The World Of My Thoughts!

[nomandlela-blog]

Community Occupation Participation (Occupational Science)

In the past week my colleagues and I participated in a community occupation, in a carpentry shop. This shop is owned by a local business man. In this shop they make furniture for the local people as well as furniture shops. They make furniture from scratch and sell it a complete product. Today we will be reflecting using occupational science framework regarding the people who do this occupation as their full time employment.

Humans are occupational beings, their daily lives is made up of different occupations that make life flow. Occupational science is referred to as a study of human participation/occupation. It focuses on human of different ages, gender and race and their unique challenges to engage in meaningful activities. Occupational scientists search and come up with ways of measuring participation, ways of developing new and innovative methods of intervention to help individuals engage in activities, and examine the impact of participation on an individual’s health and well-being.

Occupational Justice

This is “the right of every individual to be able to meet basic needs and to have equal opportunities and life chances to reach toward her or his potential but specific to the individual's engagement in diverse and meaningful occupation.” (Wilcock & Townsend, 2009). The occupation that we engaged in, not everyone can participate in it as it requires some skills for one to do it perfectly to meet the requirements of each specific piece of furniture. It requires one to intact performance skills as an absence of one my make it difficult to participate in this occupation.

Occupational balance

Occupational balance is a relative state, recognizable by a happy or pleasant integration of life activities and demands. The carpenters in the shop have time to participate in other ADLs, they get a day off and each afternoon they finish at 4:00 pm, allowing them time to be with their loves ones and fulfil their roles.

Occupational Disruption      

It occurs when a person’s normal pattern of occupational engagement is disrupted due to significant life events. There are cases where workers miss work due t to family or personal issues, but this does not have that  much impact on this business as al workers have common skills.

REFERENCES

·       Brown, H. et al (2013). The Meaning of Occupation, Occupational Need, and Occupational Therapy in a Military Context. Physical Therapy. Retrieved from https://academic.oup.com/ptj/article/93/9/1244/2735554

·       Campbell, D. et al (2009). Occupational justice: New concept or historical foundation of occupational therapy? Retrieved from http://caot.in1touch.org/document/3763/f26.pdf

·       Can, J. (2004). Occupational balance: exploring the relationships among daily occupations and their influence on well-being. PubMed, Occupational Therapy. 71(4):202-9. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15586852

·       University of British Colombia. What is Occupational Science & Occupational Therapy? Faculty of Medicine, Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy. Retrieved from http://osot.ubc.ca/about/what-is-os-ot/

[nomandlela-blog]

South African Economy And Health And Wellness In South African Communities.

South Africa is one of the countries that are known to have a low economy, high rate of unemployment, poor education as well as high rate of community poverty. According to African news, anecdotal evidence shows that in some communities unemployment is almost 100%. This gives us an idea of the conditions that some communities live under, as well as other poverty related issues they may be experiencing. In this blog I will briefly descuss about the South African economy and how it affects health and wellness of the local communities.

 In year 2017, it was found that more than 17 400 000 citizens rely on social grants, more than 12 100 000 of them being mothers who receive child support grant, making more than 31% of the country, (African check, 2017). Looking at the amount that is received by each parent per child, we can clearly see that it is only enough to cater for the most basic needs of the child. Hence leaving the parent or caregiver with very minimal to no means of providing the child with good quality health, shelter and education. This results increased risk of developmental delays, which may lead to difficulties in optimal occupational participation. It may also result to poor performance at school, negative impact on the child’s self-esteem, school dropout, unemployment, increase in crime rate and health related issues.

These effects do not only impact children, they also impact greatly on the caregivers as they are the primary source of financial and emotional support of the children. Having all these factors striking, the caregivers are most likely to be stressed and even end up being depressed due to all the demands that   they are unable to meet. This then impact greatly on their lifestyles and it results lack of constructive participation, leading to high rate of substance use and sexual activities, which results poor health and wellness as well as decrease in employability of those citizens. One of the issues raised by Black Sash was that caregivers who receive child support grant take loans from the pay points, which are later deducted from social grant payments contribute to the indebtedness of social grant recipients.

This cycle continues and goes on from one generation to the other. However, this year the government has promised to increase social grants and there has been an increment on the budget allocated to national health insurance.  Also there is a prediction of stable prices throughout the year 2018, which will also make loans and capital to be stable. The national minimum wage is also likely to be introduced; this will raise the payroll costs of firms that employ many low paid workers. This ups our hopes in terms of the well-being of the citizens and slowly breaking of the poverty cycle. The country’s concern regarding the increment of the minimal wage workers is that small companies are most likely to be affected, which may lead to some workers losing their jobs and leading back to cycle of the above discussed factor s.

Having in mind all the fraud cases that the country is dealing with, it is also a concern to the citizens as fraud greatly impacts on the economy of the country, causing a negative impact on the citizens’ well-being and the well-being of the country at large. Having had this discussion, we see that is therefore significant for the government to not only look at the millennium goals individually, but to also look how each factor impacts on the other.  That will aid the country develop even better.

