| 1. |
- Kassa, Ann-Marie, et al.
(author)
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Attention difficulties and physical dysfunction common in children with complex congenital malformations : a study of preschool children with VACTERL association
- 2020
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In: Acta Paediatrica. - : Wiley. - 0803-5253 .- 1651-2227. ; 109:4, s. 783-789
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- AIM: Knowledge on the neurodevelopmental and physical function in children with vertebral defects, anorectal malformations, cardiac defects, tracheo-oesophageal fistula, renal and limb malformations (VACTERL) is scarce. We evaluated Swedish preschool children with VACTERL and identified whether they would need extra support in school.METHODS: From 2015 to 2017, we recruited children aged 5-7 with VACTERL association from the paediatric surgical centre at the University Children's Hospital at Uppsala. Neurodevelopmental function was assessed by age-appropriate intelligence and visual and auditory attention tests, and the children's behaviour and attention were observed by an experienced psychologist. Physical function was evaluated through parental interviews and examinations. Data on patient characteristics, including any surgery and anaesthesia, were extracted from medical records.RESULTS: Of the 13 eligible families, 10 agreed to participate. Intelligence was within the normal range for all children, but attention difficulties were found in eight of the children, requiring adjustments at school, and two of these were later diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. All children had physical dysfunctions that affected their daily nutrition, bowel or bladder functions.CONCLUSION: Attention difficulties and physical dysfunction were common in Swedish preschool children aged 5-7 with VACTERL and they would need support and adjustments when they started school.
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| 2. |
- Bergin, Michelle, et al.
(author)
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Exploring with children, play in Irish primary schoolyards
- 2024
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In: International Journal of Play. - : Taylor & Francis. - 2159-4937. ; 13:2, s. 157-172
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Children’s play in Irish schoolyards remains neglected in educational policies and practices despite government commitments to inclusive schools and children’s rights. There is a dearth of research on children’s perspectives of play, criticisms of ‘at risk’ discourses underpinning concerns for certain children’s play rights, and studies identifying exclusion within Irish schoolyards, particularly for children with minoritized identities. This inquiry informed by the theory of practice architectures used walking interviews to explore with twenty-three children their play practices in two Irish primary schools identified as disadvantaged. Analysis of the interviews generated three themes: (1) the state of play – cracks with(in) the routines of the schoolyard, (2) playing along and with(in) this shared space and (3) the hard yard. This inquiry contributes to understandings of children’s play with(in) Irish schoolyards, as socially situated practices with contrasting representations of play as habitual and emerging. Play was central to children’s social lives, identities, and friendships and interrelated with diverse constraints, exclusionary practices, and the (re)production of the ‘hard yard’. While mattering most children’s experiences of significant constraints and inequities, this inquiry also highlighted the transformative possibilities generated within play to create shared possibilities for individual and collective flourishing.
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| 3. |
- Bergin, Michelle, et al.
(author)
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‘Finding the play’- exploring with occupational therapists practice possibilities in the context of Irish schoolyards
- 2024
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In: Scandinavian Journal of Occupational Therapy. - : Taylor & Francis. - 1103-8128 .- 1651-2014. ; 31:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- BackgroundResearch has identified diverse constraints to the adoption of school-based occupational therapy approaches and a lack of attention to addressing the barriers to children’s play opportunities. Critical contextualised research is advocated to inform practice possibilities.Aims/ObjectivesThis inquiry aimed to explore with occupational therapists their existing practices in Irish schoolyards to generate practice possibilities concerned with play, as an issue of occupational justice.Materials and MethodsUsing the theory of practice architectures, six occupational therapists from diverse sites of practice participated in the first phase of a critical action research process using dialogical focus group and occupational mapping methods.ResultsThree themes were generated (1) Existing practices as situated (2) (Re)mattering play and practices as occupations and (3) Practice possibilities – ‘Finding the play’ between responsiveness and responsibilities. A further interrelated dimension was how the research methods provided mechanisms of raising consciousness.Conclusions, and SignificanceAlongside constructing knowledges on existing practices in an Irish context, this inquiry contributes to understandings of practices as socially embedded generative processes of ‘finding the play’, highlighting ethical responsibilities to make visible inequities reproduced in habitual practices and engage in relationships of solidarity to (re)construct alternative shared practices.
