To Örebro University

Purpose: The aim of the study was to investigate to what extent time management skills are associated with general self-efficacy and parental sense of competence, and if there are any differences between individuals with and without cognitive disabilities in these aspects.

Material and Methods: The study had a comparative cross-sectional design. Totally 86 individuals with cognitive disabilities (of whom 31 were parents), and 154 without disabilities (of whom 68 were parents) were included (N = 240). The Swedish versions of the Assessment of Time Management Skills (including time management, organisation & planning, and regulation of emotion subscales), General Self-Efficacy, and Parental Sense of Competence scale (including satisfaction, efficacy, and interest subscales) were used to collect data.

Results: There were significant differences (p < .001) between individuals with and without cognitive disabilities in all three subscales of Assessment of Time Management Skills and in General Self-Efficacy. Overall, individuals with a cognitive disability scored lower than persons without cognitive disabilities. A significant difference was observed between parents in all three subscales of time management skills after controlling for age and education (p < .0005). Parents with cognitive disabilities, compared to parents without cognitive disability, scored significantly lower in all measured scales, except for the interest subscale. In parents with a cognitive disability, there was a significant correlation between all three subscales of Time Management Skills and satisfaction. Among parents without a cognitive disability there was a significant correlation between time management; and organisation & planning subscales; and efficacy, and between General Self-Efficacy and time management.

Conclusions: Poor time management, planning and organisational skills, as well as a deficit in regulation of emotions may have a negative impact on general self-efficacy and parental sense of competence.

Background: Core symptoms in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are inattention, impulsivity and hyperactivity. Many individuals with this disorder also have a sedentary lifestyle, co-morbid mental illness such as depressive and anxiety disorders, and reduced quality of life. People with ADHD often have impaired executive function, which among other things may include difficulty in time management and structuring of everyday life. Pharmacological treatment is often the first-line option, but non-pharmacological treatment is also available and is used in clinical settings. In children and adolescents with ADHD, physical exercise is used as a non-pharmacological treatment. However, the evidence for the effectiveness of exercise in adults is sparse.

Objective: To implement the START intervention (START = Stöd i Aktivitet, Rörelse och Träning [Support in activity, movement and exercise]) consisting of a 12-week, structured mixed exercise programme with or without a cognitive intervention, in adults with ADHD, and study whether it has an effect on core symptoms of ADHD as well as physical, cognitive, mental and everyday functioning compared with usual treatment. A secondary aim is to investigate the participants' experiences of the intervention and its possible benefits, and to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of START compared with usual treatment.

Methods: This is a randomized controlled trial planned to be conducted in 120 adults with ADHD, aged 18-65. The intervention will be given as an add-on to standard care. Participants will be randomized to three groups. Group 1 will be given a physiotherapist-led mixed exercise programme for 12 weeks. Group 2 will receive the same intervention as group 1 with the addition of occupational therapist-led cognitive skills training. Group 3 will be the control group who will receive standard care only. The primary outcome will be reduction of ADHD symptoms measured using the World Health Organization (WHO) Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale (ASRS-v1.1), Clinical Global Impression-Severity scale (CGI-S) and CGI-Improvement scale (CGI-I). The effect will be measured within 1 week after the end of the intervention and 6 and 12 months later.

Discussion: Data collection began in March 2021. The final 12-month follow-up is anticipated to be completed by autumn 2024.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov (Identifier: NCT05049239). Registered on 20 September 2021 (last verified: May 2021).

BACKGROUND: Limited time management skills cause problems in daily life for people with mild intellectual disability (ID) and "Let's Get Organized" (LGO) is a promising manual-based occupational therapy group intervention aiming to support management skills.

AIMS/OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the applicability of the Swedish version of LGO-S by i) exploring enhancements in time management skills, satisfaction with daily occupations, and aspects of executive functioning in people with time-management difficulties and mild ID, and ii) describing clinical experiences of using the LGO-S for people with mild ID.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: Twenty-one adults with mild ID were included. Data were collected pre-/post-intervention and at 3- and 12-month follow-ups with: Swedish version of Assessment of Time Management Skills (ATMS-S), Satisfaction with Daily Occupation (SDO-13), and Weekly Calendar Planning Activity (WCPA-SE). There were few follow-up participants (n = 6-9).

RESULTS: Significant change in time management skills that maintained at 12-months follow-ups. Significant increase in regulation of emotions at 12-month follow-up. Results at 12-months follow-up indicated sustainability in outcomes as measured by ATMS-S. A non-significant positive trend was observed in other outcomes between pre- and post-intervention.

CONCLUSIONS AND SIGNIFICANCE: LGO-S seems applicable for improving skills in time management, organisation and planning also for people with mild ID.

BACKGROUND: Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is associated with sedentary lifestyle, low quality of life and low physical fitness. Studies in children with ADHD have shown that regular physical exercise can help reduce core ADHD symptoms, but evidence for this is lacking in adults. Although guidelines recommend multi-modal treatment, central stimulants (CS) remain the mainstay of treatment. CS are effective in the short-term, but their long-term efficacy remains to be established. There is thus huge unmet need for developing non-pharmacological treatment options, and for well-designed randomized controlled trials (RCTs).

