O.T. LinkNew faculty members, advancing scienceJessica Dashner, OTD, OTR/L, and Alex Wong, PhD, DPhil, appointed to Program faculty

Alex Wong, PhD, DPhil

On August 1, the Program in Occupational Therapy welcomed two new members to its faculty –

Jessica Dashner, OTD, OTR/L, and Alex Wong, PhD, DPhil. If Dashner’s name and face seem familiar, that is because they are. Dashner, a 2002 alumna of the Program, has worked as a research associate in the Disability and Community Participation Research Office (DACPRO) under the direction of David Gray, PhD, for more than ten years. She currently manages several research projects including one as a part of the Research and Training Center on Community Living (RTC/CL) at the University of Kansas and recently finished a project titled, “Parenting with a Physical Disability: Assessing

the Need for Early OT Intervention and Group Support.” She worked with Gray on developing and administering surveys of participation and environmental usability for individuals with mobility and sensory impairments.“The mission of the research we conduct at DACPRO is to understand the various factors that influence community participation of people with disabilities. We use subjective and objective measures of community participation and the environment to examine where and how people with mobility, vision, and hearing limitations participate,” Dashner explains. “Recently, we have made five assessments-participation surveys for people with mobility limitations available for download. These resources can be used by university researchers and labs to assess the influence of environmental facilitators and barriers.” She is collaborating with colleagues at the RTC/CL to develop a training program for Informal (Unpaid) Personal Assistants. The purpose of this project is to train informal personal assistant providers and recipients together on communication strategies, skills (such as performing transfers), recognition of indicators of secondary conditions, and the importance of community participation for people with disabilities. “Improving the provision of informal personal assistance has the potential to improve the transition to community living for individuals with disabilities. Having access to high quality informal providers can help reduce the risk of institutionalization and poor health outcomes for individuals receiving assistance. We are also hoping to reduce the risk of injury to providers by teaching good body mechanics and safe ways to perform tasks – ultimately making their job a little easier,” Dashner says.

Schultz Lifestyle Profile Series InstrumentCommunity Outreach Student Happenings

In addition to her research at DACPRO, Dashner teaches the “Environmental Factors Facilitating Performance and Participation” class each spring/summer and helps with the “Health Promotion, Participation and Wellness for Persons with Chronic Disease” in the fall. She is also the Student Activities Coordinator for the Washington University Student Occupational Therapy Association (WUSOTA) and is actively involved in the newly-formed Community Outreach Committee (see page 3).Prior to joining the Program, Alex Wong, PhD, DPhil, completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the Center for Rehabilitation Outcomes Research (CROR) at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago and the Center for Healthcare Studies at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Wong received his first doctoral degree in Rehabilitation Sciences followed

p3 p4 p7

Jessica Dashner, OTD, OTR/L

Fall 2014

Continued on page 3

The Program in Occupational Therapy was selected as a 2014 Paraquad Shine the Light Award honoree for our ongoing commitment to accessibility for our team members, students, and the community. The award was presented on Thursday, November 6 at The Chase Park Plaza. Paraquad is a nonprofit organization in St. Louis, Mo., whose mission is to empower people with disabilities to increase their independence through choice and opportunity. “It’s a great honor to be recognized by Paraquad, whom we actively partner with to promote participation and engagement in our community,” says Associate Director of Professional Programs Steve Taff, PhD, OTR/L, who attended the award presentation. “By providing a highly accessible environment for all, we break down barriers and best enable our students, faculty, and staff to achieve their personal, professional, and academic goals. Our mission has, and always will be, to advance human health by enhancing people’s participation in everyday life activities so they can live, work and participate in the activities most meaningful to them.”As part of the award presentation, a special video was produced highlighting the many ways the Program provides opportunities for people with disabilities to live, work and participate in the community. To view the video, please visit www.paraquad.org/accessiblestl.

T he Fall 2014 semester is certainly off and running! In August, we welcomed 90 new students from 23 states to the Program in Occupational Therapy. The diverse and talented class comprises 72 MSOT and 18 OTD students, 75 female and 15 male

students, and 10 students from our 3-2 partner schools. It’s been such a pleasure getting to know them over the last couple of months and I can honestly say the next generation of clinical practitioners and researchers they represent will enrich our profession with enthusiasm, intelligence, and dedication.

