A father nevertheless: Self-confident but resigned fathers with children in foster care.

This qualitative study aimed to explore the experiences of nine fathers with neurodevelopmental disabilities with children in foster care, including their fathering role, visits and formal and informal support. Systematic text condensation was the analysis method used. The respondents' experience of fatherhood revealed two categories: I accept my situation and I am frustrated. Though self-confident, the fathers expressed ambivalence between acceptance and frustration with their role. The study shows that more should be done to provide adapted support for these vulnerable fathers with children in foster care, although they seldom demand such support. Social workers and professionals from the rehabilitation team within the healthcare service should be aware of gendered settings, specifically norms of masculinity. Increased efforts from the social workers may reduce the risks of detachment in parenthood because engaged and informed fathers are in the children's best interests.

A more active parenting after attending Let's Get Organized - Experiences of parents with ADHD.

BACKGROUND: Parenting demands a high degree of attention, planning, and problem-solving, including time management, demands that can be challenging for parents with ADHD. Let's Get Organized (LGO) is an occupational therapy group intervention aiming at developing skills in time management, organisation and planning. There is a need to investigate if LGO may have an impact also on parenting. AIM: To describe how parents with ADHD experienced the intervention, their time management strategies, parenting and family life after the occupational therapy group intervention LGO. METHOD: Interviews were performed with 15 parents with ADHD, after completing LGO. Data were analysed using qualitative content analysis. RESULTS: The findings are described in one overarching main category, Active parenting and better relations within and outside the family through daily time management with three underlying generic categories: Let's Get Organized facilitates empowerment in daily life; The individual and family - both facilitators of and obstacles to implementation of time management strategies; and A changed parenting and family life. CONCLUSIONS AND SIGNIFICANCE: Participants experienced a positive impact on time management skills after LGO, which generated more active parenting and better predictability in the whole family. LGO can be a valuable intervention for parents with ADHD.

Daily time management in dementia: qualitative interviews with persons with dementia and their significant others.

BACKGROUND: Persons with dementia encounter time-related problems and significant others often need to provide support in daily time management and use of time assistive technology (AT). Further research has been requested on how time AT for persons with dementia affects the situation of significant others. Moreover, there are a few previous qualitative studies on the experiences of time AT by persons with dementia. This study explores the experiences of persons with dementia and significant others in daily time management and their perceptions on how time AT affects everyday life. METHOD: Semi-structured interviews with persons with mild to moderate dementia (n = 6) and significant others (n = 9) were conducted three months after receiving prescribed time AT. Interviews were analysed using qualitative content analysis. RESULTS: A main category "Support by significant others is always part of daily time management", and three categories "Facing new challenges", "Using strategies to handle changes", and "Time assistive technology in daily life" illustrated that significant others provided support for daily time management in all phases of dementia. This support was often embedded in other kinds of support for emerging challenges. Support in time management was needed from an early stage in dementia, and responsibility for time management was gradually transferred to significant others. Time AT could support time orientation and were important for sharing the time management conducted by others but did not enable independent time management. CONCLUSIONS: Time-related assessments and interventions should be offered at an early stage of dementia to increase the possibility of maintaining daily time management skills. Using time AT to communicate time might increase agency and participation in daily occupations for persons with dementia. Given the central role of significant others for daily time management, the society needs to adequately support persons with dementia lacking support from significant others.

Evaluation of the group intervention "Let's Get Organized" for improving time management, organisational, and planning skills in people with mild intellectual disability.

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.

Cross-cultural adaptation of assessments for time-related abilities of Indian older adults and evaluation of their reliability and validity.

BACKGROUND: Older adults may have difficulties in daily time management due to age-related or disease-related cognitive impairment. Standardised assessments for time-related abilities are currently unavailable in India. AIM: The study aimed to adapt the Kit for Assessing Time-processing Ability-Senior (KaTid-Senior) and Time-Self rating, Senior (Time-S Senior) for daily time management of Indian older adults, translate these into an Indian language, and evaluate the reliability and validity of the adapted assessments. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The two Swedish-origin assessments were reviewed, adapted for linguistic and cultural relevance into English, and translated into Kannada language. Older adults (n = 128) were conveniently selected, assessed with the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, and assigned to age and gender-matched groups: cognitively-impaired and cognitively-normal. Data was then collected with the adapted assessments. RESULTS: Both adapted assessments demonstrated acceptable reliability (internal consistency) in this sample (α =0.89 - 0.90). The cognitively-impaired group had significantly (p < 0.001) lower scores on the assessments as compared to the cognitively-normal group. There was a strong to moderate correlation between the assessments supporting their convergent validity. CONCLUSIONS: The adapted assessments are reliable and valid in the Indian context. SIGNIFICANCE: The study would facilitate contextually-relevant assessment and management of time-related abilities in Indian older adults.