OBJECTIVE: The study aimed to test the feasibility and tolerability of structured moderate-intensity 12-week physical exercise program for adults with ADHD, as a prelude to an adequately powered RCT which includes long-term follow-up.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fourteen adults with ADHD were recruited, 9 randomized to an intervention group and 5 to a control group. The intervention group received physiotherapist-led 50-minute mixed exercise program, three times a week for 12 weeks, and the control group treatment as usual. Participants were assessed at baseline and after 6 and 12 weeks using clinical and physical evaluations, self-rating questionnaires, and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) together with paradigms that tested attention, impulsivity and emotion regulation.

RESULTS: Three participants (21%) dropped out shortly after inclusion before receiving any intervention, while roughly 80% completed the intervention according to protocol. One participant from the intervention group participated in less than 60% of treatment sessions, and one who had done baseline fMRI was unwilling to do post-intervention imaging. Four participants in the intervention group (67%) reported increased stress in prioritizing the intervention due to time-management difficulties. Overall, consistent trends were observed that indicated the feasibility and potential benefits of the intervention on core ADHD symptoms, quality of life, body awareness, sleep and cognitive functioning.

CONCLUSION: Physiotherapist-led twelve-week regular physical exercise is a feasible and potentially beneficial intervention for adults with ADHD. There was a 20% drop-out initially and 67% of those who completed the intervention reported stress with time management difficulties due to participation. A third arm was thus added to the planned RCT where cognitive intervention administered by an occupational therapist will be given together with physical exercise. Clinical Trial Registration: https://clinicaltrials.gov, identifier NCT05049239.

Introduction: Managing daily life activities requires time management and organizing skills. Individuals with cognitive disabilities commonly have poor ability to manage time, which often results in decreased ability to properly manage daily life activities. An intervention aimed to increase time management skills is "Let’s get organized" (LGO).

Objective: The current pilot study was designed to explore the outcome of the LGO with regards to time management skills, executive functions and satisfaction with daily occupations among individuals with cognitive disabilities.

Method: Persons with mental and neurodevelopmental disorder with decreased ability to manage time in daily life according to self-rated measures, were recruited by their local Occupational Therapist. All participants took part in LGO, which is a 10-week manual based group intervention with weekly meetings. Each session has a separate theme, with a common structure and goal to improve time management skills and to implement the use of a calendar in daily life. Measured outcomes were time management skills (Assessment of Time Management Skills), executive functioning (Weekly Calendar Planning Activity) and overall satisfaction with daily activities (Satisfaction with Daily Occupations).

Results: In all 55 persons participated in the study. Preliminary results from a subgroup indicate significant improvements in time management skills, in aspects of executive functioning and in overall satisfaction with daily occupations.

Conclusion: The LGO seems to be a promising intervention to improve time management skills and satisfaction with daily occupations in the short term. The used instruments appear to be sensitive to capture change from LGO.

IMPORTANCE: There is a need for evidence-based occupational therapy interventions to enhance time management in people with time management difficulties.

OBJECTIVE: To pilot test the first part of the Let's Get Organized (LGO) occupational therapy intervention in a Swedish context by exploring enhancements of time management skills, aspects of executive functioning, and satisfaction with daily occupations in people with time management difficulties because of neurodevelopmental or mental disorders.

DESIGN: One-group pretest-posttest design with 3-mo follow-up.

SETTING: Outpatient psychiatric and habilitation settings.

PARTICIPANTS: Fifty-five people with confirmed or suspected mental or neurodevelopmental disorder and self-reported difficulties with time management in daily life.

INTERVENTION: Swedish version of Let's Get Organized (LGO-S) Part 1, with structured training in the use of cognitive assistive techniques and strategies using trial-and-error learning strategies in 10 weekly group sessions of 1.5 hr.

OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Time management, organization and planning, and emotional regulation were measured with the Swedish version of the Assessment of Time Management Skills (ATMS-S). Executive functioning was measured with the Swedish version of the Weekly Calendar Planning Activity, and satisfaction with daily occupations was assessed with the Satisfaction With Daily Occupations measure.

RESULTS: Participants displayed significantly improved time management, organization and planning skills, and emotional regulation, as well as satisfaction with daily occupations. Aspects of executive functioning were partly improved. ATMS-S results were sustained at 3-mo follow-up.

CONCLUSION AND RELEVANCE: LGO-S Part 1 is a promising intervention for improving time management skills and satisfaction with daily occupations and should be investigated further.

WHAT THIS ARTICLE ADDS: This study shows that LGO-S Part 1 is feasible for use in psychiatric and habilitation outpatient services. The results are promising for improved time management skills, organization and planning skills, and satisfaction with daily occupations and need to be confirmed in further studies.

BACKGROUND: Time management skills are essential for living in modern society. People with mental or neurodevelopmental disorders typically have cognitive limitations, including affected time management, which might lead to poor occupational balance, low self-efficacy, and poor parental sense of competence. "Let's Get Organized" (LGO) is a recently developed manual-based group intervention to train time management skills. The aim of this trial is to evaluate the efficiency of the Swedish version of LGO (LGO-S) compared to treatment as usual (individual occupational therapy) to improve time management for adults with impaired time management skills due to mental or neurodevelopmental disorders. Furthermore, to evaluate if the intervention is a cost-effective way to improve the quality of life and time management skills of these individuals, we will conduct a health economic evaluation.