We also welcomed two new faculty members this semester – Jessica Dashner, OTD, OTR/L, and Alex Wong, PhD, DPhil. Jessica is an 2002 alumna of the Program and has worked as a research associate in the Disability and Community Participation Research Office (DACPRO) under the direction of David Gray, PhD for the past ten years. Alex, who heads the new Health and Disability Research Laboratory, comes to us from the Center for Rehabilitation Outcomes Research (CROR) at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago and the Center for Healthcare Studies at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Read more about them and their current research projects on page 1.

Recent events in the St. Louis area have brought the challenges of racism, health disparities, and uneven access to quality education and economic opportunity to the forefront of our minds. Our faculty, staff, and students are currently engaged in and commited to long-term community outreach intiatives and projects (page 3) to strengthen the St. Louis region for all who live and work here. As practitioners, we know that each one of us must take an active part in making that goal a reality to those around us.

The feature article in this issue of the O.T. Link spotlights an alumni and research story that I am not only professionally but personally vested in. Being part of the development of the Schultz Lifestyle Profile Series Instrument (page 4) has been an honor because of the legacy of work our Program has been entrusted with by Gordon and Karolyn Burkhart-Schultz. It’s a unique and touching story of a son’s devotion to his father, a family’s commitment to philanthropy, and the development of an important and needed assessment tool.

I encourage you to visit our website at ot.wustl.edu and connect with us on social media to stay up-to-date on Program news and announcements. On the back page, we’ve listed upcoming events in 2015 that I hope you will be able to attend. I always look forward to visiting with you and hearing your latest news and announcements. Be sure to submit your Class Notes to us at ot.wustl.edu/alumni so that we may share your accomplishments, both personal and professional, with your class and fellow alums.

Thank you for your continued dedication to our profession and your support of discovery, research and innovation through our Program.

M. Carolyn Baum, PhD, OTR, FAOTA

Professor of Occupational Therapy, Neurology and Social WorkElias Michael Executive Director, Program in Occupational Therapy

2 O.T. Link • Fall 2014

From the Director

The Program selected as a 2014 Shine the Light honoreeby Paraquad

Carol Siebert, MS, OTR/L FAOTA, Stacy Smallfield, DrOT, MSOT

‘96, OTR/L, and Susy Stark, PhD, OTR/L, FAOTA, have authored a publication titled, “Occupational Therapy Practice Guidelines for Home Modifications.” In September, the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) submitted the publication to the National Guideline Clearinghouse™ (NGC) and it was accepted for inclusion on the Clearinghouse website. This home modification guideline was based on the systematic review conducted by Stark and her Participation, Environment and Performance Laboratory in 2012, and on a series of articles published by Stark and her current and former students in the Program.

Stark co-authors home modification guideline

Susy Stark

Steve Taff

3O.T. Link • Fall 2014

Call to community outreachMaking our region a better place for all

New faculty members

by a second doctoral degree in Community Health from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Wong’s research focuses on outcome measurement in neurology and cancer survivorship. He has a special interest in factors associated with disparities in social and community participation as well as mental health outcomes among persons with disabilities. “I am working on identifying psychosocial factors to develop effective strategies that help buffer individuals from adverse life experiences such as trauma, disease, or invasive treatment,” Wong says. “These adverse experiences can lead to chronic disease or secondary conditions.”Wong, who serves as director of the Health and Disability Research Laboratory, uses a multilevel approach to understanding the mechanisms underlying disparities in health and participation among persons with chronic health conditions. He currently is developing and implementing contemporary instruments to evaluate patient outcomes and health care quality.

Dashner and students at DACPRO measure and discuss an accessibility ramp (top). Wong reviews data and statistics in the Health and Disability Research Laboratory (bottom).

