Chairing the academic occupational therapy department: a job analysis.

The role of department chair is one of the most important roles in academia, yet chairs are rarely formally prepared for it. A modified job analysis format can be used to examine the role of the chair. In addition to administrative responsibilities, the chair, who is usually selected from the faculty, has teaching, research, and service responsibilities. Administrative functions include dealing with data (finances and programs), people (students, faculty, support personnel, the dean, and other administrators), and things (department reports, space, equipment, and materials). There is a high attrition rate of department chairs. Occupational therapy students and therapists must be taught to see the academic chair position as an opportunity for a challenging career encompassing academia and administration.

Comparison of three positions for evaluating the asymmetrical tonic neck reflex.

Twenty-four males ages 8 to 11 were videotaped while being tested in three positions for the ATNR: quadruped with the head passively rotated to either side; standing with the arms outstretched and eyes closed with the head passively rotated to either side; and quadruped reflex inhibiting posture with the skull hand on the hip and the face knee off the floor and with the head actively rotated to either side. Three "expert" raters viewed the edited tape and rated each subject in each position using a protocol devised for the study. The results suggest that the quadruped reflex inhibiting posture more readily reveals the presence of the reflex when compared to the other positions, in this population of learning-disabled children.

The nursing home: occupational therapy services in an institution.

The nursing home as an institution was described by presenting information from the literature and from the author's personal experience. Sociological definitions of the term institution were applied to the nursing home, and the negative effects of the institutionalization process on older persons were discussed. The plight of the residents was further exemplified in a discussion of the setting, staffing, financing, and services of nursing homes. Finally, the need for occupational therapy services was indicated, and therapists were urged to assume available jobs as therapists, consultants, or administrators in nursing homes as an initial step toward meeting this need.

A profile for managing sensory integrative test data.

A concise method for compiling a data profile from a general sensory integrative test battery has been presented. Subtests from each test used were categorized according to the sensory integrative and motor functions being tested. These categories have been defined and include: tactile-kinesthetic perception, visual perception-figure ground, visual perception-constancy, ocular control, gross motor control, fine motor control, integration of function-two sides of the body, orientation in space, body awareness, and auditory discrimination. A method for converting the various scores into descriptive terminology is provided in which the test results are reported as above age expectancy, appropriate for age, somewhat deficient for age, and markedly deficient for age. The clinical implications of the technique are discussed.

Rural health and the role of occupational therapy.

Through the use of activities which are common to the rural culture, the occupational therapist may make a contribution in rural health services. Although the rural resident suffers psychiatric and physical disorders similar to his urban neighbor, the availability and accessibility of medical services are more limited. The isolation of rural life which makes it unattractive to health and other professionals also accentuates the problems of the rural patient. The rural health clinic has been one solution to the lack of medical services. It is proposed that the occupational therapist select farm activities which are common to the patient, and adapt and direct those activities so that the patient can again function in his rural environment.