Psychometric properties of the Arabic Occupational Balance Questionnaire (OBQ11-A).

BACKGROUND: Occupational balance (OB) is a desirable outcome of rehabilitation because it is related to various health indices. The Occupational Balance Questionnaire (OBQ) is a self-report measure of occupational balance. AIMS/OBJECTIVES: To examine the test-retest reliability, participant-level content validity, construct validity, internal consistency, and convergent validity of an Arabic occupational balance questionnaire (OBQ11-A). MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 103 participants were recruited through convenience sampling. Test-retest reliability was examined using intraclass correlation coefficients, participant-level content validity using percentage of agreement in survey questions, construct validity using factor analysis, internal consistency using Cronbach's alpha, and convergent validity by examining associations with quality-of-life. RESULTS: Intraclass Correlation Coefficient values for the total OBQ11-A scores and individual items were greater than 0.7 between the test and retest. The majority of respondents endorsed the relevance, comprehensiveness, and comprehensibility of the OBQ11-A. Cronbach's alpha for the OBQ11-A total score was 0.899. Nine of the 11 OBQ11-A items had factor loadings greater than 0.7. Moderate associations were found between the total OBQ11-A scores and physical health (n = 101; ρ = .52, p < .001), psychological health (n = 101; ρ = .49, p < .001), social relationships (n = 101; ρ = .36, p < .001), and environmental domains (n = 101; ρ = .57, p < .001) of the quality-of-life measure. CONCLUSIONS: OBQ11-A demonstrates acceptable psychometric properties for research purposes.

Occupational balance, referring to an individual's self-perception of having the right amount and variety of occupations in his/her occupational pattern, is associated with various health indicators and could serve as an additional outcome of rehabilitation.The Arabic version of the Occupational Balance Questionnaire (OBQ11-A) was found to have acceptable validity and reliability for use among Arabic-speaking populations.

Occupational Balance Among Parents of Typically Developing Children and Parents of Children With Disabilities.

IMPORTANCE: Parenting may influence perceptions of occupational balance (OB), particularly among parents of children with disabilities (PCWD). OBJECTIVE: To compare OB among PCWD and parents of typically developing children (PTDC), identify potential predictors of OB, and examine the association between OB and family quality of life (FQOL). DESIGN: Cross-sectional group-comparison design. SETTING: Two hospitals under the Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar. Data were collected between November 2020 and February 2021. PARTICIPANTS: PCWD attending occupational therapy clinics and PTDC from the hospital staff and their relatives were recruited through convenience sampling. Participants were 89 PCWD and 89 PTDC, of whom 38% spoke Arabic, and 62% spoke English. OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: The revised 11-item Occupational Balance Questionnaire and the short version of the Family Quality of Life Survey-2006 were used to measure outcome variables. An investigator-developed demographic survey was used to collect information on independent variables. All data collection forms were available in English and Arabic. The hypothesis was generated before data were collected. RESULTS: Statistically significant but marginal differences were found in OB between PTDC and PCWD (M difference = 1.87, p = .02; 95% confidence interval [0.331, 3.339]). A moderate association existed between OB and FQOL among PCWD (r = .57, p = .001) and PTDC (r = .31, p = .003). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Occupational therapists working with families of young children may find it helpful to assess OB and address OB-related issues to facilitate better FQOL. What This Article Adds: Parenting young children affects OB regardless of the disability status of the child. Role satisfaction and spousal support are possible intervention targets to improve OB and thereby improve FQOL.

Prevalence of work-related musculoskeletal disorders among pediatric long-term ventilatory care unit nurses: Descriptive cross-sectional study.