METHODS: The trial will have a multi-centre, open, parallel randomised controlled design. A total of 104 adults with cognitive limitations due to mental or neurodevelopmental disorders will be recruited from open psychiatric or habilitation care units. Outcomes will be measured before and after a 10-week intervention, with a follow-up 3 months after completing the intervention. The primary outcome will be self-assessed time management skills. Secondary outcomes will be e.g. self-assessed skills in organisation and planning, regulation of emotions, satisfaction with daily occupations, occupational balance, self-efficacy, and quality-adjusted life years.

DISCUSSION: A recent feasibility study has shown promising results for LGO-S, and a randomised trial will provide robust evidence for the possible efficacy of LGO-S in comparison to treatment as usual.

TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03654248 . Registered on 20 August 2018.

Introduction: Persons with cognitive impairments following acquired brain injury are a common client group among occupational therapists and occupational therapy has shown to have a positive effect on occupational performance. However, the scarcity of research into occupational therapists practice patterns has resulted in a lack of knowledge of the exact nature of the interventions used.

Primary objective: To describe Swedish Occupational Therapists’ practice patterns for clients with cognitive impairment following acquired brain injury.

Research design: A cross-sectional stratified random sample of 462 occupational therapists.

Methods: An online questionnaire was used to collect data.

Main results: The predominant practice pattern was the use of ADL-activities for assessment and intervention regardless of whether limitations in occupational performance or cognitive function were assessed, or whether the approach was remedial or compensatory. For assessment general ADL- instruments were more used than instruments assessing cognitive function. Instruments were used more within regional-, county- and primary care compared to municipality rehabilitation. Interventions focusing abilities related to executive functioning represented the highest percentages. Another prominent practice pattern was the collaborative approach toward clients, relatives and other staff.  Theories used to support practice were to a large extent general not focusing cognitive functioning in specific.

Conclusions and contribution to the practice and evidence base of occupational therapy: Swedish occupational therapy practice for clients with cognitive impairments following acquired brain injury highly focuses on occupational performance. Much instruments and theories used are general. The result contributes with knowledge of the specific content of practice, and shows that occupational therapists practice patterns both follow and do not follow current evidence in the area of cognitive rehabilitation.

Introduction: The concept therapeutic use of self has mainly been described theoretically and empirical descriptions are few. With empirical validation the concept will become more useful for informing practice and explaining what occupational therapists do in the interaction with their clients to facilitate successful outcomes.

The objective of this study was to empirically define the aspects that occupational therapists working with clients with cognitive impairments following acquired brain injury (CIABI) find are consistent with the concept of therapeutic use of self.

Method: Thirteen expert occupational therapists participated. Reactive Delphi technique in three rounds was used where each round built on the results of the previous one. A questionnaire based on current literature was developed for the first round.

Results: Twenty out of 33 statements reached a consensus level of 75% or more. These statements reflected the therapists’ consciousness, self awareness and use of personal characteristics. The statements also concerned the intentions of therapeutic use of self including client group specific intentions such as enhancing self- awareness. The results indicate that the content of the concept may be defined differently depending on the client group.

Conclusions and contribution to practice: The empirical descriptions generated from this study may help occupational therapists working with clients with CIABI to describe how and with what intention they use themselves therapeutically in the rehabilitation process. In occupational therapy education the results may be used to highlight how the concept may be understood in practice and to discuss it in relation to different client groups.

Objectives: Studies have shown that occupational therapy interventions for clients with cognitive impairment following acquired brain injury (CIABI) have a positive effect on performance of activities of daily living, although the exact nature of the interventions are not clearly described. A better understanding of current practice is therefore needed to move further in the search for evidence based occupational therapy for clients with CIABI. Research on occupational therapists’ (OTs’) practice can play an important role to explore and describe current practice and furthermore define and evaluate the effectiveness of different components in OT interventions. The aim of this study was to survey Swedish OTs’ practice patterns for clients having CIABI.

Methods: The study had a cross-sectional design using a questionnaire developed in two former studies. A stratified random sample was done with 250 OTs each from the following areas: regional care, somatic county care, primary care and municipal eldercare. The questionnaire was sent out using on-line survey software and 462 participants responded. Data is currently analyzed by descriptive and comparative statistics.

Results: Preliminary results show that the interventions targeted a wide range of cognitive impairments and its consequences. Interventions were both remedial and compensatory with graded activity as the most common remediating intervention. To compensate for activity limitations prescription, or recommendation, of assistive devices (AD) as well as supporting clients in finding internal strategies were used extensively. The ADs used consisted of both high and low technology devices. Eighty-two percent also included different specific interventions to improve clients’ decreased self-awareness in their practice. A vast majority of the OTs (94%) preferred to use observations in daily activities to assess both activity limitations and cognitive impairment. Almost all participants also used interviews and sixty-two percent used tests on impairment level. To support practice general Occupational Therapy models were widely used while theories focusing on cognitive impairments specifically were used less. The participants’ answers reflected a client-centered attitude with collaborative goal-setting and feedback discussions after each session. Eighty- four percent felt dependent on relatives to reach a successful outcome and most of them worked deliberately to involve relatives in the rehabilitation. The OTs responses were evenly distributed over the spheres of activity. Ninety-two percent of the participants worked in team and the most common diagnoses were stroke and traumatic brain injury. There were some differences in responses between the spheres.

