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Blind/partially blind people are underrepresented in post-secondary education and lack equitable opportunities to develop a sense of belonging. This study shares narratives of 28 blind/partially blind students from across Turtle Island (in what is colonially called Canada) using Teng et al.'s (2020) Belonging in Academia Model (BAM) as a conceptual framework. Thematically analyzed findings suggest blind/partially blind students' perspectives offer nuance to the BAM's conceptualization of how belonging develops through affiliation, familiarity, acceptance, interdependent relationships, and sense of equity. Based on blind/partially blind perspectives, the former trusting connections dimension was renamed interdependent relationships. By attending to the underrepresented perspectives of blind/partially blind students, stakeholders can become more responsive to the experiences of people from equity-deserving groups. Understanding facilitators and barriers to belonging could result in culturally safer and more inclusive pedagogical practices. Only when we create spaces where everyone can belong will higher education move toward being more just.

Social support is vital in promoting the health, well-being, and performance of students and clinicians in health professions. Health settings' demanding and competitive nature imposes unique challenges on students and clinicians with disabilities. This paper aims to explore the trajectories and experiences of social support interactions amongst students and clinicians with disabilities in health professions. In a qualitative longitudinal study, 124 in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 27 health students and 29 health clinicians with disabilities. Data analysis was informed by grounded theory as an adapted analytic approach involving constant comparisons. A few main characteristics of social support and trajectories in which social support is negotiated emerged from the data: (1) The need to be accepted and not questioned when asking for support, (2) Support interactions that do not heighten otherness, (3) Failure to acknowledge the challenges, (4) Interactions that support the process of disclosure (5) Interactions that allow mobilization of social support without strain or an extra effort. These findings have important implications for designing more supportive health professions, educational programs, and workplaces for people living with disabilities.

BackgroundThe number of older adults living with lower limb amputation (LLA) who require rehabilitation for improving their walking capacity and mobility is growing. Existing rehabilitation practices frequently fail to meet this demand. Nintendo Wii Fit may be a valuable tool to enable rehabilitation interventions. Based on pilot studies, we have developed “Wii.n.Walk”, an in-home telehealth Wii Fit intervention targeted to improve walking capacity in older adults with LLA. ObjectiveThe objective of this study is to determine whether the Wii.n.Walk intervention enhances walking capacity compared to an attention control group. MethodsThis project is a multi-site (Vancouver BC, London ON), parallel, evaluator-blind randomized controlled trial. Participants include community-dwelling older adults over the age of 50 years with unilateral transtibial or transfemoral amputation. Participants will be stratified by site and block randomized in triplets to either the Wii.n.Walk intervention or an attention control group employing the Wii Big Brain cognitive software. This trial will include both supervised and unsupervised phases. During the supervised phase, both groups will receive 40-minute sessions of supervised group training three times per week for a duration of 4 weeks. Participants will complete the first week of the intervention in groups of three at their local rehabilitation center with a trainer. The remaining 3 weeks will take place at participants’ homes using remote supervision by the trainer using Apple iPad technology. At the end of 4 weeks, the supervised period will end and the unsupervised period will begin. Participants will retain the Wii console and be encouraged to continue using the program for an additional 4 weeks’ duration. The primary outcome measure will be the “Two-Minute Walk Test” to measure walking capacity. Outcome measures will be evaluated for all participants at baseline, after the end of both the supervised and unsupervised phases, and after 1-year follow up. ResultsStudy staff have been hired and trained at both sites and recruitment is currently underway. No participants have been enrolled yet. ConclusionsWii.n.Walk is a promising in-home telehealth intervention that may have useful applications for older adults with LLA who are discharged from rehabilitation or live in remote areas having limited or no access to existing rehabilitation programs. Trial RegistrationClinicaltrial.gov NCT01942798; http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01942798 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6V0w8baKP).

