued that to effec-tively help our clients recover from drug addiction, weneed to understand drug use from an occupationalperspective.

Drug use as an occupationThe Canadian Association of Occupational Therapistsdefines occupation as “everything people do tooccupy themselves, including looking after them-selves (self-care), enjoying life (leisure), and contribut-ing to the social and economic fabric of their commu-nities (productivity).” (Law, Polatajko, Baptiste &Townsend, 1997, p. 34). Occupation is similarly viewedas “a set of activities that is performed with someconsistency and regularity; that brings structure andis given value and meaning by individuals and a cul-ture (adapted from Polatajko et al., 2004 andZimmerman, Purdie, Davis, & Polatajko, 2006).”(Polatajko, Davis, et al., 2007, p. 19, Figure 1.1).

It is recognized that not all occupations are nec-essarily good, and that some, while they may bringvalue and meaning to a particular individual’s life, arenot valued by the culture, nor do they contribute tothe health and well-being of the individual (Polatajko,Backman, et al., 2007). Law and colleagues state that“What is meaningful to some may not be to oth-ers…purpose is determined by individual needs anddesire within an environmental context” (p. 36).

To drug users, drug use is an occupationbecause through this occupation they may find a

sense of control, temporary alleviation of emotionaland physical pain, acceptance, and peer interaction,which are all factors that may be viewed as purpose-ful (Herie, Godden, Shenfeld, & Kelly, 2007). Althoughthe excess use or abuse of drugs is detrimental totheir mental and physical health, it does not neces-sarily mean that it cannot become a significant occu-pation for some individuals, especially for our clients.


Drug use as an occupation:Reflecting on Insite, Vancouver’ssupervised injection site

SENSE OF DOING

Emmeline ChangColumn Editors: Helene J. Polatajko and Jane A. Davis

Insite: Facts of InterestInsite first began as a pilot project with a three-yearoperating exemption that was due for a review at theend of 2006. During this time Insite underwent carefulscientific evaluation with all research results publishedin peer-reviewed journals (Vancouver Coastal Health[VCH], n.d.). All research results showed positiveimpacts such as a large reduction in public drug use,fewer incidents of users sharing syringes and discardingthem in public places, increased use of detoxificationservices in Vancouver, and zero fatalities resulted fromthe 453 overdoses that occurred at Insite (O’Neil, 2006).

On September 1, 2006, Federal Health MinisterTony Clement announced that the government had“deferred the decision” on Vancouver Coastal Health’sapplication to extend the operating exemption forInsite until December 31, 2007 (Health Canada, 2006).At the same time, the Federal government cut Insiteoff from further research funding stating that it isimportant to have other sources, besides Insite itself,undertaking research on its outcomes (O’Neil, 2006).In October 2007, Health Minister Clement extended theexisting operating exemption for the supervised injec-tion site to June 2008 to allow for more time for addi-tional research from other sources (Health Canada,2007). For more detailed information, please visit Insite(VCH, 2007) at http://www.vch.ca/sis/

Edited by Polatajko and Davis, on behalf of CSOS.visit CSOS at www.dal.ca/~csos/index.htm

When life revolves around drugsPeople’s needs and wants frequently determine theirchoice of daily occupations. For individuals with drugaddiction, time often revolves around a series of occu-pations supporting a need to obtain drugs (Helbig &McKay, 2003). One participant in Heuchemer andJosephsson’s (2006) study on homelessness andaddiction reveals, “It was all about getting out andchasing drugs right away” (p.164). Similar to drinking,drug use involves obtaining and protecting the sup-ply, creating reasons and situations for use, seekingout other drug users, spending time doing drugs,

recovering from the effects of “getting high andcrashing”, and, once again, resuming the drug useprocess (Moyers, 1997). In Heuchemer andJosephsson’s study, for many, seeking and using drugsbecame a full time job that created a role and a senseof identity. For people with drug addiction, the activi-ties involved with drug use sustain them; organizetheir lives; and enable them to connect with, adapt to,and have a sense of control in their environment.More importantly, drug use, as with other occupa-tions, allows them to express themselves and givesthem a sense of who they are (Harvey & Pentland,2004), regardless of whether it is viewed as good orbad, or socially acceptable by society.