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| 4. |
- Bergin, Michelle, et al.
(author)
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Irish Schoolyards: Teacher’s Experiences of Their Practices and Children’s Play-“It’s Not as Straight Forward as We Think”
- 2024
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In: Journal of Occupational Therapy, Schools, & Early Intervention. - : Taylor & Francis. - 1941-1243 .- 1941-1251. ; 17:2, s. 259-278
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- With the inclusion of play as a right, schools are urged to consider whether all children can access play opportunities in schoolyards. Refocusing on play as occupation is identified as an important way in which occupational therapists can contribute within schools. Greater knowledges of children’s play and teachers’ practices, in schoolyards in an Irish context, is required however to guide practices. This inquiry used interviews to explore with 10 primary school teachers, their practices, and experiences of children’s play in Irish schoolyards. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to generate three interrelated themes. These were a) Break(in)time: Play in schoolyards as different from other ways of doing within schools, b) play as producing inclusion and exclusion, c) and certainties and uncertainties produced in teachers’ everyday practices. This inquiry generated knowledges on the social nature of children’s play and teachers” practices in Irish schoolyards as negotiated processes, interacting with diverse intentions, and the particularities of each schoolyard. The consequences of individualizing choice were highlighted as central to the production of inclusion and exclusion in schoolyards. Greater consideration of how children’s play and teachers” practices occur as collective occupations, is proposed to advance inclusive schoolyards.
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| 5. |
- Bergin, Michelle, et al.
(author)
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Irish Traveller Children's Play: A Scoping Review
- 2023
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In: Journal of Child and Family Studies. - : Springer. - 1062-1024 .- 1573-2843. ; 32, s. 3860-3875
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Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Irish Traveller children, an ethnic indigenous minoritized community in Ireland are identified in Ireland’s play policy as at higher risk of exclusion from realising their right to play, alongside a reported absence of research on indigenous children’s play. This scoping review aimed to identify the breadth and scope of available research on representations of Irish Traveller children’s play and the factors influencing play opportunities. Applying the updated Joanna Briggs Institute methodological guidance, a systematic search was completed of nine databases. Thirty-five peer reviewed studies met the inclusion criteria, descriptive study information was charted and summarised and enabling and restricting factors influencing Irish Traveller children’s play were identified using an existing conceptual model. The scoping review findings revealed a limited focus within research on Irish Traveller children’s play. Included studies however, provided evidence of; the importance of feeling a sense of belonging and safety to enable Irish Traveller children’s access to preferred play opportunities, involving real life activities, physical play outdoors and play with others; Irish Traveller parents value and facilitation of play; and the significant restricting influence of racism on Irish Traveller children’s play .Limited knowledge on Irish Traveller children’s own perspectives on play and the need to address racism as a restricting influence on play in school and community environments are considered in relation to practice and further research. Discourses representing Irish Traveller children as marginalised, were problematized as reflective of culturist assumptions, and a shift towards understanding the situated nature of Irish Traveller children’s play, as a capability is proposed.