 References

·       African news agency (2018, February 21). Extra R4.2-billion allocated to National Health Insurance, eNCA.co. retrieved from https://www.enca.com/south-africa/extra-r42-billion-allocated-to-national-health-insurance

·       Anonymous. (2018, February 25). Is budget aligned with social justice? City press. Retrieved from https://www.news24.com/Columnists/GuestColumn/is-budget-aligned-with-social-justice-20180223

·       Asongu, S. and Kodila-Tedika, O. (2017). IS POVERTY IN THE AFRICAN DNA (GENE)? South African Journal of Economics, 85(4). Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/saje.12165/epdf 

·       Conradie, I. (2018 February 23). Economists upbeat as stats show encouraging environment for start-ups. City press. Retrieved from https://www.fin24.com/Economy/economists-upbeat-as-stats-show-encouraging-environment-for-start-ups-20180223

·       Omarjee, L. (2018, February 15). Sassa to explain loans which trap grant recipients in 'vicious cycle'. City press. Retrieved from https://www.fin24.com/Money/Debt/sassa-to-explain-loans-which-trap-grant-recipients-in-vicious-cycle-20180215

[nomandlela-blog]

Factors Allowing The Community To Flourish

Introduction

Everyone has a role in building a community where everyone is able to flourish, and it is up to each individual to decide to be part of the community’s growth and development. However, that depends on the extent of knowledge one has regarding what community growth is, as well as their attitude towards it. Today I will be discussing about factors that allow the community to flourish.

Community flourishing is not only a governmental or municipal goal; it is also the plan of God to see all mankind flourishing (Psalm 92:12…). If individuals flourish, there is a better chance for the community as a whole to also flourish. For the community to flourish it has to be able to envision itself beyond its current state and there has to be willingness to reach that vison. LaRue, P. (2014), says that the people that seem to thrive and have the most positive influence on others are those that are willing to see beyond themselves and do whatever it takes to grow. However, this may be a challenge if the community or its members have no exposure to the external world (outside their community). Thus meaning, the community should have an external motivation for it to start considering change, growth and development.

Education

Education is essential in community development as it creates a platform for change and social justice. Alexandra (in Out Systems Engineering) says that we must evoke the love of learning, intelligence, greatness of spirit and strive towards positive experience. This simply means that the community needs to have a base of knowledge and positive attitude to ensure that whatever change that is introduced in the community grows the community. On the other hand, it becomes a challenge to try to apply that in the low socio-economic communities as there are very limited resources available within the communities, and the quality of education is poor (according to NEHAWU). Improvement of the basic wheels of development is then necessary.

Community participation

Participation is a vital component of the self-help process and (community European Journal of Social Sciences – Volume 11, Number 1 (2009) 171 development). In other words, people must be involved in those decisions that affect their lives, thus gaining confidence, self-esteem and knowledge, and developing new skills (Javan 1998). Important emphasis in community development is on helping communities to change and develop in ways which they desire, and with material aid that they are willing to make effective use of.

Community Empowerment  

Another factor influencing community development is empowerment. Empowerment is the ability of individuals to gain control socially, politically, economically, and psychologically through access to information, knowledge, and skills; decision making; and individual self-efficacy, community participation, and perceived control (Rappaport 1987; Zimmerman and Rappaport 1988).It has been mentioned above, one of the important goals of community development is empowering the people and improves the quality of their lives. Therefore, it is important to take into consideration the empowerment. The possibility of community empowerment depends on two things. It requires that power can change. If power cannot change, then empowerment is not possible, and it is not conceivable in any meaningful way. In other words, if power can change, then empowerment is possible. Second, the concept of empowerment depends on the idea that power can expand (Staples 1990). Empowerment can be defined as the process by which individuals, groups, and/or communities become able to take control of their circumstances and achieve their goals, hence being able to work towards maximizing the quality of their lives (Adams, 1990, p43). In other word, it is a process of change by which individuals or groups with little or no power gain the power and ability to make choices that affect their lives.

Conclusion

Having all the above factors mentioned, community growth and development does not occur instantly, it happens gradually. It is the responsibility of whoever that wants to introduce change (together with the community) to start from the roots of the community and work up to the top in order to attain sustainable growth and development.

References

·        Bowen, A. (2016, August, 01). The principles of a Flourishing Community: From Urban Planning. [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://medium.com/@AlexandraBowen/the-principles-of-a-flourishing-community-from-urban-planning-362a4c147838

 ·        LaRue, P. (2014, July, 18). Willingness – THE Key To Growth [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://upwardsleader.com/2014/07/17/willingness-the-key-to-growth/

 ·        Nikkhah, H. and Redzuan M. (2009). Participation as a Medium of Empowerment in Community. Development European Journal of Social Sciences, (11, 1). Retrieved from file:///C:/Users/Nomalungelo/Desktop/ejss_11_1_14.pdf

 ·        University of Calgary. (2015, December, 08). Six ways to build a healthy, flourishing community [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://www.ucalgary.ca/utoday/issue/2015-12-08/six-ways-build-healthy-flourishing-community

African News Agency (2018, January, 5). Weak results from rural areas contradict national pass rate. Retrieved from https://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/weak-results-from-rural-areas-contradict-national-pass-rate-nehawu-12622066

[nomandlela-blog]

The Jar Of Life

The jar of life is one of the most interesting life lessons I have ever read. It talks about the things that occupy one’s life and the importance of being able to prioritize them efficiently in order to have a well-balanced lifestyle.