Moving on from a life of addictionDespite some of the short-term benefits of drug use,the long term negative effects on health and well-being make it essential that people with addictionsreconstruct a life without drugs and find new ways tospend their time. Once drug users are ready to makethis decision and begin the recovery process, occupa-tional therapists can help these individuals by explor-ing the behaviours, thoughts, and activities thatrevolve around drug use (Opp, 2007), as well as thesignificance of drug use for the individual. Therapistsmust then enable their clients to reconstruct theiroccupational lives by identifying and supporting thedevelopment of activities that bring themmeaningand joy, and replace drug use with those pursuits(Opp).

Helbig and McKay (2003) consider the inabilityto structure time with meaningful pursuits as a trig-ger to relapse into the cycle of addiction. This triggerto relapse indicates that occupational therapists needto enable their clients to determine new occupationsand establish more satisfying and meaningful time-use patterns, and opportunities for self-discovery. Toquote Stoffel, “We want people to find the activitiesthat are meaningful to them and at just the rightlevel of challenge so that, as they redesign theirlifestyle, they tap into those things that allow themto move into a state of well-being. This is where occu-pational therapy can really make a difference in help-ing people stay in long-term recovery” (as cited inOpp, 2007).

Connecting drug users to occupationaltherapyThe likelihood of someone struggling with drugaddiction coming into contact with an occupationaltherapist depends largely on theaccessibility to healthcare serv-ices (Opp, 2007). Insite, NorthAmerica’s first legal superviseddrug injection site located inDowntown Eastside Vancouver,British Columbia, provides drugusers precisely this first point ofcontact to healthcare services.Insite does not encourage or pro-mote drug use. By providing asafe place for drug injection,along with sterile equipment andaccess to healthcare services, Insite is trying to reduceand eliminate the harm associated with drug use,


“Without access to facilities such as Insite, this vulnerableand marginalized clientele will be even less likely to comeinto contact with occupational therapists to initiate therecovery process.”

About the author –Emmeline Chang,MScOT(UWO),BScN (UBC), worksas an occupational thera-pist at Richmond GeneralHospital in Vancouverwith her time splitbetween Orthopedics andReturn toWork SupportServices. She can bereached [email protected]

such as unsafe injection techniques, that might oth-erwise occur regardless (VCH, n.d.). In addition tooffering a physical place and sterile injection equip-ment, Insite is staffed with highly specialized healthprofessionals who are available to respond to drugusers and also serve as a gateway to link clients toother health and social services, thus facilitatingoccupational change.Without access to facilities suchas Insite, this vulnerable and marginalized clientelewill be even less likely to come into contact withoccupational therapists to initiate the recoveryprocess. Enabling occupation is what occupationaltherapists do best.When our clients decide to leavedrug use behind, we can use our skills to facilitateoccupational change and support the recovery life-style (Stoffel, 1994).

AcknowledgementsThanks to Professor Sandra Hobson at the UniversityofWestern Ontario for suggesting the submission ofthis paper. Special thanks to Marlee Groening, nurs-ing instructor at the University of British Columbia,for sparking and fostering my interest in mentalhealth during my undergraduate years as a nursingstudent.

ReferencesCarlson, M., & Clark, F. (1991). The search of useful methodolo-

gies in occupational science. American Journal ofOccupational Therapy, 45, 235-241.

Harvey, A. S., & Pentland,W. (2004).What do people do? In C. H.Christiansen & E. A. Townsend (Eds.), Introduction tooccupation: The art and science of living (pp.63-88).Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Health Canada. (2007). Insite given six-months extension saysMinister Clement. Retrieved November 12, 2007, fromhttp://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ahc-asc/media/nr-cp/2007/2007_137_e.html

Health Canada. (2006).No new injection sites for addicts untilquestions answered says Minister Clement. RetrievedMarch 5, 2007, from http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ahc-asc/media/nr-cp/2006/2006_85_e.html

Helbig, K., & McKay, E. (2003). An exploration of addictivebehaviours from an occupational perspective. Journal ofOccupational Science, 10(3), 140-145.