Efficacy of a school-based intervention to influence attitudes about future parenting among Swedish youth with intellectual disability: An RCT study.

BACKGROUND: The study aim was to investigate the efficacy of an intervention designed to provide a basis for informed choices about future parenthood to special upper secondary school students with intellectual disabilities. METHODS: A randomised trial with a waiting list control group was used. In total, 108 special upper secondary school students with mild or moderate intellectual disabilities, age 16-21 years, provided informed consent and participated. The intervention included education using the Parenting Toolkit and a Real Care Baby simulator. The analyses included 91 students (intervention group n = 46, 24F/22M; control group n = 45, 26F/19M). RESULTS: The result showed that intervention group changed their attitudes to future parenting, from 'do not know' to 'know', significantly more than control group. The intervention increased knowledge levels in the intervention group. CONCLUSIONS: The intervention group showed increased ability to make informed choices and decisions about parenthood.

The experiences and the meaning of using MyTime in the preschool context from the perspective of children in need of special support, 5-6 years of age.

BACKGROUND: Children in need of special support often display delays in time processing ability, affecting everyday functioning. MyTime is an intervention programme for systematic training of time processing ability. To support preschool children's development of time processing ability and everyday functioning, it is necessary to include their perspectives of the MyTime intervention programme. A previous study shows that MyTime is feasible with children in the preschool setting and shows positive effects on time processing ability for older children in special schools. Yet, there is a lack of knowledge regarding how preschool children experience the intervention programme and how they understand its meaning. The aim of this study was to explore the experiences and the meaning of using MyTime from the perspective of children with informal needs of special support (INS) 5-6 years of age in the preschool context. METHODS: To explore the children's perspectives, video-recorded interviews with 21 children were analysed hermeneutically. To facilitate the interview situation with the children in need of special support, the Talking Mats© was used. Both body and spoken languages were analysed. RESULTS: The results reveal children as active participants, willing to share their experiences of using the MyTime intervention in the preschool context. The conceptualization of the children's experiences and expressions uncovers their meaning of using the MyTime intervention as to know and to understand time by doing. CONCLUSIONS: When children are given the opportunity to use concrete tools to understand and measure time, they experience themselves as active participants involved and engaged in the intervention. They reveal meaningful experiences to be able to manage time that facilitate their everyday functioning and participation in the preschool context.

Assessing time processing ability and daily time management in persons with dementia: Psychometric properties of three instruments.

INTRODUCTION: Persons with dementia experience time-related problems, but there is a lack of instruments evaluating their time processing ability and daily time management. This study aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the instruments KaTid®-Senior measuring time processing ability, and Time-S© Senior and Time-Proxy© measuring daily time management for persons with dementia. METHODS: Persons with dementia (n = 53) and their significant others (n = 49) participated in the study. Rasch analyses were used to evaluate the instruments' rating scale functioning; internal scale validity; person-response validity; unidimensionality; person-separation reliability; and internal consistency. Versions excluding items with poor fit to the Rasch model were also evaluated. RESULTS: Overall, the Rasch analyses showed acceptable psychometric properties. All instruments met the criteria for unidimensionality and the reliability was good. More challenging items should be added in KaTid-Senior for better targeting of persons with mild dementia. Person-response validity issues in Time-S Senior need to be addressed. CONCLUSION: The instruments can validly and reliably be used to assess time processing ability and daily time management in persons with dementia in clinical research and healthcare settings. In turn, this can contribute to the development of methods to compensate for impaired time processing ability and daily time management. The assessments can also increase the possibility of early detection of impaired time processing ability and daily time management, thereby facilitating adequate timing of interventions and enhanced occupational performance.

Associations between Time Processing Ability, Daily Time Management, and Dementia Severity.

This study investigated associations between time processing ability (TPA), daily time management (DTM), and dementia severity. Persons with dementia (PwDs) (n = 53) and their significant others (n = 49) participated in this cross-sectional study. Bivariate analyses were used to investigate associations between TPA and DTM and the dementia severity. Linear regression models were used to further predict the contribution of the subtests in the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) for TPA results. The results showed significant correlations between TPA and dementia severity, where visuospatial functions were the most highly correlated. TPA also showed a significant correlation to proxy-rated DTM. In addition, proxy-rated DTM was significantly correlated with dementia severity and PwDs' own self-ratings of their DTM. Knowledge of the association between TPA, dementia severity, and visuospatial functions can enable early detection of TPA impairments. For a comprehensive assessment of TPA and DTM, objective measures should be used in combination with self-ratings and proxy-ratings. The findings can be used in clinical research and healthcare settings to develop methods to compensate for impaired TPA and support DTM in PwDs.

The Psychometric Properties of the Original Version of Assessment of Time Management Skills (ATMS).

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.

