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Research Resources
A monthly newsletter of the
AOTF Institute for the Study of Occupation and Health
October 2008
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Dear Colleagues,
Greetings from the
AOTF Institute for the Study of Occupation and Health, the programmatic
arm of the American Occupational Therapy Foundation, where we continue
to advance AOTF's mission through our own initiatives and connections
to key organizations.
This issue of
Research Resources contains our second spotlight on the AOTF
Institute's own Dissertation Research Grant Program and grant
recipients who recently completed their dissertations and have been awarded
their doctorates. Our first spotlight appeared in the September issue
of Research Resources.
This issue also
contains a spotlight on the National Library of Medicine (NLM), the
world's largest medical library and a vital part of the National
Institutes of Health (NIH), the premier medical research agency in
the United States. AOTF staff recently worked with NLM staff to include
the Wilma L. West Library in NLM's Directory
of Information Resources Online (DIRLINE), and
this spotlight follows not only on this successful collaboration but
also through cooperation with the Friends of the National Library of Medicine (FNLM),
which, as a 501(c)(3) organization, supports, and promotes
the NLM.
Beyond the NLM,
the AOTF Institute is connecting to many more organizations which we
plan to spotlight in the coming months. We look forward to bringing
these to you as we grow our programs of research, education, and
leadership, and, in so doing, aim to promote a society in which
individuals, regardless of age or ability, may participate in
occupations of their choice that give meaning to their lives and foster
health and well-being.
Thank you again
for subscribing to Research
Resources and for encouraging your colleagues to connect to
AOTF through this monthly publication, its associated news alerts
and our blog.
Please know that we appreciate your support now and always.
Sincerely,
Jeffrey S.
Reznick, PhD
Director, AOTF Institute for the Study of Occupation and Health
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AOTF Institute Cooperation Spotlight:
The National Library of Medicine
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The
National Library of Medicine
The National
Library of Medicine (NLM), located at the National
Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, is the world's
largest medical library. The institution oversees a vast array of
resources in all areas of biomedicine and health care, including
biomedical aspects of technology, medical humanities and the history of
medicine, and scholarship in the physical, life, and social sciences.
NLM's journal resources are indexed in its MEDLINE
database (Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online
Database) which contains nearly eleven million records from over 7,300
different publications.
- Access to the National Library of Medicine
The resources of the NLM, including MEDLINE, are available online and
free of charge through PubMed. Over 900 million
searches of MEDLINE are completed each year by health professionals,
scientists, librarians, and the public. MeSH
(Medical Subject Headings) is NLM's thesaurus and gives uniformity
and consistency to the indexing and cataloging of MEDLINE resources. PubMed
Central (PMC) is a free digital archive
of biomedical and life sciences journal literature.
MedlinePlus
MedlinePlus directs visitors to
information which helps to answer health questions based on data drawn
from the NLM, from the NIH, and from other government agencies and
health-related organizations. Pre-formulated MEDLINE searches are
included in MedlinePlus and offer easy access to medical journal
articles. MedlinePlus also has extensive information about drugs, an
illustrated medical encyclopedia, interactive patient tutorials, and
latest health news. Its companion
magazine - which is available for
free - is published four times a year by the Friends
of the National Library of Medicine.
NLM publishes a number
of online tutorials, including PubMed, MEDLINE, MeSH, and MedlinePlus,
to help enhance use of its resources by researchers and the public.
Integrating
Resources for Research and Practice is a NLM initiative which
includes details on collaborative projects, databases, subject access
projects, outreach and training, publications, and informatics.
NLM Gateway
Explore the many resources of NLM through any of the
specific links noted above or through the NLM
Gateway, which is targeted to Internet users who visit the NLM
online not knowing exactly what its web site offers, or how best to
search its many pages.
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AOTF Institute Program Spotlight
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Dissertation
Research Grant Program
Since 2006, the AOTF
Institute for the Study of Occupation and Health has awarded
dissertation research grants to doctoral candidates whose research
directly contributes to one of the profession's Research Priorities and
Parameters of Practice for Occupational Therapy. Today, the
AOTF Institute is pleased to announce that four grant recipients have
completed their dissertations and have been awarded their doctorates.