Herie, M., Godden, T., Shenfeld, J., & Kelly, C. (2007). Addiction: Aninformation guide. Retrieved August 22, 2007, fromhttp://www.camh.net/About_Addiction_Mental_Health/Drug_and_Addiction_Information/Addiction_Information_Guide/addiction_infoguide.pdf

Heuchemer, B.,& Josephsson, S. (2006). Leaving homelessness andaddiction:Narratives of an occupational transition.Scandinavian Journal of Occupational Therapy, 13, 160-169.

Law,M., Polatajko, H., Baptiste, S., & Townsend, E. (2002). Coreconcepts of occupational therapy. In CanadianAssociation of Occupational Therapists, Enabling occu-pation: An occupational therapy perspective (pp.29-56).Ottawa, ON: CAOT Publications ACE.

Moyers, P. (1997). Occupational meaning and spirituality: Thequest for sobriety. American Journal of OccupationalTherapy, 51, 207-214.

O’Neil, P. (2006, November 22). B.C. experts’ Insite report notenough for Ottawa: Health minister wants ‘diversity’ ofopinions before funding decision. The Vancouver Sun.Retrieved March 19, 2007, from http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/westcoastnews/story.html?id=e1d49d95-b178-4531-b3ef-9fd93d491f71&k=83990

Opp, A. (2007). Recovery with purpose: Occupational therapy anddrug and alcohol abuse. Retrieved November 12, 2007,from http://www.aota.org/News/Consumer/RecoveryWithPurpose.aspx

Stoffel, V. C. (1994). Occupational therapists’ roles in treatingsubstance abuse. Hospital and Community Psychiatry,45(1), 21-22.

Polatajko, H. J., Backman, C., Baptiste, S., Davis, J., Eftekhar, P.,Harvey, A., et al. (2007). Human occupation in context. InE. A. Townsend & H. J. Polatajko (Eds.), Enabling occupa-tion II: Advancing an occupational therapy vision forhealth, well-being, & justice through occupation (pp. 37-61). Ottawa, ON: CAOT Publications ACE.

Polatajko, H. J., Davis, J., Stewart, D., Cantin, N., Amoroso, B.,Purdie, L., et al. (2007). Specifying the domain of con-cern: Occupation as core. In E. A. Townsend & H. J.Polatajko (Eds.), Enabling occupation II: Advancing anoccupational therapy vision for health, well-being, &justice through occupation (pp. 13-36). Ottawa, ON: CAOTPublications ACE.

Polatajko, H. J., Molke, D., Baptiste, S., Doble, S., Caron Santha, J.,Kirsh, B., et al. (2007). Occupational science: Imperativesfor occupational therapy. In E. A. Townsend & H. J.Polatajko (Eds.), Enabling occupation II: Advancing anoccupational therapy vision for health, well-being, & jus-tice through occupation (pp. 63-82). Ottawa, ON: CAOTPublications ACE.

Vancouver Coastal Health. (2007). Insite – Supervised injectionsite. Retrieved November 12, 2007, fromhttp://www.vch.ca/sis/

Vancouver Coastal Health. (n.d.). Saving lives: Vancouver’s super-vised injection site. Retrieved March 5, 2007, fromhttp://www.vch.ca/sis/docs/insite_brochure.pdf

Yerxa, E. J., Clark, F., Frank, G., Jackson, J., Parham, D., Pierce, D., etal. (1989). An introduction to occupational science, afoundation for occupational therapy in the 21st century.Occupational Therapy in Health Care, 6(4), 1-17.


On March 26, 2008, the Canadian Association ofOccupational Therapists’ Board of Directors met viateleconference. Highlights of this meeting are asfollows:

• The audited financial statements for 2006-2007were approved and the auditors of BDODunwoody were appointed for the next fiscalyear. CAOT members may visit www.caot.ca toaccess a copy of the audited financial state-ments.

• This year’s CAOT Award winners were approvedand will be announced at the CAOT ConferenceinWhitehorse during the Awards Ceremony onFriday, June 13.

• A report on a partnership agreement betweenCAOT and the British Columbia Society ofOccupational Therapists was received andapproved in principle by the Board.