Indigenous Peoples are underrepresented in many of the Health and Human Services Educational Programs (HHSEP, e.g.: Nursing, Social Work). As various studies have reported the benefits of diversifying HHSEP, the barriers and facilitators of increasing the number of Indigenous Peoples in these professions must be identified. The purpose of this exploratory study is to identify and understand the barriers and facilitators Indigenous Peoples face when entering, learning or working in HHSEP. A narrative approach was used in the facilitation of culturally safe sharing circles with Indigenous students and staff to collect perspectives based on their individual experiences in HHSEP. Inductive thematic analysis was used to identify emerging themes in participant experiences and the impact of those experiences on participation in learning and working at the university in these educational programs. Results from this exploratory study identified current academic structures and ideologies rooted in colonialism, that act as barriers for engagement and inclusion of Indigenous students, staff, and clinical and academic faculty. These findings shaped the main themes of this study including negotiation of identity in different spaces, negotiating colonial structures in HHSEP, and negotiating changes and transitions in HHSEP. We anticipate these preliminary results will act as a catalyst for uncovering further changes to be made regarding attitudes, procedures, and practices present in an academic environment that limit the inclusion of Indigenous Peoples in HHSEP.

The desire to support student learning and professional development, in combination with accreditation requirements, necessitates the need to evaluate the learning environment of educational programs. The Health Education Learning Environment Survey (HELES) is a recently-developed global measure of the learning environment for health professions programs. This paper provides evidence of the applicability of the HELES for evaluating the learning environment across four health professions programs: medicine, nursing, occupational therapy and pharmaceutical sciences. Two consecutive years of HELES data were collected from each program at a single university (year 1 = 552 students; year 2 = 745 students) using an anonymous online survey. Reliability analyses across programs and administration years supported the reliability of the tool. Two-way factorial ANOVAs with program and administration year as the independent variables indicated statistically- and practically-significant differences across programs for four of the seven scales. Overall, these results support the use of the HELES to evaluate student perceptions of the learning environment multiple of health professions programs.

Despite the rapid growth in development of technology, such as software or hardware devices, its implementation among stakeholders working with individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is slow. This suggests that there might be a number of challenges that hinder technology adoption or its continued usage. The current project aimed to investigate stakeholders' perceptions on potential barriers in adopting technology. We involved 17 stakeholders, including parents of children with ASD, service providers, and administrators of ASD organizations, in interviews. Thematic analysis yielded three themes: (a) making the right choice, (b) apprehension and concern about uptake, and (c) external obstacles to implementation. This project was the first study to involve key stakeholders to determine components that take place in utilization and adoption of technologies in the field of ASD.

Belonging is associated with increased engagement in academic pursuits and well-being. However, there is a lack of research on how a sense of belonging develops in academia. The academic environment comprises largely of sighted individuals. Exploring sighted students, staff, and educators' perceptions of belonging contributes to our understanding of environments that foster belonging for sighted individuals and their perceptions of the same for people who are blind. We conducted focus groups and in-depth interviews with 25 sighted people in academia to investigate how sense of belonging develops for them, and what facilitators and barriers would impact belonging in academia. Grounded theory was used to construct the Belonging in Academia Model (BAM), which explores how people perceive, create, and develop belonging in academia.