This issue of Research
Resources spotlights two of these recipients.
In 2006, AOTF
awarded a Dissertation Research Grant to Dory Marken,
then of the University of Kentucky, to support her dissertation
entitled "Beliefs of Grandmothers Raising Grandchildren in
Their Provision of Nutrition." This qualitative, case-study
research plan focused on the occupations of grandmothers as caregivers
for their grandchildren. It explored how the unique nature of a grandmother's
life  course,
age-related changes in her physical function, and environmental factors
support or inhibit her engagement in the mother role, particularly her
ability to provide meals for members of the intergenerational
household. The expected long-term outcome of this research is to
inform effective intervention strategies for grandmothers who encounter
barriers to occupational performance.
Marken's award enabled five geographically-distant and
culturally-diverse grandmothers to participate in the study through an
interview and observation process that explored each individual's
caregiving in the contexts of home and community.
The next step for Dory Marken, PhD, OT/L, FAOTA, now associate
professor at Eastern Kentucky University, is to secure funds for
research that will focus on grandfathers' contributions to the daily
routines of parenting and their role in shaping grandchildren's
engagement in occupation. This research will add depth to her
dissertation and extend her examination of late-life parenting to
include grandfathers as integral members of the intergenerational
family. Dr. Marken's dissertation can be found in the Wilma L. West
Library: Marken, D. (2007) Beliefs
of grandmothers raising grandchildren in their provision of nutrition
Lexington:University of Kentucky.
In 2007, the AOTF
Institute awarded a Dissertation Research Grant to Kayoko Takahashi
of Boston University to support her dissertation entitled
"Behavior in Parkinson's Disease as Related to Self-efficacy and
Outcome Expectancy." The study found that the nonverbal and verbal
behavior of people with Parkinson's disease changes across different
interview contexts. People with the disease show more or less hopeful,
hopeless, apathetic, or protesting behavior, depending on whether positive
or negative topics are discussed with male or female interviewers. The
results suggest that clinical observational procedures for assessing
motivational behavior in Parkinson's disease are possible and valid. 
The grant enabled Takahashi to expand her experience both academically
and clinically. The grant specifically supported the design,
development, and completion of rating sessions, which were essential
for her research and honed her expertise in measuring motivational
behavior. Subsequently, Takahashi was able to enroll in a clinical
practicum course at Tufts University, complete a fellowship at
Massachusetts General Hospital, and explore the clinical meaning and
implications of her dissertation findings.
Kayoko Takahashi, ScD, OTR is now a clinician and researcher
specialized in neuro-rehabilitation for Parkinson's disease at Kitasato
University Higashi Hospital, and a research associate in the Department
of Occupational Therapy, Kitasato University, Kanagawa, Japan. She
plans to become a clinical faculty member while continuing to conduct
studies that apply to clinical settings. She hopes to contribute to the
science of occupational therapy by developing and testing assessments
and interventions designed to improve the quality of lives for people
with Parkinson's disease. Dr. Takahashi's dissertation can be found in
the Wilma L. West Library: Takahashi, K. (2008) Behavior in Parkinson's
disease as related to self-efficacy and outcome expectancy
Boston: Boston University.
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AOTF Institute Program
Reminders
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Next
deadline: February 1, 2009.
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AOTA/NBCOT
Student Conclave
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The national student
conclave (November 14-16, 2008, suburban Chicago, Illinois) was
created by AOTA and NBCOT exclusively for occupational therapy and
occupational therapy assistant students giving them an insider's
view of the profession; access to, and tips from, some of the
nation's top employers; and a jump on career skills.
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Web-Based
& Related Resources
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New Resource on Research
Integrity and Scientific Misconduct
AAAS,
in collaboration with the National Academies, has established a web
site on scientific misconduct and research integrity.
