Valerie Miller

Background: People with stroke have historically had limited involvement in physical and occupational therapy research studies. Scientists and funders, rather than those most affected by the outcomes of research, largely make decisions about what studies should focus on. When research is not informed by the lived experiences of people with disability, researchers may ask the wrong questions or make incorrect assumptions about disability. Objective: The purpose of this study was to identify desired features and characteristics for physical and occupational therapy research studies, from the perspective of people with chronic stroke. Methods: We completed four iterative focus group discussions with a small group of adults with chronic stroke. The group was purposively sampled to ensure a range of prior stroke research experiences and stroke‐related impairments. Thematic analysis was conducted on discussion content to identify desired study features. Results: Four major desired study features were constructed: (1) Desire for relationships; (2) Understand the purpose; (3) Capability‐oriented; and (4) Focused on individual participation needs. Participants expressed a desire for physical and occupational therapy studies to focus on what they can do (rather than what they cannot do) while also embracing the heterogeneity of stroke presentation. Studies involving elements of stroke community support and an understanding of potential benefits or information about stroke are also desired. Conclusion: Collaborative research design can contribute to future research that is authentic and valuable to people with lived experience while concurrently lessening harmful disability narratives that are often unintentionally maintained by non‐disabled researchers. By working with a group of adults with chronic stroke, we were able to identify valued study features that can be incorporated into future stroke research studies. Lived Experience or Public Contribution: Individuals with lived experience of stroke engaged in the discussions presented in this paper to collaboratively identify desired stroke study features. People with stroke were also involved in the developing interpretation of the presented data and reviewed the final version of the manuscript.

Children with disabilities (CWD) participate in community settings less often than their nondisabled peers, often due to a lack of support. Occupational performance coaching (OPC) is an intervention that coaches adults to facilitate participation of CWD. This study examined if an OPC intervention provided to adult volunteers increased inclusion for CWD within a church setting. A mixed methods approach to using a cohort of Sunday school children with and without disabilities in a faith-setting was used. Improvements by 3 points in Goal Attainment Scale scores, by 3.2 points in total performance and 3.6 points in total satisfaction on the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure scores and improvements in the social networks were noted. This study suggests OPC used with community partners to be a feasible approach for increasing community inclusion for CWD.

Coaching is an effective intervention strategy in occupational therapy but there lacks consensus in the literature about terms, definitions, and approaches used which can be barriers to the clinical use of this method. The purpose of this review is to understand how coaching adults is used as an intervention to support children with disabilities. Guidelines from foundational scoping review articles and PRISMA-ScR were followed. Studies using adult coaching as an intervention to support children with disabilities were reviewed. A total of 20 articles met inclusion criteria and were included in the review. The use of coaching terms and definitions vary. There are commonalities with coaching structures, "key ingredients," and use of outcome measures among studies which can provide a starting framework for occupational therapists wanting to use coaching as an intervention in their practice. Coaching adults to support children with disabilities is already known to be an effective occupational therapy intervention strategy. Developing structured protocols with clearer and more unified terminology may improve the fidelity of this intervention approach. This article presents current practices in adult coaching to support children with disabilities in Occupational Therapy. The authors discuss commonalities across coaching practices for therapists who wish to use coaching protocols in their clinical practice.

The aim of this perspective is to describe the theory and practical steps of using principles of social network analysis to help measure the social inclusion of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Social inclusion for those with disabilities has become an important area of focus of rehabilitative professionals in the past decade. Social inclusion is comprised of the domains participation and social interaction. Decreased social inclusion can negatively impact quality of life and health. Individuals with IDD continue to experience barriers to social inclusion such as limited opportunities to socialize and participate in community groups, physical barriers, and the lack of available valued social roles. There are limited methods for measuring social inclusion for individuals with IDD. Social network analysis is one way to analyze and understand social relationships to better understand the social inclusion of individuals with IDD. Providing a way to measure social inclusion may help answer questions about the effectiveness of interventions, ultimately leading to increased social inclusion for individuals with IDD.