• A motion was approved to provide an externalreview of the Certification Examination involv-ing CAOT and the Association of CanadianOccupational Therapy Regulatory Organizations(ACOTRO).

• The Occupational Therapy Master’s program atthe University of British Columbia was awardeda five-year accreditation award from 2007-2012.

For members who are joining us inWhitehorsefor Conference 2008, please be sure to attend theCAOT Annual General Meeting on Thursday, June 12 at10:00 a.m. The meeting agenda will be mailed toCAOT members in spring 2008 and will include pro-posed changes to CAOT bylaws. The amendments willalso be posted to the CAOT website.

Highlights of the March 2008 CAOT Board MeetingErica Lyle


PurposeThis article highlights the experiences of an occupa-tional therapy student completing an internationalfieldwork in South Africa, to demonstrate that occu-pational therapists have a role in local as well asdeveloping, international communities.

IntroductionAdmission to the University of Toronto’s school ofOccupational Science and Occupational Therapythree years ago was not only the beginning of mynew career but also a new opportunity for me. On thefirst day of school, my colleagues and I were posedwith the question:What is Occupational Therapy?Welearned that there is no right answer but that theanswer depends on the serviced population and areaof practice. Throughout the program, I became moreinvolved in learning about public healthcare at apolitical and global level. For example, I learned howLocalized Health Integrated Networks impact com-munity healthcare at a local level and how the UNMillennium Development Goals impact healthcare ona broad sale at a governmental level. I hoped that,regardless of the field I chose to work in, my impactas a healthcare practitioner would contributetowards the betterment of those with the greatesthealthcare needs. I was unsure if my interests fit withthe role of an occupational therapist and wondered ifwhat I was learning at a local level was going to pre-pare me to potentially work in under-serviced com-munities in the future.

Independently embarking on an internationalfieldwork as a student while still learning what anoccupational therapist was, was a daunting yet excit-ing endeavor. I had natural insecurities about travel-ing alone and living in a rural community in sub-Saharan Africa. My desire to learn the role of occupa-tional therapy within a larger, global context main-tained my motivation.

After months of planning, I arrived at my desti-nation: Emalahleni, Mpumulunga, a province thatprides itself on offering the best public healthcare inSouth Africa. After settling into my flat, I soon learnedthat the polluted, brown water that only periodically

ran was just one small problem that I shared with thelocals in Emalalheni.Within days, I ambitiously beganworking atWitbank Hospital.

Developing a training program for Home-Based CareWorkersDuring my first week working at the hospital, Iaccepted an offer from my preceptor to develop atraining program for Home-Based CareWorkers(HBCWs). Home-based care is often found in Africanrural communities as a support service. HBCWs areessentially volunteers that are responding to provin-cial recommendations for increased support servicesat a grassroots level where they are required most.HBCWs offer services that are comparable toAttendant Care services in Ontario; additionally, theyoffer spiritual support and palliative care to clientsand their family members. HBCWs are often the onlylink to welfare services such as food parcels and mon-


Fieldwork in South Africa:Comparing the ‘country ofcontrast’ to Canada

INTERNATIONAL CONNECTIONS

Anita GoyalColumn Editor: Sandra Bressler

Anita Goyal at Witbank Hospital in South Africa

etary allowances provided by the government. HBCWsare not formally trained and they receive minimalsupport in terms of money or mental health support.

During my seven weeks atWitbank Hospital, Ideveloped and implemented a ‘train-the-trainers’ pro-gram for HBCWs. I began with a needs assessment byinviting numerous Community-Based RehabilitationWorkers and HBCWs from various local regions to dis-cuss the main issues that HBCWs face and the type oftraining and education they were looking for in atraining program. The most significant barrier to theimplementation of the program was transportationto the hospital. The results of the needs assessmentled to a condensed program that included basic edu-cation about care-management and prevention offurther injury in prevalent disabilities that theHBCWs found in their community. The program alsoincluded components focusing on group skills such ascommunication, conflict management and assertive-ness training, which facilitated the HBCWs to work inteams within organizational systems. In addition, theprogram addressed the psychosocial needs of theHBCWs by exploring their emotional needs and waysthat they could be addressed. The program attemptedto address other issues of which the HBCWs had lim-ited understanding. For example, a dietitian informedthe group how they should be educating their clientswith respect to food and nutrition, and informationwas provided by the province of Mpumulunga’sDepartment of Social Services regarding governmentassistance programs. I organized a rudimentary pro-gram evaluation and provided enough materials sothat the program could be repeated in the future.