Feasibility of an intervention to facilitate time and everyday functioning in preschoolers.

BACKGROUND: Children in need of special support (INS) often display delays in time-processing ability (TPA) affecting everyday functioning. Typically developing (TD) children are not yet mature to use the information of a clock. AIM: To investigate the feasibility of an intervention program, MyTime, to facilitate TPA and everyday functioning in pre-school children, including the subjective experiences of pre-school staff and the children. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The intervention sample consisted of 20 children: 4 INS and 16 TD. Intervention was given daily in 8 weeks with MyTime in the pre-school environment. Data collection procedures were evaluated and children were assessed for TPA pre- and post intervention. Everyday functioning were assessed by teachers, parents and children. Experiences of the intervention were assessed by a group interview with teachers and a Talking Mats© evaluation with children. RESULTS: MyTime worked well in pre-school and indicated an increase in the children's TPA and everyday functioning. The program was perceived simple to use by teachers and children highlighted the importance to understand the duration of time. CONCLUSION: The program MyTime was found to be feasible in the pre-school environment. Significance: The assessment and program design can be used to investigate intervention effectiveness in a randomised study.

One-year follow-up after the time management group intervention Let's Get Organized.

BACKGROUND: Time management skills are essential to maintain occupations in everyday life. People with neurodevelopmental or mental disorders often experience persistent difficulties with managing time and organizing daily life, consequently, there is a need to establish interventions with sustainable results. AIM: The aim was to perform a one-year post-intervention follow-up after the intervention Let's Get Organized (LGO-S) for people with neurodevelopmental or mental disorders. METHODS: The study is a one-year follow-up of a single group pre-test-post-test design. Thirty-eight persons with difficulties in time management due to neurodevelopmental or mental disorders participated. Instruments to collect data were Assessment of Time Management Skills; Weekly Calendar Planning Activity and the Satisfaction with Daily Occupations instrument. Wilcoxons's signed-rank test was used to compare data over time. RESULTS: There were no significant differences in the participants' outcomes between post-intervention and one-year follow-up in time management skills and regulation of emotions, satisfaction with daily occupations, and global satisfaction. A significant improvement could be seen in the subscale organization and planning at the one-year follow-up compared to post-intervention. CONCLUSIONS: Improvements in time management skills, organization, and planning, regulation of emotions, and satisfaction with daily occupations after the LGO-S can be maintained in the long term.

Evaluation of the "Let's Get Organized" group intervention to improve time management: protocol for a multi-centre randomised controlled trial.

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.

Occupational performance goals and outcomes of time-related interventions for children with ADHD.

BACKGROUND: Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have difficulties with occupational performance, related to difficulties with time-processing ability. AIMS: To examine the outcome of a multimodal time-related intervention designed to support children aged 9-15 years with ADHD, to achieve their occupational performance goals and improve satisfaction with occupational performance. A further aim was to compare the children's ratings of outcome with their parents' ratings and to analyse the occupational performance goals. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A pre-post design was used. Participants were 27 children, aged 9-15 years. Children and parents rated occupational performance and satisfaction at baseline and follow-up, after 24 weeks, using the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM). The intervention consisted of time-skills training and time-assistive devices (TADs). Descriptive and non-parametric statistics were used. RESULTS: Significant improvements were found in reported performance and satisfaction. Children's were higher than those of their parents. Most goals were about carrying out daily routines, knowing the duration of an activity and knowing what will happen in the near future. CONCLUSION AND SIGNIFICANCE: The study contributes to knowledge about suitable interventions for children with ADHD who have time-related difficulties. Occupational therapy interventions, including TADs and time-skills training, resulted in significantly improved occupational performance.

A school-based intervention can promote insights into future parenting in students with intellectual disabilities-A Swedish interview study.

BACKGROUND: Few studies have focused on how youth with intellectual disability (ID) can be facilitated in reasoning about future parenthood. This study aimed to explore an intervention using the Toolkit "Childrenwhat does it involve?" and the Real-Care-Baby (RCB) simulator among students with ID. METHOD: Sixteen students with ID who participated in an intervention with 13 educational sessions, with adapted knowledge and a three-day caring session with the RCB simulator, were individually interviewed after the intervention. Qualitative content analysis was used. RESULTS: Participants reported that the intervention provided important thoughts and insights on future parenting, providing a basis for informed decisions. The ability to be responsible and have autonomy in life and in caring for a future child were described as important. CONCLUSION: After an intervention, with structured and adapted knowledge and experiences of the RCB simulator, students with ID reported an understanding of the importance of informed decisions about future parenthood.

Lack of time and dependence on significant others: Occupational therapists´ experiences of prescribing time assistive technology for persons with dementia.