Conclusions: Preliminary conclusions are that the OTs practice patterns included interventions targeting most cognitive impairments and their consequences in daily activities. The use of daily activities as a mean was preferred irrespective of whether the interventions were remediative or compensatory. Interventions targeting decreased self-awareness as well as the use of ADs were common. A client-centered approach was dominating including collaboration with relatives.

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centered approach was dominating including collaboration

with relatives.

The aim of the present study was to investigate how Swedish occupational therapists’ describe their work with persons suffering from cognitive impairment following acquired brain injury. A qualitative descriptive approach was used and interviews were conducted with 12 occupational therapists working in community and county council care. Qualitative content analysis was used and revealed three main themes: 1) “To make the invisible visible”, 2) “To collaborate- a prerequisite for success” and 3) “Dilemmas to handle”. The findings showed a complex scenario where the occupational therapists worked to make the cognitive impairments visible to themselves, the clients, and persons close to the client. Collaboration was perceived as a key factor. The dilemmas concerned different aspects in the rehabilitation process, which affected the occupational therapists’ work with the clients. Identified areas in need of improvement are prioritisations and additional education regarding both intervention methods and theory. A reluctance to use standardised assessments was expressed and research that identifies and overcomes those hindrances in clinical practice is needed. Therapeutic use of self was described as important. To understand and illuminate the occupational therapists’ comprehension of the concept further research is required.  

Clients with cognitive impairment following acquired brain injury (CIABI) are a common group to receive occupational therapy services. Research has shown that occupational therapy has a positive effect on occupational performance for these clients, but the exact nature of the interventions is not clearly described and needs to be better understood and defined. The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate an empirically derived questionnaire for the purpose of surveying occupational therapists' (OTs') practice patterns in relation to CIABI. The questionnaire was developed from the results of a former qualitative study. It was evaluated for content validity by a group of six OT researchers with experience in CIABI, using the content validity index (CVI). Reliability was evaluated by a test-retest design with a group of 51 OTs. Data were analysed by non-parametric statistical methods. Initially the questionnaire consisted of 90 items dealing with OT practice and nine demographic questions. After the reliability and content validity process the OT practice items were reduced to 44. The revised questionnaire will be used to survey and explicitly describe occupational therapy practice for clients with CIABI.

BACKGROUND: Persons with impaired time management skills are often in need of occupational therapy. Valid and reliable instruments to assess time management and organizational skills are needed for the evaluation of intervention. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of a Swedish version of the Assessment of Time Management Skills (ATMS-S) for persons with and without impaired time management skills.

METHOD: A total of 238 persons participated in the study, of whom 94 had self-reported impaired time management skills due to mental disorders such as schizophrenic spectrum or neurodevelopmental disorders such as attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and mild intellectual disabilities, and 144 persons had no reported impaired time management skills. Rasch analysis was used to analyze data.

RESULTS: Three subscales were detected: the time management subscale with 11 items, the organization & planning subscale with 11 items, and the subscale of regulation of emotions with 5 items, with excellent to acceptable psychometric properties. The conclusions were that: ATMS-S is a valid instrument for self-rating of time management, organization & planning and for the regulation of emotions. ATMS-S can be useful for persons with mental disorders including mild neurodevelopmental disorders.

The overall aim of this thesis was to describe occupational therapy practice for clients with cognitive impairment following acquired brain injury (CIABI) from the perspective of practicing occupational therapists (OTs).

To fulfill this aim, qualitative and quantitative approaches were used including interviews (Study I) and questionnaires (Studies II -IV). Based on the qualitative descriptions generated in Study I, a questionnaire was developed and evaluated for content validity and test-rest validity (Study II). The questionnaire was then used in a survey (Study III). The reactive Delphi technique was used to empirically define the aspects that OTs found to be consistent with the concept of therapeutic use of self (Study IV).

The results showed that a predominant practice pattern was the use of ADL activities for intervention regardless of whether limitations in occupational performance or cognitive function were assessed, or whether the approach to therapy was remedial or compensatory. General ADL-instruments were used more than instruments focused on impairment level. Therapies covering a wide range of cognitive impairments, and abilities important to organizing and executing occupational performance were commonly targeted. Therapies targeting clients’ activity limitations were prioritized before remediating impairment. Therapeutic use of self was regarded as being important and the results identified clientspecific aims not earlier described in relation to therapeutic use of self. Another prominent practice pattern was the collaborative approach toward clients, relatives, and other staff. Theories used to support practice were primarily general. Occupational therapy practice for clients with CIABI was found to be complex, and the practice patterns were affected by circumstances such as the ‘hidden’ nature of the cognitive impairments, perceived lack of knowledge, and organizational issues. The results of this thesis can be used as a foundation for further research on practice patterns or the specific therapies used. It can facilitate discussions on strengths and weaknesses witcurrent practice, the need for development, and research utilization.

BACKGROUND/AIM: The concept therapeutic use of self has mainly been described theoretically. Empirical descriptions are few and empirical validation is needed to make the concept more useful for informing practice and explaining what occupational therapists do in the interaction with their clients to facilitate successful outcomes. The aim of this study was to empirically define the aspects that occupational therapists working with clients with cognitive impairments following acquired brain injury find are consistent with the concept of therapeutic use of self.