Introduction: Despite legislation mandating accommodation policies in postsecondary education, support for students with disabilities is often not implemented within health and human services (HHS) education programs, particularly in fieldwork settings. As part of a Canada‐wide study exploring the experiences of disabled students in 10 HHS programs, we examined how HHS students described their experiences accessing accommodations in fieldwork to understand how conceptions of disability relate to students' fieldwork experiences. Using a critical disability studies framework, we explored how HHS fieldwork education understands disability, accommodations and professional competence and what those understandings reveal about the discrepancy between mandated accommodations and what happens in practice. Methods: Thirty‐five students requiring accommodations in HHS fieldwork education participated in interviews. Through a critical interpretive analysis of interview data, we developed first‐person composite narratives to show the richness and complexity of the students' diverse, yet similar, subjective experiences with fieldwork accommodations. Findings: Two composite narratives demonstrate how conceptions of disability incommensurate with professional competence expectations influenced student experiences with disclosing disability and obtaining accommodations in fieldwork. Fear of stigma and having one's competence questioned, or having accommodation requests denied for being misaligned with professional expectations, demonstrate how HHS fieldwork education and practice are upheld by ableist systemic structures. Discussion The dominant medical model of disability in HHS education creates institutional barriers that require students to constantly (re)construct their 'professional' identity in relation to their 'patient' identity. This patient–professional identity construction relates to HHS professional competency standards and assumptions about what makes a 'good' professional. Suggestions include reworking competency standards and implementing critical pedagogical approaches to teach future and current HHS professionals to question both personal and practice assumptions. With institutional backing, such changes may support diversity within HHS and a culture shift toward more equitable education and health care. Student experiences seeking accommodations in health and human services fieldwork education show how ableist structures lead to marginalization despite legal mandates to accommodate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This exploratory study examined paediatric practitioners' challenges and considerations when they support caregivers and children with autism regarding children's screen use. Current research often focuses on the problematic use of screen time among children with autism. No clear strategies or recommendations for clinicians to support the beneficial use of screens exist yet in the field. Participants in the study were 15 experienced paediatric practitioners invited to participate in semistructured interviews that were analysed using summative content analysis. Practitioners expressed the urgent need for accessible and valuable educational resources to guide digital citizenship and screen time use for their clients with autism. This exploratory study provides an initial roadmap for the educational needs of paediatric practitioners supporting positive screen use and digital citizenship of autistic children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Disabled people are underrepresented within healthcare professions, although their participation has potential benefits for them personally, and for broader society. Disabled peoples' participation in healthcare professions is limited by assumptions about disability. Little research explores how healthcare professions can be organized to support disabled peoples' employment. Within a critical realist paradigm influenced by grounded theory, this study used interviews to explore the experiences of 56 disabled healthcare clinicians and students, and advance a conceptual taxonomy of disability experience within healthcare professions. Participants describe their experiences of disability in the healthcare professional context in terms of characteristics and dimensions of disability--how characteristics interact with factors within healthcare training and practice environments. We profile two particularly salient dimensions of the disability experience: visibility and onset of disability. These are developed to describe complexity and specificity of the experiences of individuals negotiating the healthcare context. Among participants there is extensive heterogeneity related to the experience of disability in healthcare professional contexts. Despite some having similar disability characteristics, no two individuals experience the same combination of characteristics and dimensions of disability. Given the complexity of experiences for disabled healthcare professionals/students, a taxonomy for conceptualizing this experience is presented. Readers are encouraged to consider the taxonomy through which they might conceptualize individual, embodied, and socially embedded experiences of disabled healthcare professionals and students. Stakeholders involved in healthcare professions and education should consider this shift in perspective, with a view to increasing access of disabled people to health professional practice.

Social participation is one of the most important predictors of the children's physical and mental health. Although it is evidenced that children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have restricted social participation, it is unclear which factors play a significant role. This research aimed to uncover perceived barriers of social participation by involving 26 stakeholders including parents of children with ASD, youth with ASD, and clinicians working with individuals with ASD in focus groups and interviews. Using thematic analysis yielded three themes including (a) difficulty understanding social situations; (b) maladaptive behaviours; and (c) conflicting priorities and restricted nature of training. This project was the first study to involve key stakeholders to highlight barriers of social participation among individuals with ASD.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects socio-emotional skills and perspective-taking abilities. Although social stories in a form of virtual reality program can help children with ASD, developing them and identifying appropriate responses might be subjective and thus challenging. Using Delphi method, and guided by general case training, we involved 63 parents and clinicians of individuals with ASD, in two rounds of online iteration to refine the stories. Scenarios that reached a 75% agreement level were accepted. This project is the first study to develop and validate a library of 75 short socio-emotional stories that illustrate various types and intensities of emotion in three social contexts of home, school, and community as the content of a virtual reality program.

