Skip to main content

Peer-Reviewed Journal Article Reflection


Article Title: Wellness works: community service health promotion groups led by occupationaltherapy students.

Brief Summary: During a Groups Process course, occupational therapy students learned health promotion skills through working on personal wellness goals and leading community based health promotion groups. The groups targeted topics such as smoking cessation, improving diet, reducing stress through yoga, meditation, tai chi chuan, ROM (Range of Motion) Dance, aerobics, and a variety of other activities. Students monitored their own change process on both their personal health lifestyle goals and their group leadership skills while developing a richer appreciation of the dynamics of working for change with clients in community and traditional settings. This experience was said to have provided most students with a positive initial experience with group leadership as they began to explore roles as agents for lifestyle and health change. Suggestions for expanding health promotion roles in practice in the changing health care environment are also examined

Critical reflection: Where as this doesn’t highlight specifics about the group process in the sense of terminology or theory, it does highlight a very valid and important part of the group process; that we must be able to embody the lived experience of the individuals in the group sessions that we lead. Now of course we wont always be able to “walk in their shoes” however developing empathy and understanding can be just as beneficial. We must put ourselves in the group as a member when preparing to lead.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Blog Post Challenge #9

For this post I decided to discuss just what a therapeutic relationship is and what it entails. A therapeutic relationship is defined as the interaction between an occupational therapist practitioner and their client. Therapeutic relationships differ from everyday relationships, in that they are key in facilitating the healing and rehabilitation process. They also differ from the typical relationship in that it's not about both people but strictly about the client and meeting their needs. Developing and sustaining therapeutic relationships involves the ability to develop trust, demonstrate empathy, understand verbal and nonverbal communication, and the use of active listening. Trust is one of the most important aspects in any type of relationship to me. Once trust is obtained the client feels more comfortable with sharing personal information which in turn greatly benefits the intervention process. Developing empathy is another huge part of this process, the client must believe tha...
1 comment
Read more

Neuronote #2

On Wednesday we were given the opportunity to attend the Memphis Rolling Grizzlies practice. The Rolling Grizzlies are a group of guys that are athletic, entertaining, and very inspiring. The individuals who make up the team all have different backgrounds, lifestyles, and goals, however there are two things they all share; they love the game of basketball and they play in the National Wheelchair Basketball Association (NWBA). For those of you who think the words disabled or paralyzed entails that someone is unable to compete or perform in an athletic sense get in contact with me and I’ll take you to the next practice and be more than happy to show just how wrong you are. We watched them practice for two hours, and I honestly hadn’t realized that even 30 minuets had gone by because I was so engaged and amazed with what I saw. I don’t know about you, but I played baseball, basketball, and football my whole life growing up, practice after practice. With my memories and knowledge of baske...
Post a Comment
Read more

Blog post challenge #3

In occupational therapy we define two ways to use occupations: 1. As the end point and 2. As the means. We use them as an end point that we're aiming for in intervention. This can include occupations that are a part of one's normal roles, help to organize a persons time, help a person participate in life and society, and help someone feel they have a purpose and meaning for their life. We use occupation as a means to improve someones impaired abilities as well. We do this through introducing occupation as interventions to help someone improve after an injury or illness. This can lead to enabling occupational functioning as well as choosing occupations that interest the client while still having therapeutic value. We want this to be challenging while still enabling success. By approaching the intervention process with these factors in mind we are able to develop relationships, reach goals, and provide the best possible outcomes for our clients and their loved ones. By doing this...
Post a Comment
Read more