Personal reflectionsMy largest contribution as an international student

was knowledge transfer. Just as Iwas excited to learn about therole of an occupational therapistin South Africa, so, too, was theallied healthcare staff at the hos-pital interested in learningabout occupational therapy inCanadian and North Americanhealthcare systems.When com-paring the North American andSouth African healthcare sys-tems, I realized how muchhealthcare is governed by poli-

tics. I also understood why South Africa is known asthe ‘Country of Contrast.’ The differences in public

and private healthcare within that country alonewere so dramatic that it made the debate over priva-tizing healthcare in Canada seem irrelevant.Compared with people in other countries that aredeemed ‘third-world’, Canadians have so many serv-ices and resources available to us through our taxdollars. Discovering the drastic differences in the two

countries’ systems, specifically the contrast in publicversus private healthcare, helped me see the biggerpicture - a picture that so many North Americans failto see before setting off to the ‘third-world’; that is,when it comes to understanding healthcare, Africahas more to teach us than we have to teach Africa.

Ontario is currently experiencing a shift inhealthcare delivery with the provision of servicesbeing focused in the community in order to reducewaitlists and healthcare costs. The role of occupa-tional therapists working in Ontario communities isin high demand as a result of the shift. The shift ben-efits clients because they are assessed and treatedwithin their naturalistic environments such as theirhomes and workplaces.

On the other hand, occupational therapistsworking within the public healthcare system in SouthAfrica provide community services quite differently. InSouth Africa, I regularly accompanied a multi-discipli-nary team of allied healthcare workers in a vehiclefunded by the province to drive between 15 and 45minutes into surrounding rural communities wherewe offered a range of rehabilitation services in com-munity klineiks to those who were referred from hos-pital. Services were provided in these small spacesbuilt as a solution to one of the major barriers to whypeople living in rural areas of South Africa do notseek medical attention; that is, the cost of transporta-tion to centralized medical facilities. In contrast toOntario then, the provision of community care inSouth Africa actually increases the cost to the publichealthcare system and there is not the added benefitof assessing and treating clients within their homes.

Availability of resources and different lifestylesin South Africa and North America mean that occu-pational therapists face different challenges in creat-ing intervention plans. In Ontario, we have access toequipment that can be purchased and adapted for


About the author –Anita,MScOT,Reg. (Ont),BSc (Kin), is a graduate oftheUniversity ofToronto.Shewas the CAOT studentrepresentative for the grad-uating class of 2007. She iscurrentlyworking in thecentral Toronto communityas an occupational thera-pist. Youmay contact Anitaat:[email protected]

“When comparing the North American and South Africanhealthcare systems, I realized how much healthcare is gov-erned by politics. I also understood why South Africa isknown as the ‘country of contrast.’”

individuals with specific functional needs such asself-care and community mobility. Most of this equip-ment can be compensated for with governmentaland charitable financial relief. Access to such equip-ment is limited in the public healthcare system inSouth Africa. There, clients are often presented withmakeshift options that can be created with a numberof household items, and the equipment that is avail-able is limited with minimal choices. Ironically, due tothe lifestyle in these under-served populations, theneed for adaptive equipment may be higher than it isin North America. Rural South African communitiesface higher prevalence rates of a number of illnessessuch as septic burns, amputations due to diabetes,HIV/AIDS, pulmonary disorders such as tuberculosis,as well as a number of mental health issues anddevelopmental disabilities; as a result, these commu-nities often go un- or under-treated.