The person who wrote this lesson divided the things that occupy our lives into 3 categories. The important things (family, children, your health, friends & passions); the things that matter (school/work, your house, your car); and everything else. From this brief summary, I believe that each person’s order of filling their jar of life may differ from that of the next person. On the same note, each person may have different things under each category than the ones that have been named by the author of this lesson.

This then bring us to the understanding of basis of human diversity, which simply mean differences among individuals. To me this means that -my personality, values, background, interests, etc. are the things that will determine how my hierarchy of priorities will look like. Hence making my jar of life and how it’s filled to be different from the other person’s.

Sometimes we tend to imitate other people’s hierarchies of priorities; we do this for different reasons. Some people do it because of the external pressures they get from their surroundings, while others do it due the pressures that they personally put on themselves through compering their lives with those of others. While reading this lesson, I realized how much I have been unable to fill my jar of life in a way that is most suitable for me. To summarize, I would say that I have been trying to put too much into my jar, without any particular order. That made life to be so tiring and each day to be so draining yet nonproductive.  

I than collected my thoughts and came up a way of refilling my jar in more organized way by taking out each the not so important items, one at a time and replacing it with the important one. That made me feel rejuvenated and refreshed as I could literally feel the load of life getting lighter on my shoulders.

Another thing that I noted and learnt when I read this lesson is that , your life can always accommodate more things, as long as you know exactly which hierarchy of priorities works better for you, you can keep filling it more. So are our brains, they can always learn more things every day, but only if we are able to strategically open up some spaces for new knowledge.

I hope this blog enlightened your mind and helped you regarding the importance of a hierarchy of priorities and how to put one together for yourself.

Reference

http://theburiedlife.tumblr.com/post/33811181290/a-professor-stood-before-his-philosophy-class-and

https://www.co-intelligence.org/I-diversity.html

[nomandlela-blog]

End Of Block

We discover ourselves every moment of our lives. Each time, we learn some thing new or different about ourselves. Sometimes it takes a while to admit who and what we are. But as we do, we find inner peace as we then discover ways of handling ourselves. In this blog I will be sharing with you the things that I have learnt about myself in this prac block.

The block i am in, is a continuation of a block that i did about two years ago. So you can imagine how rusty things may have been in my mind. As rusty as things were, I've always known that i do not want to feel the pressure of work. I knew that pressure was going to make me feel even more dum and blank. So as the block started, i was actually happy that i was feeling all comfortable and well accommodated so to say. I was okay with it, in fact i loved the fact that i am free. But as time went by, i realised that the comfort that i wanted, isn’t really what i need to get good marks. Neither is it what i need to gear up and get back on track with the expectations of the block. What i thought i needed, turned to be the least thing i would ever really need. In this block i have been the laziest student ever. I wasn’t eager to learn new things. I was just fine with the little that i knew. I was non productive and i hated that fact. I learnt that sometimes the things we are scared of,are the ones that we really need to get going and to reach our utmost level of participation.

Another thing that i learnt about myself is that i have more potential to be the best OT then i ever thought. My personality and the love i have for people makes me to become advantageous in the field. However, personality without the skills and theory are not going to make me the best OT. I learnt that should i have more courage and motivation to put the three together, i can be the most amazing therapist ever. I remember that at the beginning this block i promised myself to pull the best out me, i still promise myself that and i believe that i eventually will get there.

In summary, i am really grateful of the things that i have been able to point out about myself this term. In deed,as i grow i learn and as i learn i grow. I hope that all the things that i have learnt will change the way i do things in the next block and forever.

[nomandlela-blog]

Celebrate Diversity With Persons With Disabilities.

“Casual Day is South Africa’s foremost fundraising campaign for persons with disabilities and is the flagship project of the National Council of and for Persons with Disabilities (NCPD).”

Every year on the first Friday in September it is a casual day. On this day all participants dress casually, relating to a set theme for each year. As much as there are many people who participate in this campaign, I think that there are also many people who are not informed about it. I would like to discuss my opinion from a perspective of a varsity student who is from a rural community.

In the community where I am from, campaigns similar to this one (focusing on disabilities) and this one even, are not spoken about. Not in the schools, not in the clinics and not at the work places. This does not only tell us about the limitations regarding access to information in the rurals. It also gives us an idea of the level of awareness about disabilities and people living with disabilities in such communities. It also raises questions to me concerning the effort that both the government and the NGOs are putting into helping increase awareness about disabilities in rural communities.

I personally only got to know what casual day really is this year. And I know for sure that would I have been studying a different course, I wouldn’t have known about casual day. From 15 people that I asked, including students from different varsities and employees, only one person knew what casual day is all about. This tells us about how less informed the society is regarding things related to disabilities. Mostly it is only the people who work directly with disabled individuals that will know about things like this one. That draws us back to the  point about stigma that is associated with the disabled in our communities.