Over the past few years, screen-based usage among children and youth has increased significantly, particularly among those with autism. Yet current screen time guidelines do not address the specific needs of autistic children and youth. Therefore, the objective of this study was to develop specific and clear guidelines and strategies that caregivers and expert clinicians agree upon to support the digital citizenship of children with autism. Using the Delphi method, 30 experts, including 20 clinicians and 10 caregivers, were invited to complete a series of three surveys. The experts had to rate their agreement levels on a series of statements that included possible guidelines and strategies. The final statements to be included in the guidelines were accepted by more than 75% of the panel. The final guidelines included six sections: (1) general principles, (2) considerations for timing and content of leisure screen time use, (3) strategies for caregivers and clinicians to monitor and regulate screen time use, (4) behaviors to monitor for screen time overuse, (5) additional guidelines for clinicians, and (6) resources. The agreed-upon guidelines developed in this study could be the stepping stones for clinical interventions targeting screen time overuse of children with autism, addressing the screen time challenges that many families are experiencing. Children and youth with autism use screens in their daily lives and in their rehabilitation programs. Although parents and clinicians experience specific challenges when supporting positive screen time use of children and youth with autism, no detailed information for this group exists. Therefore, this study aimed to develop clear guidelines that are agreed by expert clinicians and parents of children and youth with autism. Using a method called Delphi, 30 experts—20 clinicians and 10 caregivers, who have experience working with or caring for children and youth with autism were invited to complete a series of three surveys. In each round, the experts had to rate their agreement with statements regarding screen time management. The agreement level was set to 75%. The final themes to be included in the guidelines were accepted by more than 75% of the panel. The final guidelines included six main sections: (1) general principles, (2) considerations for timing and content of leisure screen time use, (3) strategies for caregivers and clinicians to monitor and regulate screen time use, (4) behaviors to monitor for screen time overuse, (5) additional guidelines for clinicians, and (6) resources. The new guidelines developed in this study can provide potential guidance on how to further the development of digital citizenship for children and youth with autism and provide strategies to families to help manage screen time use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Women living in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia including in the Eastern Province have a high prevalence of lifestyle-related conditions for which targeted health education strategies are needed. This study's objective was to explore their self-reported health status and the congruence of their lifestyle-related health beliefs and practices to inform health education programme development. Methods: A cross section of community-living Saudi women (N=407) living in Dammam (the capital of the Eastern Province) was sampled from regional health centres. Participants completed an interview survey questionnaire about their health status and their lifestyle-related health beliefs and practices. Results: In all, 44% of participants reported having an average but not excellent health. This finding was at odds with their unequivocal, evidence-supported beliefs about the positive relationship between exercise, good nutrition, not smoking and manageable stress, with health (?97%). Despite these strong beliefs, participants reported suboptimal levels of exercise, nutritional choices, stress and sleep quality and quantity for maximal health and wellbeing. Conclusion: Studies are warranted to explore and explain marked discrepancy between the positive health beliefs and lifestyle-related health practices of Saudi women living in Dammam, and to design effective health promotion education programmes to address this gap. Improving Saudi women's health by narrowing the lifestyle-related health belief-practice gap may also maximise the health of families, given women's pivotal role in managing the family, as well as individual health.

Social participation is one of the most important predictors of the children's physical and mental health. Although it is evidenced that children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have restricted social participation, it is unclear which factors play a significant role. This research aimed to uncover perceived barriers of social participation by involving 26 stakeholders including parents of children with ASD, youth with ASD, and clinicians working with individuals with ASD in focus groups and interviews. Using thematic analysis yielded three themes including (a) difficulty understanding social situations; (b) maladaptive behaviours; and (c) conflicting priorities and restricted nature of training. This project was the first study to involve key stakeholders to highlight barriers of social participation among individuals with ASD., Author(s): Parisa Ghanouni [sup.1] , Tal Jarus [sup.2] , Jill G. Zwicker [sup.2] [sup.3] [sup.4] [sup.5] [sup.6] , Joseph Lucyshyn [sup.7] , Stephanie Chauhan [sup.2] , Chelsea Moir [sup.2] Author [...]

