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Importance: Occupational therapists can foster student veterans' resilience, but targets for intervention must be developed., Objective: To explain factors influencing student veterans' successful adaptation to past combat exposure, we hypothesized that participants with high life meaning would have greater levels of protective factors and lower levels of health conditions than those with low life meaning., Design: Longitudinal panel study with two measurements. Participants were classified by level of combat exposure (high-low) and life meaning (high-low) at follow-up, yielding four possible classifications (e.g., resilient group: high combat exposure, high life meaning). Linear mixed models were fit to obtain adjusted means of protective factors and health conditions for each classification; independent-samples t tests were used to examine differences between classifications., Setting: Community., Participants: Convenience sample of 153 combat-exposed student veterans., Outcomes and Measures: Psychometrically sound measures of combat exposure, life meaning, protective factors (social and instructor autonomy support, coping ability, academic self-efficacy, social-community participation, and meaningful activity), and health conditions (posttraumatic stress [PTSD], depression, somatic symptoms)., Results: Groups with high life meaning at follow-up in response to both levels of combat exposure reported greater meaningful activity and coping ability and fewer depressive symptoms. Participants with high life meaning in response to low combat exposure had greater social support and fewer somatic symptoms; participants with high life meaning in response to high combat exposure had lower PTSD., Conclusions and Relevance: Occupational therapists may foster student veterans' resilience by promoting meaningful activity, social support, and coping ability while managing symptoms of health conditions., What This Article Adds: To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to offer empirical support for potential targets of occupational therapy intervention that address student veterans' successful adaptation to combat exposure. Findings suggest that researchers should develop and test interventions that facilitate successful engagement in meaningful and shared activities and that occupational therapists should work within multidisciplinary teams to bolster coping ability and manage symptoms of combat-related health conditions., (Copyright © 2020 by the American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.)

Objective: We examined the feasibility of Aging Well by Design, a Lifestyle Redesign ® -inspired intervention for community-dwelling older adults. The original Lifestyle Redesign program was shortened to 3 mo and implemented as a community outreach program of a major health care system., Method: Community-dwelling older adults participated in the 12-wk program, which emphasized an occupational approach to healthy aging. Outcomes evaluated were recruitment, attendance, resource use, participant satisfaction, and subjective benefit to participants., Results: The 13 participants, ages 66-88 yr, attended an average of 10 of 12 sessions. The intervention was completed as planned, physical resources were suitable, and financial resources were adequate. Participants expressed satisfaction with the program's facilitator, group discussions, and materials. Perceived benefits were social relationships, awareness of community resources, and change in attitude toward aging., Conclusion: Implementation of a 3-mo Lifestyle Redesign-inspired program within a health care system was feasible., (Copyright © 2017 by the American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.)

Objective: To examine differences in psychosocial protective factors (social support, meaningful occupation, and academic self-efficacy) and health-related vulnerability factors (posttraumatic stress, depression, and somatic symptoms) contributing to resilience in post-9/11 veterans with service-related injuries and nonveterans in postsecondary education., Method: A cross-sectional, matched-participants design using propensity score matching was used to test differences in mean levels of protective and vulnerability factors between injured veterans (n = 26) and nonveterans (n = 19); zero-order correlations explored relationships among study variables., Results: The veteran sample demonstrated lower levels of psychosocial protective factors and higher levels of health-related vulnerability factors compared with nonveterans (|0.49| to |1.56|). Psychosocial protective factors were consistently negatively associated with health-related vulnerability factors (-.27 to -.63)., Conclusion: Post-9/11 veterans with service-related injuries are at a substantial disadvantage in terms of resilience; lower protective factors and elevated vulnerability factors may increase their risk for poor campus integration and impede academic achievement., (Copyright © 2016 by the American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.)