In the institution where I practice, we had a modeling concert for grannies and grandpas living with different mental conditions and disabilities. the event was a success. Seeing the clients so much willing to participate  in the concert, made me realise that no matter the mental condition/ disability or the age of a person may be; all individuals need to be given the chance express self-confidence and acceptance of whatever disability they may have.

As an upcoming OT, I saw a great need of ensuring that campaigns like this are made know to everyone as I believe that it will help reduce the stigma that is there against individuals that live with disabilities.

 REFERENCE.

http://www.casualday.co.za/what-is-casual-day/

[nomandlela-blog]

Sharing Meaningfully

Blogging, sharing, thinking and reflecting.

Blogging is not just writing about what has happened or what you think. It goes to as far as to being able to share your thoughts in a meaningful way. By “sharing meaningfully” I mean sharing in a way that will make the person who is reading to go beyond hearing you, to listening to you and taking into heart what you’ve shared.

In this blog I will be sharing with you my thoughts regarding my experience of blogging. 

I am that one kind of a person who prefers sharing thoughts, emotions and ideas with people that aren’t close to me. This arises from the fear of being judged and feeling controlled by others regarding what I can or cannot express. Hence for me, having to start blogging was not an issue. Not until I came to realise that there has to be some sort of art in how I share, to ensure that my thoughts aren’t only going to be heard, but they will be listen to and they will be interpreted by however that reads them.

It is not long ago when I tried to get to the level of sharing meaningfully. i see myself growing in each blog.The flow of each blog post is not only influenced by how I have chosen to structure my reflection and thoughts. For me it is mainly influenced by the topic that I have to talk about. Some topics that we’re given to blog about don’t live me with enough things to talk about, hence the motivation to blog about them drops to 1%. However some topics get me thinking and meditating about certain things that may be meaningful to the readers.

Thinking about what has happened or what we have done is not something that we do all the time. Blogging has trained me to think about almost everything that I have done and reason to why it happened the way it did (reflecting). I do not only  reflect on what I have to blog about, but I now reflect on almost everything that happens to be a highlight in my mind. But sometimes it gets annoying because you just feel like you’re being too serious about life. However, I do recommend to you that you also practice reflecting on your actions, thoughts, daily experiences, etc. as I believe that it will have a positive impact on your behavior and thoughts.  

From the time I started blogging, I have seen that my ability to think constructively is developing. My grammar and flow of thoughts is also improving. That on its own drives me to want to blog more (sometimes there’s just no drive). For any and everyone who has access to blogging sites, I think that starting their own blog account wouldn't be a bad idea.  

REFERENCE

The art of sharing meaningfully.

http://social.colostate.edu/2016/12/05/the-art-of-sharing-meaningfully/

[nomandlela-blog]

The Secret She Kept

This movie is based on ReShonda Tate Billingsley's novel of the same name. It is about a successful magazine executive who marries a driven lawyer, who's on the cusp of a major promotion, only to discover that his wife is schizoaffective. The movie explores the meaning of love and the vow of "in sickness and in health." It also exposes some of the behaviors families exhibit in order to hide mental illness.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7Us3HBqfgQ&t=12s

Schizoaffective disorder is a chronic mental health condition characterized primarily by symptoms of schizophrenia and symptoms of a mood disorder.

In this blog I will be talking about the things that were highlighted in my mind as I watched this movie.  

Stigma

Cultural norms and perceptions determine social indicators of mental illness, thereby impacting stigmatizing cues. It has been stated that improper or insufficient knowledge about mental illness and its treatment leads to stigmatizing attitudes and discriminatory behavior. The stigma does not only come from other people, a person with the illness may sometimes have internalized stigma. This correlates with higher depression, lower self-esteem, and higher symptom severity.

Insight

Insight about the illness that one has and its impact on their lives and in the lives of those that are close them, plays an important role in helping finding possible ways of treatment. With regards to the persons that has mental illness, it may be challenging for the individual to have good emotional insight as they have no control over their thought process when they tap into episodes. However, individuals with good intellectual insight are most likely to gain more emotional insight as they will understand their illness better and know the significance of being compliant to ensure that their episodes are well monitored.

Compliance

Noncompliance to the treatment that’s available results to the person being unable to function optimally in their daily activities. It also makes the person’s condition to worsen, making the person to have more socially unacceptable behaviors, leading to increased stress on the family/ carer. This may also result to the community having non true assumptions about mental illness, henceforth perpetuating the negative perceptions and stigma about mental illness.

Stereotypes

Studies have indicated that Africans are underrepresented in mental health treatment compared to Whites. Weighting the sample and controlling for sociodemographic differences and diagnoses yielded results indicating that Africans in the communities are consistently less likely than Whites to have sought help. This gives us an idea that cultural and social norms may have a great impact on how individuals react to mental illness.

Family education

When looking at any illness, family is commonly one of the aspects to focus on mostly  before and during treatment. As much as a person may receive treatment, but if the family is not well informed about the condition of the person and how the treatment works, the person is most likely not to recovery optimally. Educating the family and involving it directly or indirectly on treatment, plays a vital role in the effectiveness of treatment, as family is often the person’s main source of support.