PURPOSE: Prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) is widely reported among nurses but not specific to nurses working in pediatric long-term ventilatory care (PLTVC) units. The purpose of this study is to determine the prevalence of MSD among nurses working in PLTVC settings. DESIGN AND METHODS: Cross-sectional descriptive design. Using the Extended Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire, 127 nurses working in PLTVC units were recruited to examine the prevalence of single-site, two-site, and multi-site MSDs in nine body parts. RESULTS: 90.6% of participants reported a lifetime prevalence of MSD in single site, 95% CI [84.21, 94.51]; 53.5% in two-sites, 95% CI [44.89, 61.99]; 46% in multi-sites, CI [28.38, 44.87]. The most common pain site was lower back (55.1%) followed by neck (35.4%), shoulder (33.9%), upper back (29.1%), wrist/hand (17.3%), ankle/ft (15.7%), knee (15%), hips/thighs (11.8%), and elbow (7.9%). There was a statistically significant difference in participants' years of experience in PLTVC among those reporting multi-site pain (M = 6.10, SD = 5.58) and the rest (M = 3.77, SD = 3.84) of the group reporting no pain or pain in one or two sites; t = (2.77), p = .006, 95% CI [0.66, 3.98]. CONCLUSIONS: There is a high prevalence of MSD among PLTVC nurses. There seems to be a relationship between years of experience in PLTVC settings and multi-site pain. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: PLTVC nurses must take additional precautions, since working in this environment increases the possibility of developing pain in multiple sites, particularly if they have been working for more than six years.

Parents' awareness, knowledge, and experiences of play and its benefits in child development: A systematic review protocol.

BACKGROUND: Play is an important childhood occupation and a medium for development. Parents' attitudes towards play, knowledge about play and its benefits, and their experiences in facilitating effective play are key factors that determine the experiences of play in children. These factors related to parent's understanding and experiences of play gain additional significance when the child has a disability. The aim of this systematic review is to synthesize the available evidence on awareness, knowledge, and experience of play among parents and to summarise the findings. METHOD: MEDLINE, CINAHL, APA PsycINFO, Psychology Database, Sociological Abstracts, EMBASE, and Cochrane Collection Plus will be searched for studies of any design that investigate awareness, knowledge, and experience of play among parents and its benefits to child development. Manual searches from reference lists of relevant papers will also be completed. The primary outcomes are parents' knowledge (what constitutes play), experiences (what parents feel about play) and awareness (benefits of play) about play. Three independent reviewers will screen identified papers with pre-defined eligibility criteria and extract data using a customized extraction form. Discrepancies will be resolved in discussion with a fourth reviewer. A synthesis of eligible studies and summary will be provided. DISCUSSION: A systematic review of quantitative and qualitative research evidence of parents' awareness, knowledge, and experiences in play will be carried out. This will highlight parents' own views on play among their children, current theories/domains related to parents' awareness, knowledge, and experience in play, and outcome measures that have been used. In addition, comparison among views of parents of children with disabilities and parents of typically developing children will be made. The results will be presented as a summary of key findings under the themes of awareness, knowledge, and experience of parents in play.

Occupational balance from a clinical perspective.

BACKGROUND: Occupational balance is a central concept in occupational therapy and is commonly defined as an individual's perception of having the right amount and variety of occupations in daily life. This individualistic and subjective nature of occupational balance brings with it certain challenges when applied in practice. The aim of this discussion paper is to highlight the challenges associated with the lone application of individualistic occupational balance in practice situations, and propose some way forward. METHODS: The Meleis' Theory to Practice to Theory strategy was used. Practice-based vignettes were used as a point of departure to discuss these challenges. This was followed by theorising the importance of including the others' perceptions of a person's pattern of daily occupations. CONCLUSION: Besides a goal of increasing a person's occupational balance in clinical practice, striving towards creating a suitable pattern of daily occupations from a community perspective also seems to be a relevant goal.

Use of computer access technology as an alternative to writing for a pre-school child with athetoid cerebral palsy--a case report.

The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the use of an outcome-driven model of decision-making in the implementation of computer access technology (CAT) for a pre-school child with athetoid cerebral palsy. The child did not have the fine motor skills required to hold a pencil but had the cognitive abilities to learn to write; therefore, we explored the use of a CAT device to enable written communication. Case study methodology was used to describe the selection process, child-level outcomes, and clinical challenges faced by the therapist in the use of a consortium model that was designed for an outcome-driven model of decision-making. The critical role of an occupational therapist in this process using a family-centered approach is discussed.