METHOD: Thirteen expert occupational therapists participated. Reactive Delphi technique in three rounds was used where each round built on the results of the previous one. A questionnaire based on current literature was developed for the first round.

RESULTS: Twenty of 33 statements reached a consensus level of 75% or more. These statements reflected the therapists' consciousness, self-awareness and use of personal characteristics. The statements also concerned the intentions of therapeutic use of self, including client group-specific intentions such as enhancing self-awareness. The results indicate that the content of the concept may be defined differently depending on the client group.

CONCLUSIONS: The empirical descriptions generated from this study may help occupational therapists working with clients with cognitive impairments following acquired brain injury to describe how and with what intention they use themselves therapeutically in the rehabilitation process. In occupational therapy education, the results may be used to highlight how the concept may be understood in practice and to discuss it in relation to different client groups.

Primary objective: To describe Swedish occupational therapist practice patterns for clients with cognitive impairment following acquired brain injury.

Research design: A cross-sectional stratified random sample of 462 occupational therapists.

Methods: An online questionnaire was used to collect data.

Main results: The predominant practice pattern was the use of ADL-activities for assessment and therapy regardless of whether limitations in occupational performance or cognitive function were assessed or whether the approach was remedial or compensatory. For assessment, general ADL-instruments were used more often than instruments that assessed cognitive function. Instruments were used less often within municipal rehabilitation facilities compared to regional, county and primary care facilities. The most common focus of the therapies was in regard to abilities related to executive functioning. Another prominent practice pattern was a collaborative approach involving clients, relatives and other staff. The theories used in practice were, to a large extent, general in nature and did not focus specifically on cognitive functioning.

Conclusions: Swedish occupational therapy practice for clients with cognitive impairments following acquired brain injury focuses highly on occupational performance. Therapies targeting executive functioning seem particularly important in practice and a collaborative approach involving clients, relatives and other staff is a prominent feature in practice.

BACKGROUND: There is a lack of occupation-focused instruments to assess Activities of Daily Living (ADL) that are intended for persons with mental disorders. The ADL Taxonomy is an instrument that is widely-used within clinical practice for persons with physical impairment. The aim of this study was to adapt the ADL Taxonomy for persons with mental disorders and evaluate its validity.

METHODS: An expert group of Occupational Therapists (OTs) from psychiatric care adapted the ADL Taxonomy to fit the client group, including creating three new items. OTs in psychiatric care collected client data and evaluated the instrument for usability. Rasch analysis was used to evaluate the contruct validity of 16 activities separately.

RESULTS: The OTs collected 123 assessments from clients with various mental disorders. Ten activities had excellent, and four had acceptable, psychometric properties with regard to item and person fit and unidimensionality. The activity managing the day/time gave complex results and would benefit from further development. The OTs found the test version intelligible, relevant and easy to use.

CONCLUSIONS: The ADL Taxonomy for persons with mental disorders has 16 activities with three to six actions each, and is now ready for clinical use.

PURPOSE: The Weekly Calendar Planning Activity is a performance test aiming to examine how subtle problems with executive functioning influence the performance of multi-step activities in daily life. The purpose of this study was to explore the Swedish version of the Weekly Calendar Planning Activity, regarding test-retest reliability and possible learning effects.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: Twenty-four adults with psychiatric, neurodevelopmental or mild intellectual disorders and with difficulties in executive functioning performed the test on three separate occasions, with two weeks apart. Test-retest reliability was determined using intraclass correlation coefficients. Possible learning effects were evaluated. The smallest detectable change was calculated to determine the precision of individual scores.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The intraclass correlation coefficients between the first two test occasions were weak (0.42-0.66), but were acceptable to excellent (0.65-0.91) between test occasions 2 and 3. There was a considerable amount of random variation in the results, but little systematic variation, indicating no or possibly a small learning effect in the total number of accurately recorded appointments. This variation indicates a need to use two consecutive baseline measurements when the Swedish version of the Weelky Calendar Planning Acitivity is used as an outcome measure. Together, our results suggest that the Swedish version of the Weelky Calendar Planning Acitivity is a useful performance-based measure of how subtle problems in executive functioning affects activity performance.

Implications for rehabilitation:

• Executive functioning is crucial for managing daily life, and ecologically valid tests are needed to measure such functioning.
• The Weekly Calendar Planning Activity is a new performance-based test using a task that is relevant to daily life.
• The outcomes obtained in the Weekly Calendar Planning Activity are highly useful in clinical practice.
• The day-to-day variation in the Weekly Calendar Planning Activity results warrants the need for two consecutive baseline measurements when it is used to measure change.

Aim: The aim of this study was to describe how nurses and occupational therapists in municipal care of older people define and implement patient participation in their daily work.

Design: This study had a cross-sectional design. Data were collected using an online questionnaire.

Methods: The questionnaire had both closed and open-ended questions. One-hundred and fourteen nurses and occupational therapists responded. Data were analysed with descriptive statistics and thematic analysis.

Results: Two main themes were identified as follows: "The professionals' perspective at the centre - Patient participation to enhance compliance" and "The patients' perspective at the centre - Patient participation as an ongoing process." The themes covered a continuum. On one extreme, patient participation was equated with making the patient comply with what the professionals wanted to do. On the other extreme, all power was transferred to the patient. The first theme was restricted to the decision-making process. The second theme covered the entire care or, rehabilitation, process.