References

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/(SICI)1520-6629(199905)27:3%3C303::AID-JCOP5%3E3.0.CO;2-9/epdf

http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1529100614531398

[nomandlela-blog]

Golden years is the time of life after retirement from active work.

There are a lot of changes that elderly people have to deal with and adjust to when this time of life approaches. It gets even harder if the elderly individual presents with a psychological disorder. It requires more emotional support and motivation for them to get through each day with a smiling heart. In this blog we will be looking at how therapy can help in making this time of life sparkle.

This week has been one of the short prac weeks in the term, but that did not make it non educational nor has it made non beneficial for a level 3 OT student who is new to treatment in psychosocial therapy. When I got into this facility that I am practicing at, I thought that I had simply come to help clients be more functionally independent. I thought that reading my notes and treating according to the client’s diagnosis is what’s going to get me through this level. When I had my first encounter with my client and other residences, I realized I was not entirely correct. Therapy for elderlies is different from that of mid age groups.

Communication and effective communication is one of the first things one has to consider when treating elderlies. According to Staab and Hodges (1996), communication is a central theme in treatment. Health practitioners depend upon their communicative skills to be able to understand and meet the needs of their clients. For elderly clients, effective communication is essential for their feelings of satisfaction, independence and well-being. If communication fails, clients’ needs may remain unmet, their socialization process could be disturbed and compliance may decrease, which may have a negative impact on treatment. Communication in this case goes beyond words spoken or heard; it goes to an extent of being able to hear the unspoken words through observing their body language and their facial expressions. This allows you to build a solid rapport with your client as you will be able to hear the unspoken language that others cannot hear, and work on it to meet the therapy needs of your client.

Research studies have shown that in elderlies, there is a noticeable blunting of emotion, drift toward an increase in negative feelings, and a decrease in positive emotions. This challenges us as therapist to focus more on the uplifting of mood and building stimulating positive thoughts and emotions in our clients. Once that is achieved, there will then be a noticeable change on clients’ participation in function as their positive feelings about life in general may encourage and stimulate desire to be as functional as they possibly can.

It would be great to have all therapists take the above into consideration in all therapy sessions they get to have with the clients. These things will help our therapy be more meaningful and they will make the golden years of our clients be more fun and enjoyable for as long as therapy occurs.

References

Communication- http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0020748997000394

Age Effects on Emotions- https://search.proquest.com/openview/031b9ecdc8e4ace5648f09eb97abc670/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=1819046

[nomandlela-blog]

Let us take a little tour to the world of thoughts.

Today we had a mock prac, which is basically an orientation to a practical block that is about to begin. As much as it is meant to prepare each OT student for prac, it also has an impact on other aspects of each student. On this blog I will be taking you through the thoughts that were flying in my mind as we were discussing how prac will unfold. 

 This morning as I had to wake up to attend this mock prac I was dragging myself, I had no motivation, no willingness and nothing pushing me to attend except for that I did not want to look like an irresponsible student to my new supervisor . Let alone that I had already missed three lecture days of the week, so I HAD TO attend this one. One may question why is a level three student who is emerging to final year missing so many lectures in just one week. Well I believe this little tour will help you understand why this is so. 

 During the mock prac we watched a video that was entitled RISE AND SHINE. It was about being positive, proactive and motivated to reach the goals that you have set for yourself in the profession. It spoke about staying focused on what you want at the end of not just the four years of the degree, but at the end of your OT career at large. I couldn’t really relate to the video, instead I had questions that I had to ask myself. Why did I choose to study OT? What are my goals in my career? What is my vision? What is my motivator? What difference do I want to make in the OT field? To all those questions, I had NO answer. I have lost it all along the way. The journey has been a bit longer for me than it has been for others (5th year now). THAT is what has taken away all my motivation, love, and passion for this amazing career that I got into with a happy and smiling heart.

I have spent the past three and a half years focusing only on my weaknesses and how I’m not able to score good marks. And that has done nothing other than to drain me and stress me every day. Every morning has been a battle since the second year till today. But this mock prac has made me look at things differently, it made me realise that I can still pick up the pieces from wherever they broke and fell. It made me realise that there is more of the positive in me within the OT practice than there is of the negative. It made me remember that I’m not this depressed, withdrawn and non-confident person that I have become. 

 I sat down and looked at the things that I can work on gradually to become this AMAZING OT that I had always seen myself as. Thinking through all of this was quite emotional and psychologically challenging as I now have to change from what I have lately turned myself into. It was quite a difficult moment to a point that I busted into tears in front of my fellow colleagues during a short break that we had. The support they gave me and the love that they showed made me see that I’m not by myself as I’ve always thought. They made me realise again that the AMAIZING OT in me hasn’t yet died, I can still pick myself up and put myself together and be ready to enjoy this WONDERFUL journey of OT treatment. 

