Dissertation Research Grants
Doctoral and Post-Doctoral Fellowships
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I. Dissertation Research and Doctoral Fellowships

In 1980 the Foundation submitted a resolution to AOTA's Representative Assembly proposing that an annual doctoral fellowship be established for the purpose of increasing the profession's pool of doctorally qualified faculty members. Recipients of these fellowships signed contracts that they would complete their dissertations and degrees within three years; accept a faculty position in an occupational therapy education program; and would repay the amount of the fellowship in the event that either of these conditions was not met.

The first fellowship was for $10,000; by 1983 when the second fellowship was awarded, the amount had risen to $15,000 where it remained until 1988 when it became $20,000. In 1996 the Research Advisory Council determined that in some instances dissertation research could be completed for less than $20,000, and so the decision was made to utilize the annual funds to support one or more doctoral fellows at lesser amounts. These funds were provided through the AOTF research contract with AOTA, and the program was administered by AOTF. In the seventeen years the program was in existence, a total of $310,114 was awarded to AOTA members to support them in completing their dissertation research.

The dissertation research program was discontinued in 1999 in order to provide support for the profession's new Center for Outcomes Research.

The following individuals received these awards:

• 1981 Kenneth Ottenbacher, The Effect of a Controlled Program of Feeding Therapy on the Development of Feeding Behaviors in Children with Severe Developmental Disability

• 1983 Charlotte Royeen, Research in Nonparametrics

• 1985 Mary Lawlor, A Study of the Effectiveness of Developmental Intervention with Infants 0-6 months old

• 1986 Anita Bundy, The Relationship of Equilibrium and Motor Proficiency to Play in Normal Boys and Boys with Sensory Integration Dysfunction

• 1986 Georgia DeGangi, A Longitudinal Study of Sensory Function and Attending Behaviors in Pre-Term Infants

• 1987 Carolyn Quisling, The Kalamazoo Test of Visual Perception: A Validity and Reliability Study on Patients with Unilateral Brain Damage Attributed to CVA of the Middle Cerebral Artery

• 1988 Diane Parham, Sensory Integrative Development and Learning Handicaps in Elementary School Children: A Longitudinal Study

• 1989 Terry Crowe, Time Use, Activity Patterns and Role Perception of Mothers with Young Children

• 1990 James McPherson, The Effects of Gravity and the Distribution of Mass on the Changing Patterns of Head Raising Behavior of the Infant in Prone

• 1991 Carol Leonardelli, The Use of Rasch Analysis to Examine the Reliability and Validity of the Milwaukee Evaluation of Daily Living Skills (MEDLS)

• 1992 Laurie Mouradian, Assessment of the Behavior of Infants Born at Varying Gestational Ages

• 1993 Doris Pierce, Infant Space, Infant Time: An Occupational Science Theory of Developmental Progressions in Infant Interactions with Objects

• 1994 Sandra Rogers, Neuroimmune Consequences of Cerebral Palsy

• 1995 Grace Baranek, Early Predictors of Autism Using Retrospective Video Analysis

• 1996 Carrie K. Alexander, African Americans at the Crossroads of Class and Disability: Noncompliance and Patient-Staff Relations

• 1996 Juli H. McGruder, Factors Moderating the Course of Schizophrenia in Zanzibar, Tanzania

• 1996 Janet H. Watts, Outcomes of Conservative Treatment for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: A Pilot Study

• 1997 Sharon Gutman, Enhancing Gender Role Satisfaction Through Supportive Social Networks: An Occupational Therapy Intervention for Adult Males With Traumatic Brain Injury

• 1997 Judith Olson, The Occupation of Mothering

• 1998 Catana Brown, Patterns of Sensory Processing in Individuals with Schizophrenia

I. Post-doctoral Fellowships

In an effort to complement the AOTA funding of the doctoral fellowships, AOTF established a post-doctoral fellowship program by soliciting funds from corporate donors. The program was relatively short-lived, as occupational therapists found it difficult to re-locate themselves to other centers for the purpose of completing a one-year fellowship.

The first post-docs were awarded to individuals whose research was well established. Later, terms of the program were altered to permit the fellowships to be awarded to senior occupational therapists at occupational therapy educational centers, who in turn recruited OTs with doctorates who wanted to engage in a mentored research program.

These post-doctoral fellowships were funded, in part, by generous grants from the J.M. Foundation. Others were funded through contributions made directly to AOTF. Over the course of the program a total of seven post-docs were funded, for a total of $120,000.

• 1984 Florence Clark, Content Validity of the Sensory Integration and Praxis Tests

• 1986 Joan C. Rogers, Development of a Functional Assessment of Alzheimer's Disease

• 1986 Erika Gisel, Development of an Eating Scale for Children
Five Months of Age to Two Years of Age

• 1986 Sharon Cermak, 1) The Reliability and Validity of Space
Visualization Use Score; 2) The Persistence of Motor Deficits in Older Students with Learning Disabilities

The three remaining post-doctoral students focused on the study of research methods:

• 1988 Jerry A. Johnson, University of Pittsburgh

• 1990 Virginia White, Texas Woman's University

• 1991 Diana Bailey, University of Southern California