BACKGROUND The public awareness about occupational therapy and its role is not much studied in Saudi Arabia. Therefore, this study intended to provide baseline data about existing knowledge, as well as to identify the knowledge gaps in specific domains of knowledge which could help in designing precise and targeted strategies to increase awareness about the occupational therapy (OT) services, their role, and scope among the masses. METHODS A cross-sectional survey was carried out among people of Saudi Arabia (SA) to explore the degree of knowledge they had about occupational therapy services. A developed and validated online structured questionnaire was used to collect data from people across all the five regions through social media channels. RESULTS The total number of participants was 4,440. Females represented 56.8 %, (N = 2520) of the sample, where 43.2 % (N=1920) were males. Majority of the respondents were Saudi 88.6 % (N = 3936), married 58.1 % (N = 2579), held higher educational degrees 71.4 % (N = 3172) and employed 59.9 % (N = 2469). Most of the participants were in the age range of 20 - 30 years 47.4 % (N = 2104). The overall mean score was 9.82 / 21 (SD ± 7.105) and 46.76 %, implying that the general public had poor knowledge about OT and its applications. One-way analysis of variance indicated a significant difference in knowledge among different regions of SA (P- value = < 0.05). Regionwise the highest mean score knowledge was in the Southern region (10.54), whereas Najran had the highest score (14.22) in city-wise analysis. Higher knowledge was associated with a younger age range (10.84) and level of education (median score 13). On comparing the mean score amongst the four domains of OT knowledge, the highest mean score (1.70, SD ± 1.348) was regarding OT goals, whereas the lowest (1.64, SD ± 1.658) was in the OT treatment methods. CONCLUSIONS The Saudi masses may not fully understand the specific services that an occupational therapist may provide. They had poor knowledge about OT roles and implications. Degree of knowledge was significantly affected by the level of education and younger age. KEY WORDS Occupational Therapy, Knowledge, Saudi Arabia, Attitude, Rehabilitation

Purpose: To compare the effectiveness of using role-play simulation as a possible alternative to real-patient training to teach transferal skills to occupational therapy students. Patients and Methods: Seventy-one occupational therapy students (including those in their second, third and fourth years) participated in a quasi-experimental study. The students were randomly divided into two groups. One group received role-play simulation at the university. The other received training on real patients with mild to moderate stroke and spinal cord injury (one session/week for six weeks) in clinical (inpatient) settings in Jeddah to learn patient transferring skills. Student performance was taken as a measure of teaching method effectiveness, and was evaluated by using a validated OSCE-type assessment tool developed at the end of training. The tool showed good reliability (Cronbach’s α was > 0.7) and inter-reliability (Kappa < 0.001). Results: A total number of 71 students participated in the study. The majority of the students were female (66.2%, N=47) and 33.8% (N=24) were male. About 33.8% (N=24) of students were in the second year, 29.6% (N=21) were in the third year and 36.6% (N=26) were in the fourth year. There were 36 (49.3%) students in the simulation group The mean age of the students was 20.70 (SD=1.2). There was no significant difference in the students’ performance in both groups with a P-value of 0.139. Conclusion: Role-play simulation can effectively be used for students’ training as there was no difference in the outcome of the students’ performance in patient transferring skills in both groups. This finding can help in designing and implementing training through simulation, especially in situations where training on severely ill patients may be a safety risk.

Objective: This study aims to explore the experience of using ChatGPT in academics by occupational therapy students in Saudi Arabia. Methods: A qualitative study design was used to collect data via semi-structured individual interviews with undergraduate occupational therapy students at a Saudi Arabian University. Thematic analysis was used to process data into semantic themes and sub-themes. Results: The total number of students who participated in the study was eight, comprised of five males and three females. The study revealed ChatGPT’s strengths, such as learning enhancement, efficiency, academic support, and generalizability. The weaknesses reported included inaccuracy, ethical problems, and out-of-context responses. Students highlighted academic opportunities like ChatGPT’s potential as a learning support, a self-assessment tool, and an assistant for educators. The study findings validate academic research on the educational benefits and risks that ChatGPT presents. The system provides better learning alongside increased efficiency and research assistance, although it faces significant problems with misinformation in addition to users depending too heavily on the system and the ethical risks. Conclusion: The benefits and limitations of ChatGPT use as experienced by occupational therapy students in their learning and education were explored. Policymakers, academic institutions and educators need to take action toward effective ChatGPT implementation in educational settings. Future integration of artificial intelligence should focus on structured artificial intelligence literacy programs and institutional guidelines to maximize benefits while mitigating risks.

The purpose of this project is to increase the accuracy and robustness of Indoor Positioning Systems (IPS) in a four-story office and school building by utilizing neural networks. The complex signal propagation in traditional IPS methods, which rely on RSSI values collected from Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Beacons, presents challenges. In contrast to prior methodologies, the neural network model demonstrated enhanced efficacy when trained with modern techniques such as dropout and L2 regularization. The system's average location error was 1.3 meters, while trilateration and fingerprinting had errors of 3.7 meters and 2.6 meters, respectively. The model demonstrated strong adaptability to changes in the environment and had little latency, making it highly suitable for real-time applications. This research highlights the ability of neural networks to provide more precise and reliable solutions for indoor positioning.