 With all that being said, I want to encourage every one of you out there who thinks they can’t make it again or they are not good enough anymore. I want you to take this little moment and look deep within yourself; I promise you will see a tiny spark of what you thought was all gone. From that tiny spark, I want you to recreate the biggest fiery furnace you’ve ever imagined and let it be your motivation and let it drive you every morning till you reach the top of the ladder of your goals.

[nomandlela-blog]

Have my clients been progressing?

Therapeuticness of my intervention.

It is the basic of all therapy to ensure that you assess, treat and assess continuously. In this blog I will be sharing with the evaluation that I have done with regards to the treatment I have done on my clients (Mrs X and Miss Y).

Miss Y

When I first met this client, she required maximal assistance with the following:

Bathing, dressing (both upper and lower body), transfers, propelling on rough surfaces as well as complex meal preparation.

After the sessions I have had with  her we were able to achieve this much:

·        Washing her face with minimal assistance using an adapted bath sponge.

·        Putting on a non-skinny t-shirt with minimal assistance.

·        Putting on a jacket with moderate assistance. Zipping it up using an adapted method.

·        Transferring from wheelchair to standing with minimal assistance.

·        Transferring from standing to sitting on the side of the bed (using a walking frame) with supervision.

·        Transferring from siting on the side of the bed to lying on the bed with minimal assistance.

·        Propelling on a rough surface (tar) with supervision for 10 meters.

·        Preparing a meal that requires only chopping (into bite size chunks) and stirring while standing (25 minutes).

By looking at the things that were improved during the session, we can see that the intervention was therapeutic. On the references below I will attach a link with functional expectations for the client with a C4-C5 lesion. This will help you see how much the client has been improving (before my intervention as well after it).  

Mrs. X

When I first met this client, she was fully dependent with bathing dressing (both upper and lower body) she also had no effective use of her free time. After my intervention this how the client presented.

·        She is able to wash her face as well as upper body with moderate assistance using her unaffected arm. She requires to be reminded the steps as she presents with perceptual problems.

·        She can dress both her upper and lower body with minimal assistance.

·        She has recently joined a fabric painting group which will help her utilize her spare time effectively. The products she produces will be used by her as well as by other clients as place mats (a picture will be attached to show an example of her paintings). This will add more value to her life as she will see her work being utilized effectively in the institution.

There isn’t much that was done with this client, but from the little that was done the effect of my therapy is seen.

In overall, I think that I have rendered a therapeutic treatment to my clients. I would have loved to do ore, but with what I have done, I’m happy.

References

Medscape (visited on the 05/05/17)

http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/322604-overview 

Radomski, M. V, Latham, C. A. (2008) Occupational Therapy Physical Dysfunction for, sixth edition. Philadelphia, United States of America: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

[nomandlela-blog]

How Did It Feel Being Assessed For Midterms?

Evaluating My Performance 

It is always nerve-racking to present your treatment to your superiors, regardless of the relationship you have with them. It requires one to know exactly what they are doing, and it requires one to be able to advocate for himself whenever his treatment is being questioned.

The past two months of fieldwork have been very challenging, yet very interesting. Being in this particular hospital has really developed my practice skills. It has taught me to think differently. When I started treating I thought that my focus of treatment should mainly be in ADLs. But being in a chronic hospital has made me realise that this is not always the case. I then had to learn to think differently in terms of what treatment is really essential to carry out with each of my clients. That is where I can say I found it a bit challenging.  I had to think out of the box and try new things (treatment plans) that I haven’t tried before. For me, that was not really easy, but I think I tried my best.

There are three assessments that I was examined on, treatment Demo; case study document as well as the presentation of the case study. All these sections require different skills yet a common gist and focus. I will briefly discuss about my performance and experience of each.

Treatment Demo.

This is similar to my daily treatment sessions, the only difference is that my supervisor comes and observes part of my session. From those observations she pays special attention on what I have written on my plan in relation to what is actually happening on the session.  I then get marked according to that.

My demo went well (passed), not as well as I would have wanted it to go. The session went as planned and there were no major adjustments that had to be done throughout the session. My down fall was my treatment plan smart aim. In my smart aim I was not able to present my points in a way that would clearly explain what I was aiming at achieving through my session. My supervisor had some queries with what I wrote and my clinical reasoning to it. After the session I had a feedback session, and that is where I got the chance to verbally explain and clarify what I wrote. I helped in terms of making my supervisor understand my aim, but it did not really help in terms of upping my mark. 

Case study document.

This is a 20 pages document that has a full report about one of my clients and the assessments as well as the treatment that has been carried out throughout the period that was given.

With regards to this area, I did well again (passed). One thing that I could have done to get a better mark was to look at the marking rubric as I compiled my document. I only followed the case study guidelines (which is also a good thing), but should I have followed both of these, my mark would have been better.

Case study presentation.

This is the aspect in which I scored a lower mark, I still passed, but it is not a good pass. When presenting, we are given 30 minutes; 20 mins for presenting your case document, 2 mins for presenting your evaluation of treatment and your recommendations for the client, the last 8 minutes if for questions.

In the 20 minutes I had, there are 20 marks that I could not present because I ran out of time. I’m not really upset about the mark I got, I know that I did not give myself enough time to rehearse my presentation. As a result I failed to manage my time. I have gone ahead and read about ways of perfecting my presentation skills, and I have attached a link of the site below.

