An international study of diversity in occupational therapy research- A bibliographic review of English research literature.

BACKGROUND: The cornerstone of a strong profession is the research that supports its knowledge base and practice. However, little is known about the range of international occupational therapy research. OBJECTIVE: To explore the range and diversity of the international occupational therapy research from published peer reviewed literature in English during the year 2018. METHODOLOGY: Limited to 2018, a review was conducted of sources from i) health-related search engines using search terms associated with occupational therapy practice, and ii) content pages of occupational therapy publications. Articles were excluded if they i) had no occupational therapy author, ii) were not peer reviewed, iii) not in English, and iv) did not include primary data collection (e.g., opinion pieces, position statements, study protocols). Of articles selected for analysis, data were extracted and synthesized according to the study's origin country, publishing research journal, the characteristics of the represented research, and its alignment with World Federation of Occupational Therapists research priorities. RESULTS: A total of 4,169 articles were retrieved from the search (i.e., 3,459 from health-related search engines and 710 through a manual search of occupational therapy journals). After exclusions, 2,345 articles were included for analysis. CONCLUSION: The review identified English published research was predominantly conducted in economically privileged countries. In addition, it revealed several research priorities that need further development such as evaluating the effectiveness of occupational therapy interventions.

Higher Rumination Tendency Is Associated with Reduced Positive Effects of Daily Activity Participation in People with Depressive Disorder.

Objectives: Rumination, a response style characterized by self-reflection loops of negative thoughts, tends to exacerbate depressive symptoms and may impair daily functional behaviors of individuals with depression. However, the specific impacts of rumination on activity participation remain unclear. The current study was aimed at examining the differences in daily activity participation profiles between clinically depressed people with higher versus lower rumination tendencies, with the hope to provide insightful suggestions for improving the quality of life of ruminative individuals with major depression. Methods: We recruited 143 participants with a depression-related diagnosis from psychiatric daycare centers or clinics and analyzed the differences in activity participation profiles between individuals with higher versus lower rumination tendencies. Results: Although compared to those with lower rumination tendencies, participants with higher rumination tendencies spent a longer time in activity participation; they experienced lower participation quality during these activities. Furthermore, their activity participation was primarily motivated by meeting others' expectations rather than self-interest. They also misattributed participation restriction to "lack of family support," indicating that the unhealthy rumination pattern might be the cause of their lack of positive feelings from engaging in meaningful daily activities. Conclusions: The current results suggest that the unhealthy motivation behind activity participation seems to be an important factor that decreases the quality of participation in individuals with higher rumination tendency. Establishing a healthy motivation for activity participation is therefore critical for improving their quality of participation. As an initial step, OT interventions could put a focus on helping them clarify and escape from the source of negative rumination cycles that impede their positive feeling of activity participation.

Are the measurement structures of the Traditional Chinese Dispositional Flow Scale-2 equivalent between schizophrenic patients and healthy subjects?

BACKGROUND: The Dispositional Flow Scale-2 (DFS-2) is an instrument for measuring the flow experiences of the general population while participating in daily activities. This study aimed to examine the equivalence in the measurement structure of Traditional Chinese DFS-2 (TCDFS-2) between the schizophrenic patients and healthy subjects. METHODS: We recruited 100 adults with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder from the psychiatric clinics or the centers for daycare or rehabilitation and 104 healthy adults. Each participant finished the TCDFS-2 by recalling the most important and meaningful daily activity. RESULTS: We conducted two two-group confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) with the healthy subjects and schizophrenic patients as the reference group respectively in LISREL. When the healthy subjects as the reference standard, 43 items of the TCDFS-2 were added to this constrained two-group CFA model for the schizophrenic patients, but the cross-group equivalence was still unsatisfactory. By contrast, when the schizophrenic patients as the reference standard, only 6 items were added for the healthy subjects, and the cross-group equivalence was barely acceptable. CONCLUSION: Thus, the measurement structures of the TCDFS-2 were quite different between the schizophrenic patients and healthy subjects. The flow states experienced by the schizophrenic patients might not entirely be the same as those of the healthy subjects.

Traditional-Chinese Dispositional Flow Scale-2 and Flow State Scale-2 in Taiwanese subjects with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder.

INTRODUCTION: The 36-item Dispositional Flow Scale-2 (DFS-2) and Flow State Scale-2 (FSS-2) were developed to assess flow experience in daily and specific activities. Although their validity and reliability had been examined in general populations and different cultures, little is known for schizophrenic subjects. Thus, this study aimed to validate Traditional-Chinese DFS-2 (TCDFS-2) and FSS-2 (TCFSS-2) in Taiwanese subjects with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder. METHODS: We recruited 229 adult participants from outpatient clinics, day care centers, and psychiatric rehabilitation centers in Taipei. They filled out 36-item TCDFS-2 and TCFSS-2 under guidance. The LISREL 9.30 software was used to conduct exploratory factor analysis for exploring measurement structures, and then confirmatory factor analysis for identifying factor models. RESULTS: The six first-order factor and one second-order factor measurement models were obtained for both 36-item TCDFS-2 (Chi-square statistic = 999.1, df = 545, p < 0.0001, Root Mean Square Error of Approximation [RMSEA] = 0.0603, and Comparative Fit Index [CFI] = 0.9213) and TCFSS-2 (Chi-square statistic = 987.9, df = 539, p < 0.0001, RMSEA = 0.0603, and CFI = 0.9213). CONCLUSION: Our factor models differed remarkably from those of 36-item DFS-2 and FSS-2. Yet, they were barely acceptable to be used to measure flow experiences in schizophrenic subjects in clinical applications. Since the factor scores, measurement structures, or even definitions of flow experiences could differ substantially between healthy people and patients with mental illness, disease-specific instruments of flow experiences should be considered in the future.