American Journal of Occupational Therapy

The purpose of this study was to determine the incidence of upper extremity discomfort among piano majors at seven Philadelphia-area music schools. A questionnaire was distributed to 232 students, and a 31% return rate was obtained. Thirty (42%) of the 71 respondents reported experiencing discomfort that lasted more than 1 week, and 41 (58%) of the respondents reported experiencing little or no discomfort. Twenty-six (87%) of the students with discomfort suspended practice for a period of time or made adjustments at the piano. Pain/aching was the predominant discomfort reported among students. Students experienced their discomforts most frequently in the hand (49% of respondents), the forearm (19% of respondents), and the wrist (16% of respondents). The majority of students reported an impaired ability to play the piano that lasted for 6 months or less. Further research is needed to verify the scope of the problem among student pianists and to substantiate the numerous causes of discomfort that were uncovered in this study. This occupational group could benefit from the knowledge and skills of occupational therapists in the area of occupational performance and physical function.

This study examined the relationship between oral sensation and drooling in persons with cerebral palsy. The sample was composed of 40 subjects between 5 and 21 years of age who had a diagnosed condition of cerebral palsy. Twenty of the subjects had a drooling problem and 20 did not. The subjects were randomly selected from two Montreal schools for the disabled. The experimental procedure consisted of the administration of three tests of oral sensation: a test of oral stereognosis, a test of oral form discrimination, and a test of lingual two point discrimination. In addition, saliva was quantified in those subjects who drooled. The results suggested a relationship between oral stereognosis and drooling in persons with cerebral palsy. The main implication for occupational therapists is that the assessment and treatment of drooling in people with cerebral palsy should address both the sensory and motor elements of oral function.

This paper describes a stress management training program used with a 26-year-old schizophrenic man attending an outpatient day care program. In a seven-session program the patient was taught to use various techniques in muscle relaxation and biofeedback to decrease anxiety and to cope with stress. The patient’s improvement on 7 of the 20 items of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory demonstrated the effectiveness of even a short-term stress management program.

The Bay Area Functional Performance Evaluation (BaFPE) was developed in 1977–1978 to meet the need for a reliable and valid instrument for assessing the general functional performance of patients treated in psychiatric occupational therapy. It consists of two subtests, the Task-Oriented Assessment and the Social Interaction Scale. These subtests evaluate two aspects of general functional performance—task-oriented and social behavior—that are important in assessing clients with emotional, cognitive, or behavioral deficits. This article traces the instrument’s standardization over a 10-year period of development and includes a discussion of its theoretical premises, its content, and the revisions to date. Research on the reliability and validity of the BaFPE is summarized.

The purpose of this study was to determine the reliability and validity of the Loewenstein Occupational Therapy Cognitive Assessment (LOTCA) battery. The battery provides an initial profile of the cognitive abilities of the brain-injured patient that can be used as a starting point for occupational therapy intervention and as a screening test for further assessment. The LOTCA consists of 20 subtests and is divided into four areas: orientation, visual and spatial perception, visuomotor organization, and thinking operations. The battery takes 30 to 45 minutes to administer. Subjects in the study consisted of two patient groups (20 traumatic head injury patients and 28 cerebrovascular accident patients) and one control group (55 non-brain-injured adults). Results showed interrater reliability coefficients of .82 to .97 for the various subtests and an alpha coefficient of .85 and above for the internal consistency of the areas of perception, visuomotor organization, and thinking operations. The Wilcoxon two-sample test showed that all subtests differentiated at the .0001 level of significance between the patient groups and the control group. This supported the LOTCA’s validity. Furthermore, factor analysis provided initial construct validation for three areas of the battery: perception, visuomotor organization, and thinking operations.