In overall, I have seen where I’m lacking, and I have started working on those areas already. I believe that my finals will be way better.

NOTE To Self: “It usually takes me more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech.” -Mark Twain-

Reference(s)

Word stream: http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2014/11/19/how-to-improve-presentation-skills

[nomandlela-blog]

The Role Of The MDT In Treatment

The MDT refers to all health professions that are found within or out side the hospital setting. This team is referred to as a Multi Disciplinary due the vats variety of roles that each member plays to ensure the progress of the client’s health. 

This team works interdisciplinary, meaning that all professions cross their boarders to meet with other members of the team to ensure  that there is a perfect fit. The smaller the gaps within the members, the greater the impact of treatment on the client. It is a responsibility of each member to reach out to the members to ensure that they all have the same picture about each client. As a student therapist it is of paramount importance for me to ensure that I reach out (communicate) to as many members of the MDT as possible. This is not only a good gesture, but it also helps me ensure that the other professions know where I’m at with my treatment.

In the hospital where I’m currently at I only carryout treatment twice a week (Tuesday and Friday). This means that I only have a limited amount of time to ensure that the client puts into practice all the treatment that has been implemented; that is where the other MDT members come in. After each treatment I communicate with the members that spend most of the time with the client (the nurses in this instance) and give them a brief overview of where the client is currently functioning at. This plays a huge role as it allows me to then ask them to  carryover the treatment while I’m not around.

 I will shortly use a few examples to show you how I did that.

I had a few sessions where I trained Mrs. X to bath and dress herself. In this instance I had to make the nursing staff aware of that treatment so that they will ensure that the client practices these skills every morning. I asked a few nurses to come over in two of my sessions so that they could see how much the client can now do by herself and how much assistance does she require in the mentioned areas.

Miss Y wanted to practice writing (handwriting) as this function has been greatly affected by her injury. I then asked the OT technician to help ensure that the client practices writing (with the stationery that I provided) as often as possible so that she will improve in this function.

Doing carryovers is not always guaranteed to be effective. It takes the client’s willingness and the commitment of the members that you have spoken to, to ensure their effectiveness.

The relationship of the MDT members helps create a platform for each health profession to be understood better by the others. This helps make treatment to flow more easily. 

[nomandlela-blog]

This week it was Mrs X's 80th Birthday ❤

[nomandlela-blog]

What Are My Successes And Difficulties In Prac?

                     (My apologies with regards to a delayed post.)

In this blog post I am going to be looking at my successes and difficulties during intervention sessions.

Successes

·        Working WITH the client and not ON the client.

When implementing treatment I ensure that the client and I are working together from the beginning to the end. This means involving the client in whatever that I do during the sessions. Making the client aware of whatever action I take and making him understand why I’m doing whatever it is that I will be doing. This helps me make the client see that I fully understand that the treatment is aimed at helping him; hence we should be at the same level of understanding of his treatment.

·        Treatment principles vs Secondary aims.

In my treatment I always keep in mind my planned treatment principles and try not to leave out any of them while treating. This has and is helping me to ensure that not only my primary aim is achieved, but my secondary aims as well.

Difficulties

·        Being flexible in my treatment.

I always find it challenging to improvise when things don’t go as I have planned. I normally stick to the plan I have for that particular session in terms of the activity itself as well as structuring. I only prepare for minor changes, like for instance – how will I make the activity more challenging to the client OR how will I make it a bit easy for the client. Hence, I always find it easy to make those little changes. However, there are cases where the client cannot participate in the planned activity if I there are no changes made in terms of structuring and activity requirements (for an example).

E.g. On Friday, I had to do an activity with Mrs. X and this activity required her to sit on the side of the bed. When I got to the client I found out the she has a boil on her buttocks, hence she cannot sit. I had to change my plan; I came up with a completely different activity. I could have just tried to see what changes could be made on the plan I already had and still do the activity I planned with some changes here and there.

·        Making use of all the therapeutic opportunities.

Therapeutic opportunities refer to cases where during your session; something (unplanned) happens and gives you an opportunity to treat one of your secondary aims or to assess. Eg. During a face washing activity, the client (mild CVA) is standing and he accidentally drops a moisturizer. Instead of picking it up for him you would ask him to pick it. This would be an opportunity to either assess or treat his dynamic standing balance.

During treatment sessions I focus on what I have on my plan, I don’t pay much attention on the things that I did not plan to do. There are incidents where I could have either treated or assessed some aspects but I did not pay much attention on the opportunities.

·        Being firm about what is expected of the client during treatment.

I find it difficult to make the client comply with all the treatment principles if they do not show willingness to participate. I tend to just go with what the client is saying and end the session if they say they cannot continue with the activity (maybe because they are tired). I do that even when the treatment aim is not yet fully achieved. I think my personality is working against me in that instance, but now that I have noted this, I have started working on it already.

(I would like to note that this is not a frequent difficulty, it occurs very occasionally.)

·        Making good use of my time.