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| 6. |
- Bergin, Michelle
(author)
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Playing along (with)in the hard yard? Play, practices, and occupational justice in Irish schoolyards
- 2024
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This thesis aims to generate knowledges on practice possibilities concerned with children’s play and occupational justice in Irish schoolyards. Navigating the intersections between theory and practice required an ongoing examination of the tensions and points of resonance between ideas, ideals, and practices. Drawing on critical occupational perspectives, four distinct yet interrelated studies contribute to the thesis aim, exploring play, particularly the play of children with minoritized identities, as an issue of occupational justice from diverse perspectives. Minoritized draws attention to the active social processes that create inequitable opportunities for children because of their identities relative to gender, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, religion, sexuality, and disability.In Study I, a scoping review using the Joanna Briggs institute methodology, showed a paucity of existing research on the play of Irish Traveller children, an ethnic minoritized community. Using an existing conceptual model to categorise reported influencing factors emphasized the distinct restricting factor of racism on Irish Traveller children’s play. To address the problematization of at-risk representations of Irish Traveller children, as reflective of culturist assumptions, greater attention to children’s own diverse constructions of play as a capability is proposed.Study II completed virtual and walking interviews with ten primary school teachers to explore their practices and experiences of particularly children with minoritized identities play in Irish schoolyards. The reflexive thematic analysis highlighted how prevailing norms interrelated with the locus of risks of exclusion to children’s individual choices and how teachers’ while valuing play, prioritised safety and an absence of conflict. Knowledges constructed on teachers and children negotiating individual and collective interests within diverse occupations in relationships (with)in the schoolyard, resonated with conceptualisations of collective occupations as constitutive with the production of the social space.Study III used individual and group walking interview methods to explore with 23 children their play in two Irish primary schools, identified as disadvantaged. Using the lens of the theory of practice architectures, the analysis highlighted children’s contrasting representations of play as habitual and emerging situated relational processes. Children’s acceptance of social hierarchies, individualistic and exclusionary social practices within schoolyards generated insights into the consequences of significant constraints and normative ideas on children’s play. Play was thus interrelated with the reproduction of what was termed the “hard yard”. However, the transformative potential of play was also suggested in how shared play created possibilities for fun, solidarity, and friendship.Study IV drawing on earlier studies, engaged six occupational therapists from diverse sites of practice in a critical action research inquiry to interrogate existing practices and generate practice possibilities focused on play and occupational justice in Irish schoolyards. Putting the theory of practice architectures to use again, the analysis drew attention to how habitual practices interrelated with constraints including circumscribed professional identities, service expectations and cultural norms to (re)produce practice possibilities, in tension with occupational justice ideals. Furthermore, the research process using dialogical focus group and occupational mapping methods provided a mechanism for raising consciousness that (re)mattered occupations and occupational justice.In conclusion, this thesis contributes nuanced understandings of play as socially situated practices interrelated with significant constraints and diverse social practices (with)in the particularities of Irish schoolyards. The ways in which inequities were (re)produced in habitual, individualistic, and exclusionary practices within schoolyards, and relationships of solidarity and fun were created within shared play supports understandings of the centrality of occupations to (in)justice. The insights generated problematized inclusive practices drawing attention to normative discourses, the individualising of choices, the neglect of substantive issues, such as racism and the significance of vulnerabilities and friendships. This thesis suggests practice possibilities that extend beyond play as an individual concern to consider ethical responsibilities to raise consciousness on the relational nature of collective practices with(in) shared spaces. Furthermore, in connecting (with) theorizing on occupation as collective, the theory of practice architectures and mechanisms of raising consciousness this thesis contributes to understandings of praxis.
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| 7. |
- Björklund, Cecilia, et al.
(author)
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Temporal Patterns of Daily Occupations among Older Adults in Northern Sweden
- 2014
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In: Journal of Occupational Science. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1442-7591 .- 2158-1576. ; 21:2, s. 143-160
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This study sought to expand knowledge regarding patterns of daily occupations and, specifically, to explore and describe the daily occupations of Swedish people aged over 70 years by investigating sequences, contexts and time-use. A cross-sectional design with a time-geographic approach was used. Open time diaries from 151 participants were collected and analysed using the software VISUAL-TimePAcTS. The results were illustrated as a routine of six pooled intervals during 24-hour sequences. The intervals comprised different lengths of time and each interval was dominated by different occupations. Night was dominated by ‘care for oneself’; morning by ‘house-keeping’ and ‘reflection and recreation’; lunch-time by care for oneself; afternoon by ‘reflection and recreation’; dinner/tea-time by ‘care for oneself’, and evening by ‘reflection and recreation’. The results were also illustrated as characteristic profiles of occupations visualised by the number of participants in each occupation during 24-hour sequences. Occupations were mainly supported by the home environment. Summed time-use showed the highest proportions in ‘care for oneself’ and ‘reflection and recreation’ occupations. To what extent health and well-being experiences of patterns of daily occupations might be related to challenges and fulfilment of basic occupational needs requires further investigation
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| 8. |
- Björklund, Cecilia, et al.
