Date of Award
Spring 5-5-2024
Document Type
Oral Presentation/Poster
Degree Name
Doctor of Occupational Therapy (OTD)
Department
Health Science
Faculty Mentor
Moses Ikiugu
Keywords
community re-integration, occupational therapy, mental health, behavioral health, veterans, PTSD
Subject Categories
Occupational Therapy
Abstract
The Veteran population continues to be disproportionately impacted by mental health disorders despite growing efforts to address this epidemic. Despite an increase in Veterans Affairs (VA) sponsored programs to mitigate the disparity, the interdisciplinary team tasked with implementing the novel programs remains undiversified. My capstone project aimed to provide a comprehensive community reintegration program to the Veterans in the inpatient behavioral health setting and advocate for the role of occupational therapy on the mental health interdisciplinary team. The literature and needs assessment indicated a need for the implementation of occupational therapy specific groups that aimed to increase functional independence and life skills to reduce readmission rates. Using the principles from occupational theoretical principles and the previously conducted needs assessment, I created a community reintegration program to implement with the Veterans in the inpatient behavioral health unit.
Six Veterans in the inpatient behavioral health unit participated in the community reintegration program. I used the General Self Efficacy Scale (GSE) and an adopted version of the Community Reintegration Scale (CIQ-R) as a pre and posttest measure to assess the efficacy of the program. The findings indicated that the participants in the program demonstrated and increase in their perceived self-efficacy when handling problems of everyday life. The result suggests that occupational therapy has a unique role in addressing the growing mental health concerns of the Veteran population.
Recommended Citation
Forrester, Holly M., "A Community Re-Integration Mental Health Occupational Therapy Program for Veterans at the Sioux Falls Veterans Affairs Hospital" (2024). Occupational Therapy Capstone Presentations. 136.
https://red.library.usd.edu/ot-capstone/136