OT Blog

This evening I had the chance to attend an Al-Anon meeting, which is a 12-step program for the families of alcoholics. I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but when Caitlyn and I arrived there were only 4 other people there. This was a very small, close meeting. I think the number of individuals has a big impact on the session, it seemed more personal. Our group flowed very well. Since it was so small everyone had multiple chances to share and to give each other feedback/let each other know they aren’t alone.  We sat around a small table, and while the binder with notes sat in front of one individual, I could not figure out who the leader/facilitator was, we were all around as equals. Two people sort of lead and got the group going and then everyone shared, it was such a community that it was hard to tell if there even was a leader. That being said, one of the ‘leaders’ would ask if anyone else wanted to share and both leaders encouraged participat

While searching the evidence for the group process in occupational therapy I came across a very interesting article titled “Evaluation of an occupational therapy mentorship program: Effects on therapists’ skills and family-centered behavior”. In this study, researchers looked at the effects of a groups-based mentorship program for occupational therapists practicing at a regional children’s rehabilitation center. So, the OTs were the one’s attending OT group, sort of like we are doing in our groups class. Twenty-five female OTs took part in the study. The researchers started with pretesting the participants with a series of questionnaires on topics such as self-confidence, respectful treatment, listening skills, clinical skills, and more. The OTs were mentored by peers and attended multiple 90 minute group sessions that were facilitated by an OT that was not a participant in the study. During the group sessions, the participants reviewed and discussed various case studies