Lab for the Study of Occupation

The Lab for the Study of Occupation engages in community-engaged research to promote wellness through engagement in occupations. Occupations are the things we do everyday–the ordinary and mundane activities of everyday life that we need and want to do that build our sense of belonging, competence and autonomy. Using qualitative, observational and multiple methods that invite the preferences and desires of our participants, we aim to develop and design wellness promotion programs tailored to their lives that are sustainable. This work often leverages our participants’ expertise and other research to promote lifestyle change. Projects in this thread include: 

• 5Minutes4Myself: a wellness program for caregivers of children with autism that includes a lifestyle consultation and wellness coaching using motivational interviewing, and a habit building app.
• 5Minutes4Bienestar: a culturally adapted version of 5Minutes4Myself tailored for Latinx college students to include culturally resonant features  
• Designing & Assessing a State-of-the-Art Playground for Low-income Minority Middle Schoolers: We worked with middle school students and staff to design an outdoor space that is wellness-promoting. When all elements are installed, this will allow them not only to play, but meditate, garden, be in nature, and be with their friends to foster their wellness. We will be working with students and staff to integrate a self-regulation curriculum called the Zones of Regulation into a “user’s guide”. 

We also are working to develop occupation-based assessments that support occupational therapists’ practice:

• Children’s Kitchen Task Assessment: This project is developing additional performance-based executive functioning tasks parallel to the original playdough task. By watching kids making a recipe, we can look assess how they function regarding their planning skills, problem-solving, and safety. These are important skills for doing well in school and in life.
• Lifestyle consultation: This tool was developed for the 5Minutes4Myself program to design and support an individually tailored wellness program.