Evaluation of the Jail-Based Occupational Therapy Transition and Integration Services Program for Community Reentry.

IMPORTANCE: Transition and integration reentry services continue to grow in carceral settings; however, related provision of occupational therapy is limited. OBJECTIVE: To examine the implementation fidelity of an occupational therapy-administered interprofessional reentry program initiated in an urban jail. DESIGN: Retrospective, mixed quantitative and qualitative design. SETTING: Community-based reentry services provided prerelease in a Midwestern urban jail and postrelease in the local St. Louis community. PARTICIPANTS: Occupational therapy practitioners tracking process measures for identifying reentry project feasibility. INTERVENTION: Provision of recruitment, assessment, and skilled occupational therapy services with people held in a short-term jail facility and follow-up during community reentry. OUTCOME AND MEASURES: Detailed logs were analyzed to describe attendance at and duration of sessions. We coded barriers to and facilitators of implementation from weekly team meeting notes and logs using social-ecological categories. RESULTS: Findings indicate that it was feasible to implement prerelease jail-based services (N = 63) because of jail operations and community partnerships (facilitators) and to overcome institutional policies and environmental limitations (barriers). Full 8-wk prerelease programming was completed by 38% (n = 24) of participants, and 52% (n = 33) participated less than 8 wk. All who completed the full prerelease program and transitioned to the community (n = 15) initiated postrelease occupational therapy services. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: The iterative feedback provided by process evaluation supported the feasibility of implementing the jail-based Occupational Therapy Transition and Integration Services program. WHAT THIS ARTICLE ADDS: This process evaluation provides evidence that implementation of an occupational therapy-based transition program in an urban jail is feasible.

Translating Occupational Justice Education Into Action: Reflections From an Exploratory Single Case Study.

There is a growing body of scholarly literature about occupational justice, human rights, and power redistribution ready to be integrated into occupational science and occupational therapy education. As students around the world become familiar with the concepts and intents underlying occupational justice, it will be important to investigate their translation of occupational justice understandings into actions outside the classroom. This exploratory single case study describes curricular, university, and regional factors related to one former student's engagement in social protests following her occupational justice education. Based on her reflections, we emphasize the need to provide classroom opportunities where students can apply and critically reflect on (a) knowledge about occupational justice and (b) unintended consequences and potential professional tensions that may arise in relation to pursuing occupational justice. Future research will benefit from broader comparative studies that analyze personal, contextual, and programmatic differences among instances of occupational justice education and students' engagement in occupational reconstructions.