(author)
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Temporal Patterns of Daily Occupations Related to Older Adults' Health in Northern Sweden
- 2015
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In: Journal of Occupational Science. - Melbourne : Informa UK Limited. - 1442-7591 .- 2158-1576. ; 22:2, s. 127-145
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The aim of this study was to identify characteristics of temporal patterns of daily occupations that could be related to high and low subjective health among older adults in Northern Sweden. A cross-sectional design imprinted by time-geographic methodology was used and participants 70 years and older were purposively selected and divided into groups of high and low health using the SoC-29 and SF-36 questionnaires. Daily occupations data were registered and analysed using VISUAL Time-PAcTS and related to health conditions using SPSS. The results showed that the participants in the high- and low-health groups showed similar patterns of participation in occupations during the 24-hour sequences describing their daily routines. Some differences in patterns of frequency and duration of occupations were shown between health groups during the 24-hour sequences as well as within six intervals. The low-health group showed higher frequencies and longer durations for “care for oneself” and “reflection and recreation” occupations and lower for “house-keeping” and “procure and prepare food” occupations compared to the high-health groups. There were few significant differences between the high- and low-health groups' mean durations for occupations. The results of this study could contribute to the support and assistance of occupations of older adults in society.
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| 9. |
- Borell, Lena, et al.
(author)
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Community-based Occupational Therapy : A Study of Elderly People with Home Help in a Social-Welfare District in Stockholm
- 1995
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In: Scandinavian Journal of Occupational Therapy. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1103-8128 .- 1651-2014. ; 2:3-4, s. 138-144
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Since 1992 the local authorities in Sweden have been responsible for the rehabilitation of elderly people living at home. Few studies of this relatively new form of rehabilitation have been reported. The aim of this study was to describe the type of occupational- therapy interventions received by elderly people over the age of 65 living in an urban area. Another aim was to describe the patterns in the performances of 648 elderly people. The study demonstrated that most of the elderly people who received occupational therapy also received home help several times a day. indicating that these elderly people had severe problems in the activities of daily living (ADL) in the area of self-care. Home-making activities and activities outside the home were the most problematic activities. The elderly also wanted to engage in more activities than they were judged to have the capacity for and or the environmental support to do. The implications of the results for community-base, occupational-therapy programs are discussed
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| 10. |
- Borell, Lena, et al.
(author)
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Occupations and Signs of Reduced Hope : An Explorative Study of Older Adults with Functional Impairments
- 2001
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In: American Journal of Occupational Therapy. - : AOTA Press. - 0272-9490 .- 1943-7676. ; 55:3, s. 311-316
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Objective. The purpose of this explorative study was to uncover and interpret the experiences, values, and meaning of being in daily occupations of older adults with functional impairments. Method. Interviews were conducted with 21 older adults with disabilities who were between 70 and 92 years of age. The interviews occurred in their home environments; 18 of the 21 participants lived alone. The interviews were analyzed using a constant comparative approach. Findings. Occupational themes related to participation against the odds, retreat from occupation, the need for an invitation from others, and personal meanings related to capacities for occupation were uncovered. Conclusions. The findings suggest that the loss of positive belief in enjoyable occupations can be a sign of reduced hope in late life. For occupational therapists, whether an older adult has made a conscious choice to withdraw from occupational life or has too few occupational choices is important to distinguish.
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