Whitney OT425

After attending a 12-step meeting, I can see how it is beneficial to my learning of the group process. In this particular meeting, I felt the leader took on more of an advisory role because he was a passive leader and did not provide a lot of structure to the group. The group session was more of an open discussion. He led the group off by asking what everyone wanted to talk about that day which encouraged group members to participate. I think it was a good way to get started and allow the group to guide the session. I think because the environment was a nice, quiet, church building, maybe members were more comfortable. There weren't any distractions such as traffic or hallway noises which I think helped the focus of the members. I think this group session was therapeutic because the members were able to talk about their feelings in an open format, and I think any time someone shares their thoughts or feelings it is therapeutic. I did reflect on maybe some differences if this were...

While searching the AOTA website for journal articles about occupational therapy and the group process, I found an article that stood out to me. The article I chose was on the benefits of group occupational therapy for patients with Parkinson's disease. All participants in the study had been diagnosed with idiopathic Parkinson's disease. The volunteers were randomly assigned to an intervention group or a control group. The intervention group received group occupational therapy for 10 sessions with a duration of 2 hours. Both groups were also followed medically. The outcomes included functional autonomy, dexterity, patients' impressions, physical and motor signs, and behavioral changes. The group intervention sessions followed the pattern of: Arrival (welcome and socialization) General mobility activities Rest period and socialization  Dexterity activities Functional activities Educational activities Departure (informal exchange and socialization) The results s...

Yesterday, I facilitated a group on health management and maintenance. Although I was nervous to lead group by myself, I felt it went well. I think the group members were engaging and benefited from the session. I led off with a warm-up activity where the members wrote down favorite food, drink, physical activity, and leisure activity and later guessed who wrote what. I think this was fun for the group members, but if I was leading a group where the members didn't know each other well this would not be an appropriate warm-up activity. I think the activity I chose was good in facilitating the group goals. It allowed the members to reflect on their health and wellness and feed off of the other group members answers to questions. I didn't think about it prior to leading group, but Jenga can be a high stress game. I worried that the members were having a difficult time relaxing. You would want to know your clients before you would choose this activity for a group. Following the...

During the week prior to my facilitation, I met with a few classmates to brainstorm and work on our protocols. The most helpful part of this experience was receiving feedback on the ideas I had been working on. I knew the activity I wanted to do in my group session, but wasn't sure how I was going to conclude my session and bring everything together. A classmate recommended I have the group members create a wellness goal for themselves going forward. I loved the idea and think it was helpful to the group members I facilitated.

Yesterday, Virginia and I led a group session about cultivating a positive attitude we named, "Think Happy Thoughts." I then used the exercise provided in our groups book to lead my reflection on the experience of our facilitation. Although nervous to lead the group, I feel that we did a great job engaging the group members. We led off with a warm-up activity where the group members could state how positive/negative they felt at the moment. I think this was a good way to start the group because it was Monday morning and many of us were feeling negative about the upcoming week. The warm-up prepared the group for the session and allowed them to get their feelings out about the upcoming week. I think the activity we chose was good in facilitating the group goals. Because the group members were my classmates, I found it difficult to know how involved to be in the activity. I think it will be interesting to lead my first client group and compare the differences of facilitation b...

I chose to watch Still Alice for my last neuro note because Alzheimer's was the last topic we discussed in class. I have found it interesting and helpful for my learning during the course of class to watch, read, or listen to something that relates back to the most recent subject we have discussed. For much of my life, when I have heard the term Alzheimer's, my immediate thought is of an older person losing their memory.  I associate this with Alzheimer's because that was the experience I had with my grandmother and similar stories that have been shared with me. The film Still Alice gives a different perspective of the disease. Alice is a professor who is diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's at a younger age than the typical diagnostic age. She learns that the type she has is familial Alzheimer's which is a type we discussed in class, meaning that it is genetic and her children have a 50% chance of having the gene. The film gives an interesting view of Alzhe...