“Currently, I am forming interdisciplinary collaborations that bridge medical care with community services in an effort to improve patient outcomes and the quality of care; specifically, while patients are transitioning to community living,” Wong says. He collaborates with scientists and clinicians from Washington University’s Brown School of Social Work and Department of Psychiatry, as well as with colleagues from the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, University of Illinois, University of Michigan Medical School, and New York University Langone Medical Center. By forming a high-caliber group of people from the fields of psychiatry, social work, public health, disability studies, rehabilitation and outcomes science, Wong wants to develop metrics and interventions in patient, institutional, and societal levels that engage patients in their own health care. “Our shared goal is to make all individuals, even those living with disabilities or chronic illness, to have the own choice to live happier and be independence in the community,” Wong says.

Continued from cover

“The unrest in Ferguson (Missouri) reminds us of the challenges of racism, health disparities and unequal access to education and economic opportunities for many people in St. Louis and beyond. These challenges can be opportunities to bring about a culture of change at the medical school and in the St. Louis community to make this region a better place for everyone.”

- Larry J. Shapiro, MD, Executive Vice Chancellor for Medical Affairs and DeanThe recent shooting of unarmed teen Michael Brown has brought national attention to the city of Ferguson, and the unrest present in our neighboring communities. In response to this tragic event and Dean Shapiro’s call to action, the Program has recently formed a Community Outreach Committee to develop and implement initiatives on how our faculty, staff, and students can make a difference in the St. Louis community and beyond.To date, the Program has participated in several local fundraisers and events, including the annual Sickle Cell Stroll on September 6. Actively involved in sickle cell

research through our Child Health and Education Laboratory, the Program had a booth set up to distribute information and provide activities for the children and families in attendance. On October 25, the Community Practice team hosted a safe trick-or-treat event for families in the community – including those we serve in the Ferguson/North County area through our partnership with First Steps. WUSOTA is actively seeking opportunities to partner with existing agencies in identifying and fulfilling needs throughout St. Louis.

Our goal is to develop sustainable and long-term projects that will have a lasting impact. This includes creating momentum to engage in “deeper conversations” regarding the dynamics that have led to the social unrest in our area and what our role will be in

facilitating these conversations on campus. We have made plans to host workshops and offer cultural sensitivity training to our faculty and staff in the coming months to foster better diversity awareness and understanding.

By being an active and ongoing presence in our community, the Program is committed to ensuring that our entire region is an ideal place for all people to live, work and learn.

Niraj Shah, MSOT/S ‘16, and Felicia Foci, OTD/S ‘17, at the Sickle Cell Stroll booth.photo BY CoLE GEDDY

“Every management level employee hired or promoted at Simpson Strong-Tie during that time was evaluated by my father using his instrument,” Burkhart-Schultz recalls. “The Simpson Strong-Tie management team developed a comprehensive system of interviews, augmented by dad’s instrument, to gain insight into candidates. My father became a part of the Simpson Strong-Tie culture.”Schultz also developed a close, intellectual relationship with his brother-in-law, Dr. Russell Oyer, a physician retired from a long career in family medicine. For decades, they would discuss the instrument in its various stages of development and use. Schultz had developed a manual for the instrument, which they both had a copy of. Burkhart-Schultz recalls his

father sharing the various ups and downs of his work at family events and eventually saw a pattern emerging.“It was important to him to tell, and for us to hear, his latest stories because of what the work meant to him. You could hear the excitement in his voice when he would talk about it virtually every week at our family Friday evening meals together,” Burkhart-Schultz says. “Over time, an underlying theme of these stories became the need to find a collaborator and formalize the work. My father had the unique insight needed to develop the instrument, but not the patience needed to painstakingly go through all the legal and scientific hoops required to formalize it.”

Collaborating across timeDevelopment of the Schultz Lifestyle Profile Series Instrument

Modern scientific research has evolved into a complex, multi-faceted process in which

collaboration is key. For Karl V. Schultz, PhD, that desire to find a research collaborator reached beyond his lifetime when he made his son, Gordon Burkhart-Schultz, the Successor Trustee Executor of his estate.

“Suddenly, I found myself tasked with finding a collaborator to understand and formalize my father’s life’s work – something he was not able to accomplish after trying for more than 30 years,” Burkhart-Schultz says. “A daunting task indeed, but one I was honored to take on.”

