Occupational Therapy In Health Care

Occupational Therapy in Health Care (OTHC): Special Issue "Family/Caregiver of the Client: Issues and Solutions"

Many Americans function as unpaid caregivers providing informal care valued at billions of dollars per year to support their friends and family members with disabilities and health conditions. Caregiving responsibilities such as such as the management of medications, specialized equipment, , finances, paperwork, and appointments can seem round-the-clock. Caregivers rarely get a break to help them recover mentally, physically, or financially from responsibilities towards their children, parents, spouses, siblings, other relatives, friends, and neighbors. Health care systems rely on families to provide care and the efficacy of many self-management and health promotion programs are dependent on supportive family environments. Yet the family of the client is often overlooked by occupational therapists. Often rehabilitation goals are set without a clear understanding of family desires, strengths, and challenges.

This special thematic issue will focus on the family and/or caregivers of occupational therapy clients. Occupational Therapy in Health Care (OTHC) is an international peer-reviewed quarterly journal that focuses on innovations in client evaluations and treatments, current research findings, reviews of current textbooks, and descriptions of novel programs. In addition, OTHC publishes thematic issues that address topics of importance.

Drs. Preethy S. Samuel and Christina N. Marsack-Topolewski are delighted to be the guest editors of this special OTHC issue. Our intent is to publish this special issue on the topic Family/caregiver of the client: Issues & Solutions in December 2024. We welcome submissions that support advancing the knowledge of occupational therapy evaluation and intervention in family support. Submissions may address a wide range of topics including, but not limited to:
o Innovative models of service delivery to equip families across the lifespan (i.e., targeting children, adolescents, adults, and seniors)
o Measurement of family-centered outcomes in practice
o Implementation of evidence-based family support interventions
o Development and testing of family empowerment programs
o Community-based programs to empower the person with the disability along with family members (e.g., therapy or play with siblings, caregiver-care-recipient dyad support groups)
o Policies impacting families of people with disabilities
o Educational/employment challenges experienced by family caregivers
o Access and use of informal and formal supports for caregivers
o Collaboration between professions in family support and training
o Gaps in training of family centered occupational therapy practitioners
o Cultural dissonance between therapists and clients and their families

We seek a broad range of original contributions including, but not limited to original research, case studies, historical perspectives, systematic reviews, book reviews, and commentaries.

Submission Instructions Guidelines for submission can be viewed at https://www.tandfonline.com/action/authorSubmission?show=instructions&journalCode=iohc20

All papers will be peer-reviewed through a double-blind peer-review process. Original, unpublished manuscripts should be submitted online at https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/WOHC by December 1, 2023

When submitting your manuscript, please be sure to indicate that it is to be considered for the special issue in your cover letter and/or in your title. Any papers accepted for publication that are not included in the special issue may potentially be published in a regular issue of the journal.

Specific inquiries can be directed to Dr. Anne Dickerson, editor of OTHC at [email protected].

Deadline for manuscript submissions: December 1, 2023

Anticipated publication: December 1, 2024

Preethy S. Samuel, PhD, OTR/L Associate Professor, Department of Health Care Sciences, Wayne State University Detroit, MI
Christina N. Marsack-Topolewski, PhD, Associate Professor, School of Social Work,
Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, MI

Instructions for AuthorsSubmit an Article