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects socio-emotional skills and perspective-taking abilities. Although social stories in a form of virtual reality program can help children with ASD, developing them and identifying appropriate responses might be subjective and thus challenging. Using Delphi method, and guided by general case training, we involved 63 parents and clinicians of individuals with ASD, in two rounds of online iteration to refine the stories. Scenarios that reached a 75% agreement level were accepted. This project is the first study to develop and validate a library of 75 short socio-emotional stories that illustrate various types and intensities of emotion in three social contexts of home, school, and community as the content of a virtual reality program., Author(s): Parisa Ghanouni [sup.1] , Tal Jarus [sup.2] , Jill G. Zwicker [sup.2] [sup.3] [sup.4] [sup.5] [sup.6] , Joseph Lucyshyn [sup.7] , Kristin Mow [sup.2] , Alyssa Ledingham [sup.2] Author [...]

Professionalism is one of the core competencies for occupational and physical therapists. However, difficulty in providing clear definitions of core professional values and behaviours makes professionalism a complex concept to teach. Most proposed frameworks for defining the concept are theoretical or have focused on the academics' and clinicians' perspectives; evidence from students' experiences is lacking. The purpose of this study was to develop a framework to define the concept of professionalism from occupational therapy (OT) and physical therapy (PT) students' perspectives through analysis of their reflections. The study was a retrospective content analysis of OT and PT students' reflections completed during clinical placements from 2014-2015 academic years. Sixty students (30 PT and 30 OT) were randomly sampled and one anonymized reflection of each of these students was selected. The qualitative content analysis was initiated by applying a deductive approach using previously presented frameworks to define professionalism. Four themes emerged which resulted in a new framework to define professionalism from students' perspectives. The emergent themes included the effect of context, the relational dimension, personal dimension, and societal dimension. Students considered context an overarching factor influencing all dimensions of professionalism. Although their perceptions of professionalism were comparable to other presented frameworks, they primarily focused on the relational and personal dimensions of professionalism. The results of this study indicate that OT and PT students consider professionalism as a multi-dimensional and context-specific concept. Despite understanding contextual barriers, at this stage of their professional identity development, students tried to adhere to ethics, and professional values and responsibilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Disabled medical learners have unique accommodation needs, given their diverse and changing learning environments and direct contact with patient-care. However, there are very limited policies and resources available in Canada to inform medical learners and educators about what accommodations are available to them, and little is known about the usefulness of existing policies. This study explored the perspectives of disabled medical learners on existing policies in medical schools. We conducted interviews with eight disabled medical learners, focusing on their experiences with their institutions' disability-related policies. Interviews were thematically analyzed. The analysis demonstrated that there are gaps in services for medical learners. Participants did not feel that pre-existing policies were helpful in addressing the existing barriers. In addition, participants felt that the responsibility for navigating the system falls primarily on them. This study addresses some needed changes to create more inclusive environments in medical education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Participation is recognized as a key to one's health and well-being and is considered to be a vital part of the development of children and youth. The purpose of this study was to examine the participation patterns of children with and without Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) in their out-of-school-time (OST) activities, and to see whether there is a relationship between the children's motor abilities and their choices and participation. Methods: 50 children (5-7 years old), 25 who met diagnostic criteria of DCD and 25 without DCD, completed the Children Assessment of Participation and Enjoyment (CAPE) and were administered the Motor Assessment Battery for Children (MABC) and the Beery-Buktenica Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration (VMI). Results: A relationship was found between participation patterns and motor ability. Children with DCD had limited participation diversity in which they participated less frequently, and chose activities that were quieter and more socially isolated compared to children without DCD; there were no differences in their levels of enjoyment. Conclusions: The present study emphasizes the importance of looking at the children's participation from a broad perspective, and the many difficulties children with DCD experience in OST participation. Future studies might consider other factors (e.g., environment) while examining participation among children with DCD. (Contains 4 tables.)