Decades of dedication and developmentDuring the course of his career as a psychologist, Schultz documented the many issues people face as they live their daily lives. Using this information, he developed an instrument of 16 different scales which he would administer to the people he was counseling in private practice. The scales were designed to determine the personal values that guide a person’s life and how important each value is in their day-to-day existence. Over time, Schultz enthusiastically utilized his instrument in every conceivable application. He used it in church support groups, community task forces, and as a consulting psychologist interviewing applicants for management positions at Simpson Strong-Tie, an international structural engineering product company. Barclay Simpson, who took over the business from his father in 1947, was a long-time colleague and friend of Schultz.

A father’s legacy; a son’s devotion Schultz continued his search for a collaborator until his death at 86 years old.

“We figured my father was going to outlive us all,” Burkhart-Schultz remembers fondly. “Mentally, he was very sharp and he remained physically active. He was terrified of experiencing a declining mental or intellectual state, which fortunately never happened.”

For years, Schultz made regular trips to Argentina to visit his daughter Korine and his only grandson, Marcos. In 2006, Burkhart-Schultz’s wife Karolyn arranged for him to make his periodic trip to Argentina – but quite uncharacteristically Schultz told her to cancel his airline reservation.

“My father told her he had too much to do. This raised a red-flag as he always very much looked forward to such trips to see the family in Argentina. I remember he then suddenly plunged himself into a concentrated, almost obsessive effort to make revisions to the manual, consulting with Uncle Russ on these edits and changes,” Burkhart-Schultz says. “Knowing how much he loved spending time with his grandson, his daughter Korine commented, ‘something is not quite right with grandpa’ and so Korine and Marcos decided to come to the U. S. to visit our father instead.”

Two weeks after that visit, Schultz died suddenly of an aortic aneurysm.

“In spite of being in very good health, it was almost as if dad knew on some level that his time was limited. It was a very difficult time for my family and for me. I was grieving the loss of my father, and I had also been named Successor Trustee of his estate,” Burkhart-Schultz says.

Because such a large part of Schultz’s identity was tied to his Mennonite upbringing, his son decided to start with Bluffton University in Ohio, his father’s alma mater and where the Trust had already made a bequest. Burkhart-Schultz was surprised to learn that his father had visited the college the previous year trying, unsuccessfully, to find someone willing to collaborate with him.

“My father had a certain way of presenting his work, which is not how I typically would present it to a potential collaborator. He would present on what he found fascinating about it, not the other way around – first find out what interests the person you are talking to – in an

4 O.T. Link • Fall 2014

“Suddenly, I found myself tasked with finding a collaborator to understand and formalize my father’s life’s work – something he was not able to accomplish after trying for more than 30 years.”

Karl V. Schultz and his wife, Pauline Cid Schultz, class of 1944. photo CourtEsY of GorDon Burkhart-sChuLtz

effort to find out what would attract a potential collaborator,” Burkhart-Schultz says. “After I spoke with them using the latter approach, they felt they could find a fit. I flew to Bluffton University to meet with them in person to further explain my father’s intentions. They assigned the head of the psychology department to the project, received the funds and I left feeling my father’s work was finally in the right hands to be carried on and formalized.”

Two years later, the Burkhart-Schultz family traveled back to Bluffton University for a presentation on their use of the funds and update on their continuation of the research. Minutes into the presentation, it was clear to Burkhart-Schultz that they had emphasized a different direction from what his father had intended.

“If my father had unlimited resources, he would have been happy to fund the program they created. However, what they were doing was only tangentially related to his work,” Burkhart-Schultz explains. “I left feeling rather despondent because I had been entrusted with this responsibility and I wanted to honor his wishes as any son or daughter would. I loved my father, but for me this responsibility had an added dimension. My father and I certainly respected each other but we definitely looked at the world rather differently and we

didn’t have a lot in common. After he passed, fulfilling this wish was something meaningful I could do for him that I couldn’t do when he was alive.”

