Research in the School of Allied Health
From the Bench and Beyond: the latest publication highlighting current research in the school
• Cognition in quality of life
• Participation in everyday life for individuals with disabilities
Using Sensory Processing Constructs to Support Individuals in Daily Life
This line of research taps into knowledge from neuroscience, sensory integration, and family centered care domains to design and test applications for best practice assessment and intervention. We have discovered in very recent work that the same patterns of sensory processing exist in adults as we originally found in children, suggesting there may be some stable patterns of sensory processing across the life span that can guide our thinking and best practices. Therefore, we plan to conduct studies to refine the Adult Sensory Profile, to test it with disability groups and aging populations, and to design and test the Baby Sensory Profile for infants and toddlers.
Future directions:
In this area of research, the following types of questions remain to be addressed:
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Understanding Cognition and its Role in Quality of Life
This line of research applies knowledge from cognitive psychology to quality of life issues in aging, stroke, and mental illness. In the context of normal aging, our work focuses on exploring environmental parameters that affect the attentional abilities of young and older adults. We are particularly interested in visual information processing and how the control of eye movements affects the efficiency with which information is processed and activities are carried out in daily life.
In addition, work on cognitive abilities following stroke has identified attentional deficits among stroke survivors that are significantly associated with declines in quality of life. In addition to aging and stroke, another line of work examines the impact mental illness may have on information processing, and how that impact may affect daily life activities.
Future directions:
Work in this line of research may be expanded to address the following questions:
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Promoting Participation in Everyday Life
There has been a wealth of information available about supporting persons with disabilities to live and work in the community, particularly with the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Our research focus is on "participation", i.e., supporting individuals to participate actively in their desired roles by identifying ways for self-maintenance, leisure and recreation to contribute to overall health in living. With this focus in mind, our work addresses accommodations and interventions that are effective at facilitating active participation for persons who have disabilities. For example, we have developed and evaluated the effectiveness of an activity and exercise program designed to minimize the impact of secondary conditions on daily life activities for women with disabilities. We have also completed initial work on a program to translate health and activity information into useful materials for women with disabilities.
In the area of mental health, our skills training research led to the development of an intervention program to teach grocery shopping skills to individuals with severe mental illness. Our research emphasizes effectiveness, such that the grocery shopping skills training takes place in community settings with performance based outcome measures administered in the natural environment of the grocery store. We are interested in expanding this line of research, continuing to pursue factors that enhance or interfere with grocery shopping skill acquisition, and most importantly developing strategies to enhance skill acquisition for individuals not receiving maximum benefit from the intervention.
Future directions:
The following challenges are among those that remain in this line of work:
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