OBJECTIVE. In this study, we explored the impact of an occupational therapy wellness program on daily habits and routines through the perspectives of youth and their parents. METHOD. Data were collected through semistructured interviews with children and their parents, the Pizzi Healthy Weight Management Assessment^©, and program activities. RESULTS. Three themes emerged from the interviews: Program Impact, Lessons Learned, and Time as a Barrier to Health. The most common areas that both youth and parents wanted to change were time spent watching television and play, fun, and leisure time. Analysis of activity pie charts indicated that the youth considerably increased active time in their daily routines from Week 1 to Week 6 of the program. CONCLUSION. An occupational therapy program focused on health and wellness may help youth and their parents be more mindful of their daily activities and make health behavior changes.

Background: Even with efforts to encourage mothers to breastfeed exclusively for the first 6 months, the majority of women are not able to undertake breastfeeding as the sole means of infant nutrition provision for various reasons. The role of occupational therapists working with mothers who breastfeed is complex and not strongly supported in the literature. Therefore, this qualitative study was designed to examine the role that occupational therapists may engage in supporting mothers and infants in the co-occupation of breastfeeding. Method: A qualitative phenomenological study design was applied and included 11 occupational therapists working with breastfeeding dyads. The occupational therapists engaged in a semi-structured interview that examined how they worked with mothers and infants who breastfed in practice. Data were analyzed to identify themes that emerged from interviews. Results: Four key themes were identified: An occupational therapy approach, patient education and direct intervention, mental health support, and understanding breastfeeding as an occupation and co-occupation. Conclusion: Occupational therapists provided holistic and individualized treatment strategies for breastfeeding dyads. Occupational therapists have a unique understanding of the co-occupation of breastfeeding and are equipped to address a variety of maternal and infant factors, leading to improved health and well-being for both members of the breastfeeding dyad.

Purpose: To explore occupational, physical, and speech-language pathology therapists’ perceived effectiveness of telehealth and how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected their professional roles. Method: Participants were recruited for the study through a research flyer distrusted via postal mail, emails, social media, and national association websites. An anonymous electronic 19-item survey was developed for this study by the researchers based on a review of the literature and clinical experience. Results. In total, 186 survey responses were obtained, with 152 meeting the inclusion criteria. The average age of participants was 38.6 years with an average work duration of 12.7 years ± 12.5 in their current profession. Participants reported an average of 32.2 ± 17.4 patients on their case load per week, of which 58% were face-to-face, 50.85% were seen via video, and 3.2% via phone. Results from the Likert scale questions revealed that almost 60% of the participants reported they viewed telehealth as a relevant service delivery method and 48.7% reported it is effective in delivering therapy. However, only 17.8% of participants agreed that telehealth is as effective as in-person therapy. Approximately 77% of participants did not have experience with using telehealth before the pandemic and 42.1% felt they did not receive adequate training for the use of telehealth during the pandemic. Benefits of using telehealth reported by participants include increased access to care (38.8%), reduced travel time (53.3%), schedule flexibility (49.3%), and improved continuity of care (26.3%). Conclusions. The findings of this study reveal that the switch to telehealth services provided multiple benefits for therapist and client. Many therapists also held multiple roles such as spouse and parent during the pandemic, making it important to understand how to deal with professional disruption while continuing to deliver therapy services with minimal interruption in client-centered care.