Following his visit to Bluffton University, Burkhart-Schultz had scheduled a visit with his Uncle Russ in Bloomington, Ill. He told his uncle what had happened and asked for his input. Oyer could not provide an answer, but did offer something to Burkhart-Schultz that would lead to it.

“Uncle Russ said he had an early copy of the manual. Since my father was no longer here to discuss it with him, he gave it to me,” Schultz says. “Our next travel stop was St. Louis to meet with Dr. Carolyn Baum at the Program in Occupational Therapy at Washington University School of Medicine. My mother, Pauline Cid Schultz, an alumna, had funded a scholarship, and the OT Program wanted to meet the family and thank us. So I put the manual in my suitcase … and off we went!”

The right moment at the right timeBaum planned an entire day of presentations and activities for the family. Nearly midway through the morning, she began to speak of the Program’s research orientation and initiatives, as well as its collaborative nature

with multiple disciplines.That conversation marked a turning point for Burkhart-Schultz and his family.“As Dr. Baum spoke, my wife, sister and I started looking at each other with wide eyes because we were thinking the same thing—‘dad’s work!’” Burkhart-Schultz recalls. “I was literally bouncing in my chair and asked Dr. Baum if I could speak with her privately for just ten minutes at the end of their presentations about my father’s work and the funding my father had left for continuing this work. Then, I raced out the door and back to the hotel to get the manual Uncle Russ had fortuitously given me the day before. I put it on her desk and she began looking through it. Just minutes later, Dr. Baum asked me if I knew what we had here. It was clear to me in that moment that she ‘got’ it. She understood my father’s work. Something nobody else had ever been able to do. Finally after nearly 30 years, the search for a collaborator was over. “Looking at the convoluted path this took it is clear that I could not have possibly planned to make this happen. Having the fulfillment of my dad’s lifelong work converge with the love and passion of my mother’s life in the way that it did, is quite special. There is no doubt in my mind that it was meant to be,” he says.

5O.T. Link • Fall 2014

Carolyn Baum, PhD, OTR, FAOTA, reviews the Activity Card Sort with current recipients of the Pauline Cid Schultz Scholarship: (left to right) Corinne Martin, MSOT/S ‘16, Savannah Sisk, OTD/S ‘16, and Bridget Fitzpatrick, MSOT/S ‘15.

Continued on page 6

After reviewing the manual in depth, Baum had a series of conversations with Lisa Tabor Connor, PhD, about how to proceed with the psychometric work and the possibly of using it with the Activity Card Sort (ACS), which measures an individual’s occupational performance. Connor and her lab began the data collection process needed to validate Schultz’s work.

“The 16 scales Schultz developed needed to be administered on a population of healthy individuals. We recruited this sample group from Volunteers for Health and administered the Schultz Lifestyle Profile Series (SLPS) and the ACS to 89 people,” Connor says. “Dr. Baum and I wanted to examine the relationship between what people value and what is meaningful to them and how that plays out in the activities they do. That is where the OT component comes in. The research was driven by two questions: Can we use an instrument like the SLPS to understand better why people choose to do the types of activities that they do? Is that reflected in the values they have?”

Connor and her students conducted three waves of data collection and analysis to bring them successively closer to what she thinks is the way OTs in particular could use the instrument to help understand what people value and the meaning they assign to the activities they do. “One of our OT tenets is that we want to enable people to participate in the things they need and want to do. But how do we know what is considered highly valuable

to a person? We know what they do, but does it reflect their underlying values? This is the instrument that can help us evaluate what their values are and design better interventions based on the results,” Connor says.

Throughout the entire process, both Baum and Connor approached the research as a collaborative effort with Schultz. “We have added our own ideas and philosophies on occupation to further develop this instrument. However, we have kept in close communication with the Burkhart-Schultz family to make sure this is the direction their father would have wanted,” Baum says.

“The manual was really a guide to his thinking. He didn’t write it that way, but I have gone back to it many times during the validation process just to make sure I’m really understanding where Dr. Schultz was coming from and what was his intention,” Connor explains. “As we continue to develop this instrument, we will statistically reduce the items to those that hold the most variance. The final instrument may be somewhat different from what he left behind, but it will definitely be within the spirit and the context of his guiding principles during his development of it.”