I think that I need to work on my time management skills. I spend so much time on one thing, making my other plans to be delayed. This is due to that I don’t want to rush things through. But I have realized that even if that’s the case, I still need stick to my day plans as they are a guide in terms of how to spend my time on each prac day.

Having that being said, I am reminded that it is always easy to note the things that we are doing right, but only a few individuals can note where they are failing. I then believe that it takes a responsible somebody to realise their flaws and try to work on fixing them.

NOTE to self:

“You are the best person who can make yourself better than yesterday.”

(N.T Ndlela)

[nomandlela-blog]

With regards to the questions I have received, Thank you so much Mzamo for asking, I really appreciate that. Please see the answers below.

So, so far are you only dealing with your two clients or you keep on adding more as you get the new ones?

- I’m currently working with only two clients, the ones that I update you guys about. However, I will be getting my third client on the 2nd term. So from there I will be giving you updates of three clients.

Regarding Mrs X’s boils, what actions do you take as the Therapist coz I assume it might be the nurses negligence of not paying much attention on changing the patient’s lying positions? Or you only write notes on client’s file that she/he has boils therefore I wasn’t able to have a successful treatment

-In this case I wouldn’t say it’s the nurses’ negligence, but should Mrs X have presented with pressure sores, then I would have questioned the nurses’ care. She is fully independent with bed mobility; hence she does not require the nurses to help her with that aspect of function. However, it is always important to increase her awareness concerning pressure sores and any risks that she may be prone to.

- As for my role or action as a student therapist concerning this matter; I still continued with therapy, but I had to change the plan I had (as mentioned on the post). Another thing that I did was to ensure that client does not apply pressure on the affected area, as that could worsen the case. I encouraged her to lie on her sides (interchanging them) till she gets well.

Do you see any progress on both of clients so far?

- Yes I do see progress on both of my clients, but I will give you guys a detailed update with regards to that.

[nomandlela-blog]

[nomandlela-blog]

What Are My Successes And Difficulties In Prac?

                     (My apologies with regards to a delayed post.)

In this blog post I am going to be looking at my successes and difficulties during intervention sessions.

Successes

·        Working WITH the client and not ON the client.

When implementing treatment I ensure that the client and I are working together from the beginning to the end. This means involving the client in whatever that I do during the sessions. Making the client aware of whatever action I take and making him understand why I’m doing whatever it is that I will be doing. This helps me make the client see that I fully understand that the treatment is aimed at helping him; hence we should be at the same level of understanding of his treatment.

·        Treatment principles vs Secondary aims.

In my treatment I always keep in mind my planned treatment principles and try not to leave out any of them while treating. This has and is helping me to ensure that not only my primary aim is achieved, but my secondary aims as well.

Difficulties

·        Being flexible in my treatment.

I always find it challenging to improvise when things don’t go as I have planned. I normally stick to the plan I have for that particular session in terms of the activity itself as well as structuring. I only prepare for minor changes, like for instance – how will I make the activity more challenging to the client OR how will I make it a bit easy for the client. Hence, I always find it easy to make those little changes. However, there are cases where the client cannot participate in the planned activity if I there are no changes made in terms of structuring and activity requirements (for an example).

E.g. On Friday, I had to do an activity with Mrs. X and this activity required her to sit on the side of the bed. When I got to the client I found out the she has a boil on her buttocks, hence she cannot sit. I had to change my plan; I came up with a completely different activity. I could have just tried to see what changes could be made on the plan I already had and still do the activity I planned with some changes here and there.

·        Making use of all the therapeutic opportunities.

Therapeutic opportunities refer to cases where during your session; something (unplanned) happens and gives you an opportunity to treat one of your secondary aims or to assess. Eg. During a face washing activity, the client (mild CVA) is standing and he accidentally drops a moisturizer. Instead of picking it up for him you would ask him to pick it. This would be an opportunity to either assess or treat his dynamic standing balance.

During treatment sessions I focus on what I have on my plan, I don’t pay much attention on the things that I did not plan to do. There are incidents where I could have either treated or assessed some aspects but I did not pay much attention on the opportunities.

·        Being firm about what is expected of the client during treatment.

I find it difficult to make the client comply with all the treatment principles if they do not show willingness to participate. I tend to just go with what the client is saying and end the session if they say they cannot continue with the activity (maybe because they are tired). I do that even when the treatment aim is not yet fully achieved. I think my personality is working against me in that instance, but now that I have noted this, I have started working on it already.

(I would like to note that this is not a frequent difficulty, it occurs very occasionally.)

·        Making good use of my time.

I think that I need to work on my time management skills. I spend so much time on one thing, making my other plans to be delayed. This is due to that I don’t want to rush things through. But I have realized that even if that’s the case, I still need stick to my day plans as they are a guide in terms of how to spend my time on each prac day.

Having that being said, I am reminded that it is always easy to note the things that we are doing right, but only a few individuals can note where they are failing. I then believe that it takes a responsible somebody to realise their flaws and try to work on fixing them.

 NOTE to self:

“You are the best person who can make yourself better than yesterday.”

(N.T Ndlela)