Background: There is lack of knowledge on how occupational therapists (OTs) assess daily time management (DTM) for persons with dementia (PwDs) and on which aspects affect prescription of time assistive technology (AT).Aim: To explore OTs' experiences of assessing the need for and prescribing time AT for PwDs.Material and methods: Focus group interviews with OTs that prescribe time AT for PwDs analyzed via qualitative content analysis.Results: A main category and four categories were identified. The categories illustrated a complex and time-consuming prescription process, which was facilitated if the PwD was supported by a significant other (SO). Support from a SO was especially important during implementation and follow-up. OTs had to take individual responsibility for staying informed about time AT. Organizational limitations and time constraints were barriers for OTs striving to work according to national prescription guidelines.Conclusions and significance: High demands are made on SO's participation during the prescription process. PwDs with no support from SOs are at risk not receiving or fully benefitting from time AT. To avoid inequalities, specific forms of support need to be developed and targeted at PwDs without SOs to ensure that they have sufficient opportunities to access and use time AT.

Pilot Study of Let's Get Organized: A Group Intervention for Improving Time Management.

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.

Intervention in time-processing ability, daily time management and autonomy in children with intellectual disabilities aged 10-17 years - A cluster randomised trial.

BACKGROUND/AIM: Difficulties with management of time are frequently observed in children and youth with intellectual disabilities (IDs). The aim of this study was to evaluate a new intervention programme 'My Time' to improve time-processing ability (TPA) in children with IDs aged 10-17 years (n = 61). METHODS: Cluster randomised and waiting-list control group design was used. Data collection included the Kit for assessment of TPA, the Time-Parent scale and a self-rating of autonomy to assess occupational performance in daily life. The method was implemented over an 8-week period. Effect size (ES) was calculated and an analysis of covariance on the individual level and a two-stage process on the cluster level. RESULTS: The estimated mean improvement in the KaTid-Child score from baseline (t1) to t2 was significantly higher in the intervention group compared to the waiting-list group, ES Cohen's d = 0.64. CONCLUSION: The results present first evidence of the effectiveness of a new occupational therapy intervention programme ('My Time') to facilitate TPA in children with mild to moderate IDs. Children with IDs aged 10-17 years could improve their TPA at a measurable pace when given intervention. The method could complement interventions using time-assistive devices. Children with IDs should be identified to guide intervention. Further research is necessary to establish whether using the intervention programme can facilitate the development of TPA in younger children.

An intervention using the Parenting Toolkit "Children-What does it involve?" and the Real-Care-Baby simulator among students with intellectual disability-A feasibility study.

BACKGROUND: There is limited knowledge about how young people with intellectual disability can be facilitated in their process of deciding about parenthood. This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility of an upcoming trial to evaluate an intervention using the Toolkit "Children-what does it involve?" and the "Real-Care-Baby" (RCB) simulator among students with intellectual disability. METHODS: Six students with intellectual disability participated in an intervention with eight educational sessions and a 3-day caring session with the RCB simulator. Data were collected with questionnaires and interviews. RESULTS: The study showed that it is possible to evaluate an intervention using these instruments among students with intellectual disability in order to provide them with further insights about parenthood. CONCLUSION: It is feasible to evaluate the Toolkit and the RCB in a cluster-randomized study and that such a study could add to our knowledge about possible intervention strategies regarding reproduction and parenting among students with intellectual disability.

The influence of environment: Experiences of users of myoelectric arm prosthesis-a qualitative study.

BACKGROUND: Prostheses are used to varying degrees; however, little is known about how environmental aspects influence this use. OBJECTIVES: To describe users' experiences of how environmental factors influence their use of a myoelectric arm prosthesis. STUDY DESIGN: Qualitative and descriptive. METHODS: A total of 13 patients previously provided with a myoelectric prosthetic hand participated. Their age, sex, deficiency level, etiology, current prosthesis use, and experience varied. Semi-structured interviews were audiotaped, transcribed, and analyzed through inductive content analysis. RESULTS: Four categories were created from the data: "Prosthesis function," "Other people's attitudes," "Support from family and healthcare," and "Individual's attitude and strategies." The overarching theme, "Various degrees of embodiment lead to different experiences of environmental barriers and facilitators," emerged from differences in individual responses depending on whether the individual was a daily or a non-daily prosthesis user. Environmental facilitators such as support from family and healthcare and good function and fit of the prosthesis seemed to help the embodiment of the prosthesis, leading to daily use. This embodiment seemed to reduce the influence of environmental barriers, for example, climate, attitudes, and technical shortcomings. CONCLUSION: Embodiment of prostheses seems to reduce the impact of environmental barriers. Support and training may facilitate the embodiment of myoelectric prosthesis use. Clinical relevance For successful prosthetic rehabilitation, environmental factors such as support and information to the patient and their social network about the benefits of prosthesis use are important. Local access to training in myoelectric control gives more people the opportunity to adapt to prosthesis use and experience less environmental barriers.