Other significant differences between the twohealthcare systems that I found challenging whileworking in South Africa were the underlying assump-tions of health and illness. For years in Canada, wehave used a medical model, which is often scrutinizedby rehabilitation professionals for not being ‘holistic.’By contrast, many clients in South Africa’s publichealthcare sector believe in more spiritual causes ofdisease, which are not necessarily the result of under-lying physiological processes. Although many of themodels and philosophies of occupational therapypractice applied in South Africa are similar to thoseused in Canada, I found that education based in sci-entific theoretical logic regarding illness was not pro-vided as primary prevention in South Africa. Rather,only an educational approach pertaining to care-management strategies for current ailments was pro-vided. Moreover, there is an expectation in SouthAfrica that clients’ family members will act as care-givers upon returning home, creating a situation oflong-term ‘caregiver-burden’ in many communityhouseholds.

Rural communities of South Africa, like manyother sub-Saharan African states, are faced with moreissues than those highlighted above. There are alsomany other differences between our two countrieshealthcare systems than I have described. Many ofthe healthcare issues that these communities faceare a compounded result of a number of factors thatinclude poverty, malnutrition, poor infrastructure, loweducation, civil conflicts as well as cultural viewsregarding gender and disease.

ConclusionThe desire to work abroad can easily become lost, dueto financial and other obstacles. However, beingenrolled in an occupational therapy program enablesfaculty support.Working as an international studentof occupational therapy provides an opportunity tolearn what occupational therapy is and has thepotential to reach beyond a local level.

My trip to South Africa as a student was a won-derful learning experience because I came back withmore questions, and developed an increased sensitiv-ity to issues in developing countries and trans-cul-tural issues that Canadian healthcare workers alsoface at times. Although the HBCW training programwas successful for the participants, it is I who gainedthe most from the program. I gained the confidenceto know that I could make even a small difference in a

limited amount of time. I also discovered that therewas a very important role for occupational therapy inthe community. Now, I identify not only as an occupa-tional therapist, but also as a healthcare provider. Myfieldwork was just the beginning of something thatcould inspire a future, long-term endeavor. Reflectingon my positive experiences, I encourage other occupa-tional therapy students to also contribute to theinternational call for healthcare providers.


“My trip to South Africa as a student was a wonderfullearning experience because I came back with more ques-tions, and developed an increased sensitivity to issues indeveloping countries and trans-cultural issues thatCanadian healthcare workers also face at times.”


Upcoming CompetitionsDeadline: June 1, 2008

COTF / CIHR Institute of Aging Travel Award (1 x$1,000) (applicants must apply through CIHR IA)

Deadline: September 30, 2008

New Scholarship - Community Rehab OT Scholarship(1 x $5,000)New Award - Francis and Associates EducationAward (1 x $1,000)New Award - COTF Future Scholar Award (Please e-mail [email protected] if your academicinstitution is interested in this award.)COTF Master's (2 x $1,500)COTF Doctoral (2 x $3,000)Thelma Cardwell (1 x $2,000)Goldwin Howland (1 x $2,000)Invacare Master's Scholarship (1 x $2,000)Janice Hines Memorial Award (1 x $1,000)

For details and updates to the program applicationforms, see the Awards section athttp://www.cotfcanada.org.

COTF Events at the CAOT AnnualGeneral ConferenceThursday, June 12COTF AGM 11:30-12COTF Session - Research in OT,Where do we gofrom here? 14:30-15:30COTF Live Auction at the Social EventCOTF Silent Auction at the COTF Booth

Friday, June 13COTF Silent Auction at the COTF Booth

Saturday, June 14COTF Lunch with a Scholar - Emily Etcheverry -Explore the Frontiers of Occupation 11h:30-13

If you would like to donate an item to the silent orlive auction, please contact [email protected] so that a donor declarationform can be sent to you. Income tax receipts will beissued upon request, only if proof of market value isprovided for donated items, as per RevenueCanada’s regulations.

COTF’s 25th Anniversary!

COTF will be hosting a gala on November 7, 2008 inToronto at the Delta Chelsea Hotel to mark the 25thanniversary of its beginning on May 17, 1983! Theevent will be held after the Leadership Summit, inwhich CAOT is a partner. Everyone is encouraged toparticipate to support research and scholarshipfunding for occupational therapy in Canada.