The satisfaction with life scale (SWLS) is a widely accepted and widely used tool for measuring well-being. Although its potential as a cross-cultural index is recognized, an introduction and systematic validation of the Hebrew version is needed. Thus, the purpose of this study is: (1) to describe the process of developing the Hebrew version of the SWLS, and (2) to examine its construct validity as well as its internal consistency. Four hundred and eighty seven working adults completed the following self reported Hebrew language versions of the: (1) SWLS, (2) positive affect and negative affect scales (PANAS), and (3) the self-rated health (SRH) scale. In addition, as way of gathering additional evidence of validity, the SWLS was completed by proxy (i.e., each participant's life partner or significant other). Confirmatory factor analysis supported a single-factor structure with significant correlations between the SWLS and the rest of the measures--PANAS scores, the SRH scores as well as the SWLS scores as measured by proxy. In addition, item-analysis supports the internal consistency of the scale. The Hebrew version of the SWLS is a valid and reliable scale and can be utilized in the Israeli context.

The purpose of this manuscript was to develop and test the psychometric properties of the Environmental Restriction Questionnaire (ERQ) a parent-reported questionnaire for measuring perceived environmental restrictions for young children participation. Reliability and homogeneity were tested by Cronbach's alpha and inter-item correlations. Construct validity was computed by factor analysis and known group differences analysis. Convergent and divergent validities were calculated by correlation with the Children Participation Questionnaire (CPQ). Participants were 290 children and their parent. Seventy-five children who were referred to occupational therapy evaluation as consequence of moderate developmental disabilities and 215 children without any disability (mean age [plus or minus] standard deviation for total sample, 5 y, 3 mo [plus or minus] 0.65 y; range, 3 y, 11 mo to 6 y, 10 mo). The ERQ has good internal reliability. Cronbach's alpha for the ERQ measures ranged between 0.75 and 0.91, indicating adequate homogeneity. Factor analysis yielded three factors that explained almost 48% of the total variance. Significant differences were found between known groups. Convergent and divergent validity were supported by various correlations with the Children Participation Questionnaire (CPQ). The ERQ has demonstrated good psychometric properties and can be used as a reliable and valid measure to assess perceived environmental restriction at the age of 4-6 y. (Contains 5 tables.)

The objective of this study was to develop and test the psychometric properties of the Performance Skills Questionnaire (PSQ), addressed to measure performance skills of preschoolers, as reported by their parents. Participants included 231 children ranging in age from 4 to 6 years old, with mild to moderate developmental disabilities and 240 children without disabilities at same age range. Internal consistency, test-retest, construct validity, and divergent and convergent validity were assessed. The PSQ has shown good internal reliability, and temporal stability. Construct validity was supported by factor analysis which yielded 3 factors that explained almost 52% of the total variance. Significant differences were found between known groups. Convergent and divergent validity were supported by significant correlations with Visual-Motor Integration (VMI) test, and the Children Participation Questionnaire (CPQ). The PSQ is a unique tool that measures performance skills based on preschool children's everyday function. Results provide evidence in support of the PSQ as a reliable and psychometrically sound instrument. (Contains 1 figure and 6 tables.)

Participation in leisure activities may contribute to the development of social, motor, and language skills, and is therefore especially important for children with learning disabilities. Leisure activities of students in educational settings are performed mostly during breaks. While there have been some studies of the effect of breaks on classroom performance, none have been conducted among children with learning disabilities. Moreover, the role of breaks as a leisure agent was never addressed. The purpose of the study was to examine break activities of children with learning disabilities, through exploration of the correlation between their preferences for break activities and the activities in which they actually engaged. The study found no such correlation. It is therefore suggested that leisure education should provide students with the skills they need in order to choose leisure activities and evaluate the efficacy of the choice they had made.