A valuable resource for OTsIn June 2014, Baum and Connor presented their work, the Schultz Lifestyle Profile Series Instrument: Psychometric Properties and Relationship with Activity Participation, at the 16th International Congress of the

6 O.T. Link • Fall 2014

World Federation of Occupational Therapists (WFOT) in Yokohama, Japan. Both Baum and Connor share a common goal to continue to refine the instrument and collect data with the goal of publishing it by the end of the current year, as well as the vision for the SLPS to serve as a valuable resources for OTs to better understand their clients’ persepectives and values.“The SLPS will help OTs be more client-centered. We tend to use interviews and occupational profiles to figure out the things people need and want to do, but we don’t often probe directly what their values are and the meaning that they attach to their various activities,” Connor says. “This will give OTs a more formalized way to assess that component.”In addition, Baum sees wider applications for the instrument’s use.“I think the tool gives clinicians real opportunities to have discussions with their clients and their clients’ families about things that, though intangible, become tangible when you measure them. This will be a wonderful tool and will extend beyond occupational therapists’ use.”

Sam (pictured, left) and his fellow first-year students participated in a series of ethnically diverse cooking labs this fall, including this one on Soul Food on October 3.

Collaborating across timeContinued from page 5

Please help support future occupational therapists with a donation to the Program in Occupational Therapy Scholarship Fund. A gift to the Program fills an immediate need by lessening the debt burden on our students, allowing them to focus on their education and training. Donations also may be made in honor or in memory of an individual. Checks should

“I am so grateful to be able to continue my graduate education at Washington University. Financing my occupational therapy education was a serious consideration. With your generous support, students like me do not have to sacrifice our academic experience to attend a world-class institution like Washington University.” - Sam Talisman, MSOT/S ‘16

Please donate to the Program in Occupational Therapy Scholarship Fund

If you are interested in creating a named scholarship, endowed student award fund, or planned giving, please contact Paul Schnabel, Director of Medical Development, at 314.935.9725 or by email at paul_schnabel@wustl.edu.

be payable to Washington University and mailed to:

Washington University School of Medicine The Program in Occupational Therapy 4444 Forest Park Ave., CB 8505 St. Louis, MO 63108-2212

Give online at through our website at www.ot.wustl.edu/alumni

Student happenings

7O.T. Link • Fall 2014

The annual Program in Occupational Therapy Picnic was held on August 28 at the World’s Fair Pavilion in Forest Park.

Second-year students paired with nursing students at Goldfarb School of Nursing for an interprofessional learning experience in transfers as part of the Sensorimotor Interventions course on September 16.

Students participated in the 2014 Walk to End Alzheimer’s in St. Louis on September 6.

First-year students fill the OT Auditorium on their first day of orientation on August 19.

Students formed teams for the 4th Annual Bash for Cash – an able-bodied wheelchair rugby tournament sponsored by the St. Louis Rugby Rams held on September 27.

Please donate to the Program in Occupational Therapy Scholarship Fund

Washington University School of MedicineProgram in Occupational Therapy 4444 Forest Park Ave., CB 8505 St. Louis, MO 63108-2212

Occupational T herapy

The Program in Occupational Therapy is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE) of the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA), located at 4720 Montgomery Lane, Suite 200, Bethesda, MD 20814-3449. ACOTE’s telephone number,

c/o AOTA, is (301) 652-AOTA and its web address is www.acoteonline.org.

April 16-18, 2015AOTA 95th Annual Conference & ExpoNashville, TNMusic City Center - Booth #1023 www.aota.org/conference.aspx

You are invited to the Program in Occupational Therapy Alumni Reception on April 18. More information to follow.

April 24, 2015OT Scholarship DayEric P. Newman Educational Center (EPNEC) 320 S. Euclid Ave. St. Louis, MO 63110

Registration information to come at ot.wustl.edu

May 15, 2015Commencement

May 22, 2015

Symposium for David Gray, PhD

More information in the Spring 2015 issue of O.T. Link!

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