IMPORTANCE: Time management is crucial for managing daily activities but is difficult for many people with neurodevelopmental or mental disorders. Few sustainable interventions have addressed time management in daily life.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the experiences and meaning of attending the Swedish version of the Let's Get Organized (LGO-S) group intervention.

DESIGN: Qualitative design with interviews 1 to 4 mo after the completed intervention.

SETTING: Outpatient psychiatric and adult habilitation clinics.

PARTICIPANTS: Twelve adults with neurodevelopmental or mental disorders.

INTERVENTION: LGO-S, a manual-based group intervention that focuses on time-management skills. Outcomes and Measures: Semistructured interviews analyzed with qualitative content analysis. All authors took an active part in the analysis process; consensus was reached.

RESULTS: The overarching theme, "a roller-coaster process toward control over time in daily life," describes the participants' process during and after intervention. Four main categories describe the meaning of understanding why time management is difficult and how to use tools for improvement, a process of change that was facilitated by the learning environment. Participants described the process as a struggle to take control over time, but they noted that the positive changes in daily life made it worthwhile.

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Participation had a positive impact on daily life. The opportunity for skills training with support over an extended period, a changed view on failure, and the group format appear to be important success factors. What This Article Adds: The LGO-S, with its structured training of time-management skills, contributes to occupational therapy practice with an intervention that clients experience as bringing meaningful and positive changes to daily life functioning.

LGO is a promising tool for improving time management and organizational skills. The aim of this study was to describe the experiences and meaning of attending the LGO intervention. Participants described a roller coaster process toward control in daily life where successes and setbacks were mixed. Most participants experienced meaningful and positive changes in daily life, such as getting more things done, increased control, and safety.

Psychosocial variables may be important determinants of experienced back pain as well as dysfunction. This paper reports on differences on a battery of psychosocial variables between women, from the same work place, off work because of back pain, having only back pain (not off work), and those without back pain. The groups suffering pain had similar levels of pain intensity and frequency and the covariates of age and work load were used in MANCOVA analyses. The results showed significant overall differences on the Coping Strategies Questionnaire, Handicap Index, Duke Health Profile, as well as items concerning family support and the relation of pain to work. Several variables differed between the Healthy group on the one hand and the two groups suffering pain on the other hand. However, coping strategies and perceived health produced significant differences between all three groups in univariate analyses. Unlike other studies the Work APGAR produced no significant results. These data suggest that work status is not directly related to pain intensity, but rather to an interaction between psychosocial factors and the pain experience. Future research should delineate which variables may be used in screening.

Time management is a key OT intervention component. Valid and reliable instruments are essential for evaluating rehabilitation and OT interventions. The results of this study show that the Assessment of Time Management Skills has good measurement properties and consistent and replicable items and is useful in English-speaking countries. It can provide valid measures of time management skills, organization and planning skills, and regulation of emotion in a general population and presumably also a population with cognitive impairment.

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the Swedish version of the Let's Get Organized (LGO-S) intervention, aiming to support time-management habits and organizational skills, by exploring possible enhancements in time management skills and satisfaction with daily occupations, in people with time-management difficulties due to intellectual disability.

Method: A pre-test post-test design study including 23 adult participants with mild intellectual disabilities who reported difficulties in daily time management affecting their functioning in daily life negatively. Instruments used: Assessment of Time Management Skills (ATMS-S), Weekly Calendar Planning Activity (WCPA-SE) and Satisfaction with Daily Occupation measure (SDO-13). Intervention: The group intervention contained ten occasions one per week. Data was collected pre-and post-intervention, and 3- and 12-months follow-ups.

Results: The main preliminary findings were significant changes, post-intervention and at 3- and 12-months follow-ups in organization and planning, and at the 3-month follow-up in time management skills. The results at 12-month follow-up indicated sustainability in outcomes measured by ATMS-S. A non-significant but positive trend was observed in other outcomes between pre- and post- intervention.

Conclusions: Improvement with indicated sustainability in in organization and planning and in time management skills might be possible for persons with intellectual disabilities when participating in LGO group intervention.

Background: To perform daily activities, time management and organizational skills are essential and therefore also important intervention focus in occupational therapy. To guide and evaluate intervention, valid and reliable instruments that measure time management and organization skills are necessary. The aim of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Assessment of Time Management Skills (ATMS).

Methods: Eligible participants were volunteer adults from the general population who were aged between 18 and 65 years, had a good understanding of English, and were not currently involved in any training or education to improve time management. The ATMS was filled out as a computer-administered survey. Rasch measurement analysis was used to evaluate the validity and aspects of reliability of the ATMS.

Results: In total, 241 adults (112 male and 129 female, mean age = 40) participated. The analysis of principal components of residuals (PCA) and the item goodness-of-fit indicated that the 30-item scale does not measure only one single trait. Three subscales, time management (11 items), organization and planning (11 items), and regulation of emotion (5 items), were detected. One item each on the 11-item subscale showed misfit, but they were kept due to high relevance. All three subscales showed excellent results on analyses of PCA, local independence, and reliability.

Conclusions and Relevance: ATMS can provide valid measures of time management, organization and planning skills, and regulation of emotion in a general population and presumably also in a population with cognitive impairment. The measure is useful for occupational therapists in assessing patients' strengths and barriers in time management skills. It can also be useful in identifying the necessity of training time management skills, to guide OT intervention programs and to evaluate interventions.