Remember to Update Your COTFContact Information

COTF would greatly appreciate it if you wouldinform SandraWittenberg of any changes to yourCOTF contact information. Sandra can be reached [email protected] or 1-800-434-2268x226.

Your support counts!COTF sincerely thanks the following individuals, com-panies and organizations for their generous supportduring the period of December 1, 2007 to January 31,2008. For those whose names do not appear in thislisting, please see the next issue of OT Now.

Rhonda AronsonJoanne AssalyEsther Atkin

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Catherine BackmanSue BaptisteLisa BartheletteCarolyn BergenLeslie BirkettJeff BonifaceMarlene BorensteinJackie BoschMary Lou Boudreau(in-kind)Jane BowmanMargaret BrockettCary BrownJocelyn BrownMaryanne Bruni

Update from the COTF

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Deb CameronDonna CampbellCanadian Association ofOccupational TherapistsAnne CarswellChristine ChandlerAnne Chapman-HeinemeyerHeather ChiltonMary Clark GreenBarbara CliffDora CodringtonJoanie ConradBarbara Cooper (in-kind)Katherine CorbettJane CoxJoanne Coyle

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Sandy Daughen


Trudy DaviesJohanne DesrosiersAudrey DosmanHilary Drummond(in-kind)

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Mary EdwardsPatricia Erlendson

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Marcia FinlaysonHeather FairbairnLorraine FairbloomSusan Farrow-HutchesonTracey FaulknerLorna FoxAndrew FreemanMargaret FriesenAndrea Funk

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Samantha GlowinskiKaren GoldenbergKara GormanJill GoyertDiane GrahamJean GravelMarilyn GreenManon Guay

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Sheila HamiltonKelly Harrison-MilesSusan HarveyKeri Anne HaukiojaSheila HeinickeKimberley HewittSandra HobsonJames HuffCaroline HuiBrenda Hynes

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Harjit Kaur JassalDaljit JhootiCheryl Johnston

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Paramjit KalkatLorian KennedyNathalie KhouryDonna KlaimanAmy Klassen

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Catherine LabrieJennifer LandryKim LaroucheJill LavaKelly Lawson

Doreen LegereLori LettsLilli LinLaura Lowe

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Margaret MaclureBarbara MacFarquharKelly MacRaeHelen MadillSonja MagnusonDianna Mah-JonesMary ManojlovichNora MansfieldLinda MarshallElizabeth MathewJacqueline McBlainJacqueline McGarryKatherine McKayTeresita McLeodSusan McNabPhilomena MenezesDiane MéthotJoy MillJan Miller PolgarCheryl MitchellLucie MontpetitBen MortensonPatricia Mortenson

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Jane NakonechnyJennifer NevilleNew BrunswickAssociation ofOccupational TherapistsMarie Nic Niocaill

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Natalie O’MaraYolanda OczkowskiRachael Onsrud

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Rosanne PapadopoulosMargo PatersonKaren PennerNancy PollockSheila PurvesCynthia Puttaert

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Debbie Radloff-GabrielLouise Alison RamsayDenise ReidLorna ReimerGayle RestallJacquie RipatAnnette Rivard

Christina RobertsLaura RogersJacqueline RousseauPamela Rush

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Christine Savage (in-kind)Jacinthe SavardWade Scoffin (in-kind)Christel SeebergerMary SemadeniLorie ShimmellMelita SniedzinsRobin StadnykKathryn StazykKathryn StephensMarlene SternDebra StewartThelma SumsionTheW. P. Scott CharitableFoundation

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Mary TheodoreAnu Tirrul-JonesSilva TomicMargaret TompsonElizabeth TownsendBarry Trentham

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Anita Unruh�

Claudia von Zweck(in-kind)

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MarleneWaldronIrvineWeekesMurielWestmorlandEvelynWevikAmyWhalenCathyWhiteCindyWhiteSusanWhiteSeanneWilkinsFrancesWilliamsDianeWiltonAndrea KimWong

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Karen YipHeather Yuschyshyn

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Anita ZafraniDiane Zeligman

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2 anonymous donors

CAOT Learning ServicesWorkshop:The ADL ProfileJune 20-22, 2008, 8:30-4:30pmSpeaker:Carolina BottariLocation:Vancouver General Hospital,Vancouver BCContact: Education Administrator [email protected] no: 1-800-434-2268 x 231

