Occupational Therapy Students Present Their Research
First-year Kettering College doctorate students of occupational therapy (OTD) recently presented their research at the Ollie Davis building. Students were tasked with examining occupational therapy in the global landscape and investigating their topic collaboratively.
Faculty, staff, peers, and loved ones listened to students share their insights and answer attendees’ questions. Topics included:
- Maternal Health
- Impact of Social Media on Adolescents
- Substance Abuse in Athletes
- Impact of Eating Disorders on Occupations
- Childhood Poverty
- COVID-19’s Impact on Older Adults
- Global Ageism
- Child Abuse: A Global Perspective
- Isolation in the Older Adult
Having first-year OTD students work together to conduct research and present their findings is a logical starting point, as this type of work is an ongoing practice for earning a doctorate in occupational therapy at Kettering College. Professor Chioma Lindo says, “The presentations give our first-year, first-semester students a taste of future research and dissemination. They chose the topics and worked hard synthesizing what they learned all semester and applying it to an issue they may have the capacity to address in the future as occupational therapists.”
Students Mckenzie Cook, Emily Austin, and Abigail Zaino worked in a group to discover how the health of older adults across the globe is affected by being isolated from others. Cook says, “We looked at isolation in older adults and found there were common disparities across the world including lack of social networks, poor help, and difficulty accessing activities. Occupational therapy looks at these sorts of issues and the advocacy of people.”
Austin adds that her group agreed their topic is a global issue. She says, “We considered the pandemic, and we became interested in isolation even before the pandemic and how it affects our health. Occupational therapy has not done a lot to address it. There is very limited literature, so we saw it as a good starting point to identify similarities across the world regarding isolation.”
Together, the students of every group discussed aspects of their topic and shared new information with each other. They were challenged to look beyond their own circles to consider how these topics play out on a global scale. Zaino says, “The poster presentation is teaching us how to research from different perspectives to open our eyes globally. It helps us consider not just how things affect us.”
She adds that the process of working together to share information and present it to others is a vital skill students will utilize as occupational therapists. Professor Lindo says, “All students did an exceptional job, and we cannot wait to see what they produce in the future!”
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