What This Article Adds: Knowledge about the psychometric properties and usefulness of the ATMS in English-speaking countries.

BACKGROUND: Swedish social policy enables ageing in place with support from home-based care services despite high age and/or declining health.

AIM: This study aims to describe the daily life experiences behind the decision to apply for a nursing home placement in older adults ageing in place.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: A qualitative design was chosen, and 11 semi-structured interviews were conducted and analysed using inductive qualitative content analysis.

RESULTS: The participants described a feeling of dependence in which they had to ignore their personal privacy when receiving home-based care. They reached a turning point when ageing in place was, for several reasons, no longer considered an acceptable option. This influenced their choice to apply to a nursing home where they expected that they could maintain control over their lives.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: The results indicate that when enhancing ageing in place it is important to enable older adults to receive support to maintain autonomy in daily activities and to have the opportunity to age in the right place.

Background/Aim In Sweden, most people age in ordinary housing, called aging in place. To support aging in place, older people can apply for home-based care such as Meals on Wheels or response alarm .Despite this support, the municipalities receive applications to nursing homes on a daily basis, which indicates that aging in place does not fill everyone’s needs. The aim of this study was to describe what experiences in daily life that make older people aging in place apply for a nursing home.

Method This study has a descriptive design. Face to face interviews were conducted with older people with declining physical health who had a granted application for a place in a nursing home and were waiting for a placement. Some waited in their homes with or without home-based care and some waited in a short-term facility run by the municipality. Interviews were analyzed by qualitative content analysis according to Elo and Kyngäs.

Preliminary findings One main category emerged - “To move to a nursing home- a way to regain control over my life”. It was characterized by a feeling of decreasing level of independence which led to experiences of lack of social context or being in a state of dependence where someone else controlled decisions of their lives.  The participants had reached a point where they strongly felt that something has to be done to change their situation. This was usually associated with a critical event such as a hospitalization or after been informed of a cancer diagnosis. These experiences are described by three generic categories with seven subcategories.  The generic categories are “The opportunity to belong to a context”, “A state of dependence” and “Reaching a turning point”.

Conclusions The findings show that a feeling of lost control due to perceived dependence, falling health or critical everyday life events may lead to a nursing home application. Therefore, in order to enhance aging in place it is important to enable older people to be socially involved, get support to stay as independent as possible in their daily activities and to handle critical events such as hospitalization.

Home-based care is expanding, and we need to know more about what kind of support older adults need and how such support should be designed. One way to gain more knowledge is to study the experiences that underlie a nursing home application. However, older adults in need of nursing homes are often too weak to participate in research. Thus, this study aimed to describe the experiences of close relatives of the daily life of older adults in need of a nursing home. A qualitative approach was used, where fifteen relatives of nursing home applicants in central Sweden were interviewed using a study-specific interview guide. The interviews were analysed using thematic analysis. The findings are presented in one main theme "Being the person who manages a fragile life situation" with three underlying themes: Balancing and fulfilling expectations, striving to achieve a status quo, experiencing a breaking point, a change is inevitable, and waiting and moving into a nursing home, a period of tension. The main theme describes how the participants contributed to managing the older adults' life situation and acted as a representative in contacts with health and social care. They tried to offer support in their daily life but over time experienced a breaking point when ageing in place was no longer sustainable, resulting in a nursing home application. The rationale for a nursing home application was often a combination of the older adult's own wishes and the fact that their relatives felt there was a combined need for extensive care and physical proximity to staff, which cannot be provided in ordinary housing. Sometimes the decision to apply was also based on relatives no longer having the capacity to continue managing an older adult's fragile situation.

Introduction: Ageing in place, is in most European societies a social norm and is made possible by home-based care services and by support from relatives. Yet some older adults describe ageing in place as an unsatisfying life situation and instead apply for a nursing home. Thus, relatives supporting these older adults´ daily lives are part of that experience but the knowledge of how that unsatisfying experience is shared by the relatives is limited. Hence, the study aimed to describe experiences of being a relative to a nursing home applicant.

Method: Semi-structured interviews were conducted by phone with 15 relatives (spouse n=2, children n=13) to nursing home applicants. The data was collected in year 2020 during the covid-19 pandemic. Interviews were analyzed using a thematic analysis approach according to Braun and Clark. 

Results: Preliminary results show that the relatives have many expectations to handle, both from themselves, the nursing home applicant and healthcare. In addition, the covid-19 pandemic made it difficult to fulfill the expectations and the relatives consider both their own and the nursing home applicant’s situation as fragile. Final themes will be presented at the conference.

Conclusion: Increased understanding of what experiences that influence everyday activities when ageing in place, could facilitate occupational therapists’ work with older adults living at home. For example, relatives should be included at an early stage of the occupational therapy process in order to provide insight into which areas of daily life occupational therapists should prioritize and support. 

Objective: Emergency care takes place in a complex work environment that is characterized by critically ill patients, short hospital stays, and a wide variety of different healthcare professionals. Studies of occupational therapists’ (OTs) experiences of working within emergency care have shown that they often experience difficulties in explaining the essence of occupational therapy and have to justify their approaches. Much effort has been made in Sweden to help OTs dispel the notion that occupational therapy is difficult to explain, and the aim of this study was to describe how Swedish OTs perceive their work in emergency care.