Web-basedworkshop:Self-employment workshop:Areyou self-employed or thinkingabout it?A lunch-time learningweb-basedworkshop to take place over threeinstallments:ThursdayMay 8, 15, and 22, 2008,12-1 pm ESTSpeakers: Bradley Roulston, BA,CFP,CLU, RHU,Hillary Drummond,BSc OTContact: Education Administrator,CAOT.Tel no: 1-800-434-2268 x 231Fax no:613-523-2552E-mail: [email protected]

CAOT ENDORSED COURSESDalhousie University, School ofOccupational Therapy and theInternational AMPS Project2008 International AMPS SymposiumMeasuring, Planning, and ImplementingOccupation-based ProgramsJuly 30-August 1, 2008Contact: Pauline Fitzgerald [email protected]

Myofascial Release SeminarsCervical-Thoracic Myofascial ReleaseMyofascial MobilizationMyofascial Release IMyofascial Release IIFascial-Pelvis Myofascial ReleaseMyofascial UnwindingPediatric Myofascial Release2or 3day seminars invarious locationsOffered between Oct 07 and July 08Instructor: John F. Barnes, PTContact: Sandra C. Levengood

222West Lancaster Avenue, Paoli,PA 19301. E-mail:[email protected]:http://www.myofascialrelease.com

Post Professional GraduatePrograms in RehabilitationSciencesUniversity of British ColumbiaandMcMaster UniversityCourses offered twice a year inSeptember to December & Januaryto April:Evaluating Sources of EvidenceReasoning, MeasurementDeveloping Effective ProgramsFacilitating Learning in RehabContexts.Graduate certificate is grantedafter completion of five courses.These courses can be applied toMaster's programs at each univer-sity, if the candidate is eligible.Contact: [email protected] [email protected]: 604-822-7050Websites:http://www.mrsc.ubc.ca orhttp://www.fhs.mcmaster.ca/rehab

Dalhousie University SeriesAdvanced Research Theory & Methodsfor Occupational Therapists (OCCU 5030)January - April 2009Instructor:Dr.GraceWarnerProgram Evaluation for OccupationalTherapists (OCCU 5043)January - April 2009Instructor: Jocelyn BrownIdentity and Transitions (OCCU 5040)May - June 2009: Instructor:TBDEvidenced-Base Practice (5041)September - December 2008:Instructor:Dr. JoanVersnelCommunity Development forOccupational Therapists (5042)September - December 2008:Instructor:Dr Loretta do RozarioAdvanced Studies on EnablingOccupation (5010)September - December 2008:Instructor:Dr Robin Stadnyk

Advancing Vocational RehabilitationThrough Critical OccupationalAnalysis (6503)May - June 2008Measuring Health Outcomes (6504)May - June 2008Contact: Pauline FitzgeraldTel: (902) 494-6351E-mail: [email protected]

McGill University - School ofPhysical and OccupationalTherapyGraduate Certificate in AssessingDriving Capabilities:POTH-673 Screening for at Risk Drivers(winter)POTH-674 Assessing Driving Ability(summer)POTH-675 Driving AssessmentPracticum (fall)POTH-676 Adaptive Equipment andDriving (winter/spring)POTH-677 Retraining Driver Skills(summer/fall)Tel.: (514) 398-3910E-mail: admissionsmcgill.caWebsite:http://www.mcgill.ca

The 2nd Biennial Conference onBrain Deelopment & Learning:Making Sense of the scienceUBC Interprofessional ContinuingEducationJuly 12-15, 2008 SheratonWall CentreHotel,Vancouver BCContact: Kristina HiemstraE-mail: [email protected] : 604-822-0054

Assessement ofMotor andProcess Skills (AMPS) TrainingCourseSchool of Occupational Therapy,Dalhousie UniversityMay 5-9, 2008Contact: Pauline FitzgeraldE-mail: [email protected]: 902-494-6351

CAOT endorsed courses

For more information about CAOTendorsement, e-mail [email protected] Tel. (800) 434-2268, ext. 231

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