Subjects covered include conflicts of interest, plagiarism, use of
research animals, and protecting human subjects, among others. The
site is intended as a resource for students, researchers, administrators,
and policymakers. It highlights upcoming events and recent
literature, links to podcasts and other online resources, and more.
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Join Our List
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Grant Announcements &
Resources
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Health
Behavior Theory Postdoctoral Position at NCI
The
National Cancer Institute (NCI) will award a
unique post-doctoral fellowship training award in the area of
Health Behavior Theory. The fellow will function as a member of
the Behavioral Research Program and work with scientists on projects
aimed at advancing the development, use, and testing of health
behavior theory in basic and applied cancer prevention and control
research. For more information contact Kara L. Hall,
PhD, Health Scientist, Division of Cancer Control and Population
Sciences, National Cancer Institute.
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Conference
Announcements
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Opening Doors: A State of the
Science Conference
This conference, November 10-11, 2008, Bethesda,
Maryland) examines the state of the science related to early
screening, community inclusion and transition for children and youth
from underserved populations, including new immigrant communities.
The conference is designed to optimize interaction among all
participants. There will be opportunities for discussion among
researchers, clinicians, policy makers, parents, youth and
community-based organization leaders.
2009 Conference on Text and Academic Authoring
(TAA)
Join your fellow textbook and academic authors from June 25-27,
2009 in San Antonio, Texas for this three-day conference on textbook
authoring and scholarly publishing. The conference features free
one-on-one mentoring sessions with authoring attorneys, a literary
agent and veteran authors, and plenty of opportunities for
networking. TAA is seeking proposals
for 30-minute and 60-minute sessions that would appeal to textbook
authors, academic authors (authors of journal articles,
dissertations, grants, scholarly books, etc), and both groups.
Deadline for proposals is November
15, 2008.
National Conference on Therapeutic Communities
This conference, October 5 - 8, 2008, Denver, Colorado, focuses
on therapeutic communities for offender populations. The conference
theme - A Tradition of Change (TC) - highlights the traditions
of the TC model, its evolution, and new technologies that are used to
help offenders change their lives.
Creativity: Worlds in the Making
The
Wake University Program for Creativity and Innovation is
sponsoring this interactive symposium, March 18 - 20, 2009,
Winston-Salem, North Carolina, designed to position creative
engagement as a core literacy in today's global environment and to
model critical, interdisciplinary perspectives for creative research,
collaboration and innovative outcomes. The deadline for abstracts/proposals is October
15, 2008.
Altered Standards of Care and Surge Capacity Training
Conference: Mass Casualty Management in Times of Crisis
This conference, presented by Homeland Defense Journal and
Government*Horizons, October 27 - 28, 2008, Washington,
DC, will teach preparedness at the federal, state,
regional, community, and health systems levels and how to plan and
support surge capacity in healthcare systems and develop altered
standards of care to meet mass casualty needs during all hazard and
hazard-specific emergencies.
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Publication Announcements
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Identifying Consumption
Robert
Dunn provides a comprehensive guide to the study of modern consumer
behavior before summarizing and critiquing the major theories of
consumption. Dunn proposes a method of analysis that focuses on the
significance of status and lifestyle in social relations that can
help explain how the consumer marketplace is shaped. He concludes by
raising issues about different ways of consuming and the relationship
between consumption and identity.
Dunn, R.G. (2008) Identifying
consumption Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Rebuilding
the Research Capacity at HUD
The
National Research Council makes seven major recommendations
about HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research's (PD&R)
resources and responsibilities, including more active engagement with
policy makers, formalizing various informal practices, strengthening
surveys and data sets.This book is also available free
online. Committee to Evaluate the Research Plan of the
Department of Housing and Urban Development Center for Economic,
Governance, and International Studies, National Research Council
(2008) Rebuilding
the research capacity at HUD Washington, DC: National
Academies Press.
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is concerned about privacy and will only send Research Resources
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Resources, or if you feel that you received this
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For
more information about the American Occupational Therapy Foundation
and its Institute for the Study of Occupation and Health see our web
site: www.aotf.org.
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