Method: A qualitative descriptive approach was taken, and 14 interviews were conducted with OTs working in emergency care. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyse the data.

Results: The overall theme that emerged was “Feeling established through deliberate occupation-based work”. The underlying categories showed different strategies used by the OTs to provide occupational therapy in an emergency care context. Deliberate strategies were used to demonstrate the effectiveness of occupational therapy and its approaches to patients and other health care professionals, and this resulted in the OTs feeling both established and needed. Unlike the OTs in previous studies, the Swedish OTs experienced no difficulties in explaining occupational therapy and could make convincing arguments for their interventions. Parallel to their clinical work, the OTs worked with on-going development to find ways to improve their approaches.

Conclusions: In summary, these Swedish OTs seem to have been provided with a professional language and the knowledge required to establish themselves in an emergency care setting.

Introduction Societal norms and policies encourage older adults to age and receive care in their home, referred to as ageing in place. Nevertheless, Swedish older adults apply for nursing home admission. To understand how ageing in place better could be supported, the aim was to study descriptions of older adults’ reasons for applying to a nursing home in documents of granted nursing home decisions.

Methods 160 granted nursing home decisions underwent document analysis, to study if reasons occurred due to person, environmental or occupational factors according to occupational theory model Canadian Model of Occupation Performance- Engagement.

Result Several factors in different parts of life were experienced to lead to a nursing home application, e.g., multiple impairments, anxiety, loneliness, or longing to be closer to relatives or healthcare staff. Additionally, reasons could also be recommendations from healthcare staff or that a spouse didn´t want to live together with support from home-based care.

Conclusions The results highlight societal injustices that occurred for older adults who age in place, which expedited the applications. The documents described how ageing in place shrunk their opportunities for activity, social cohesion, and the possibility to proximity to staff.

Introduction Previous research has shown that nursing home applicants had negative experiences of living and receiving care in their ordinary housing due to several factors, such as difficulties in everyday activities and being depressed. However, whether these experiences stand solely for nursing home applicants, or are common in an older population in general needs to be investigated.

Aim of this study was to compare nursing home applicants with matched older adults with respect to difficulties in everyday life, life satisfaction and depressive mood.

Methods Using a case-control design, 34 participants (17 in each group) were compared using Wilcoxon signed rank test for continuous variables and McNemar test for binary variables. The magnitude of associations was explored using conditional logistic regression.

Results Nursing home applicants experienced more difficulties in daily life and were more depressed than their matched peers, and this difference between groups was significant. To experience several difficulties in everyday life and being depressed increased the odds for a nursing home application.

Conclusions As aging in place is the societal norm, older adults with increased likelihood of nursing home applications need to be identified and catered for in an early stage, to prevent nursing home admission.

Background/Objectives: Recent guidelines on early intervention in children at high risk of cerebral palsy (CP) recommend parental involvement and family-centered home-based interventions with parents as primary trainers. Therapist coaching by home visitation is resource demanding, and telerehabilitation is a viable option for remote intervention and coaching. This study aims to describe parents' experiences of engaging in Baby-mCIMT coached remotely. Their infants are at high risk of unilateral cerebral palsy and the parents have been the primary trainers in regard to home-based intervention, optimizing the use of the affected hand.

Methods: A qualitative approach involving semi-structured interviews with eight parents was employed. Data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis.

Results: The overarching theme "Parents in the driver's seat-learning through remote coaching to create conditions to enhance the child's motor skills" describes parents' experiences as primary training providers. The following three underlying categories with subcategories were identified: (1) Baby-mCIMT coached remotely in an everyday context-practical and technical prerequisites; (2) the child's response and the therapists' coaching supports active parental learning; (3) capability and sense of control-strengthening and demanding aspects.

Conclusions: Our findings revealed that Baby-mCIMT coached remotely empowered the parents as primary trainers, which provided them with opportunities for understanding and learning about their child and their development. The findings underscore the importance of responsive professional guidance and a strong therapist-parent relationship to succeed with the Baby-mCIMT program coached remotely and to manage the digital coaching format.

BACKGROUND: Time-management skills are essential in handling daily life, and adults with neurodevelopmental disorders often have difficulty with these skills. Therefore, interventions targeting such skills are common in occupational therapy. The Assessment of Time-Management Skills (ATMS) is a self-rated instrument for measuring time-management skills.

AIM: This study aims to evaluate the test-retest reliability of the Swedish version of the ATMS (ATMS-S).

MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 33 participants with neurodevelopmental disorders and difficulty with time management completed the test twice, approximately 1 week apart. The test-retest reliability for the three subscales in the ATMS-S was analyzed using intraclass correlation coefficients. The smallest detectable change was calculated to determine the precision of individual ATMS units.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The results showed overall moderate to good stability for the measures. The intraclass correlation coefficients were 0.79 (time management), 0.82 (organization and planning), and 0.50 (regulation of emotions) for the three subscales, and the smallest detectable changes were 9.5, 6.9, and 15.7 ATMS units for the respective subscales. These results suggest that the ATMS-S is a sufficiently stable tool for measuring time management and organization and planning skills in adults with neurodevelopmental disorders, but may be less reliable for measuring emotional regulation.