Patients experiencing delirium during their hospital admission have an increased mortality rate, increased hospital length of stay, and decreased level of functional independence for ADL/IADL performance at discharge. Occupational therapists are well positioned to provide meaningful interventions to aid in prevention and management of delirium.

Efforts to treat addiction are hampered by prejudice and a public view that treats it as a disorder of self-control, not a disease. We will explore advances in addiction research that, if disseminated to the public, could reverse these misconceptions and facilitate changes which will improve treatment.

The field of occupational therapy believes that through therapeutic use of self the skilled practitioner can select the just right challenge and in the process have a positive impact on the self-efficacy of their clients. In this course session, participants will have the unique opportunity to explore the current evidence-based literature, which indicates a direct correlation between perceived efficacy and adherence, as well as learn strategies for facilitating client insight into their functional performance.

This 3-module empirically supported training program will address suicide awareness, screening, intervention, and referral principles for allied health professionals. Age and population specific suicide assessment tools, management principles, and case studies will be presented. This course was designed to meet the training program requirements in suicide assessment, treatment and management for the state of Washington.

This 5-module empirically supported training program will address suicide awareness, screening, intervention, and referral principles for allied health professionals. Age and population specific suicide assessment tools, management principles, and case studies will be presented. This course was designed to meet the training program requirements in suicide assessment, treatment and management for the state of Kentucky.

Part 1 of this course explores mental health during pregnancy and the postpartum period, identifies risk factors, and reviews manifestations of perinatal mental illness. It will also look at changes in a woman’s role and her mental health after a pregnancy or infant loss.

Part 2 of this course examines the impact of parental mental health on infant development. Opportunities for OTs to support mothers, the mother-baby dyad, and the entire family are explored.

The American Occupational Therapy Association continues to promote the role of occupational therapy in mental health settings, as this is a core component of the Centennial Vision (AOTA, 2006) and a focus of the Association’s position papers (AOTA, 2017). The profession has identified the role of occupational therapy in mental health recovery and includes residential settings as a treatment area (AOTA, 2016), however there continues to be a scarcity of therapists working in these settings and a lack of research to identify our role. This presentation will introduce participants to occupational therapy’s role in residential mental health treatment. Strategies that can be used to advocate to housing providers in forming relationships will be identified. Components of program design and interprofessional collaboration will also be identified. Case studies highlighting assessments relevant to this setting and individual and group approaches will be discussed.

Being a holistic and client-centered health care provider, occupational therapy practitioners can have a positive impact on new mothers and help with a successful role transition to motherhood as the current maternal health models appear to exhibit gaps where new mothers have needs. Occupational therapy's ability to address physical, emotional, and psychosocial issues of new mothers and suggestions for intervention areas will be explored in this course.

This course will use the Occupational Therapy Practice Framework to guide the identification of occupations of parents of children with special needs. Effective strategies and intervention methods that target the needs of parents and their self care will be discussed.