Book Description

This workbook provides clinicians with the tools necessary to help patients with dual diagnoses acquire basic living skills. Focusing on stress management, time management, activities of daily living, and social skills training, each living skill is taught in relation to how it aids in recovery and relapse prevention for each patient's individual lifestyle and pattern of addiction. This form of treatment allows mentally ill chemically addicted patients to learn and use the skills necessary to remain drug free. It also instructs recovering addicts on how to manage their psychiatric symptoms to promote the highest level of integration into their community. Easy-to-use exercises and instructions provide time-limited, cost-effective treatment that can be used in a variety of settings by patients, occupational therapists, psychologists, and managed care companies. The workbook includes 70 forms that can be filled out by patients to help them learn about themselves and the ways they can manage their problems. In addition, this book can also be used by students in the classroom to help bridge theory and practice. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Home Health and Rehab. review
This book is geared towards a PT or OT student who is taking a class involving home health. The information in the majority of chapters is general therefore this is not meant as a reference book for practicing therapists in the field. There are two chapters which are relevent. They include creative exercise and treatment ideas for the home. ... Read more

Book Description

After decades of research by the author and her colleagues into what women do in positions such as bank teller, secretary, waitress, nurse, factory worker, and poultry processor, Karen Messing is astonished to find that for many policymakers, researchers, and activists, the topic of women's occupational health doesn't exist.

Messing investigates different types of occupational health issues for women, notably the controversial topics of male/female differences in jobs, health, and basic biology. The pain and suffering of women workers is illustrated in vivid case studies of research into health risks for women in the workplace, including musculoskeletal disease, the hazards of office work, emotional stress, and reproductive hazards.

No longer can employers, administrators, and health professionals ignore the very real problems women encounter in their jobs. Throughout the book, Messing captures the everyday reality of workplace tasks and stresses-from lifting boxes to juggling mental tasks under pressure to the emotional labor of caring for upset or abusive people- by combining on-site observing with listening to the workers' descriptions of their work lives.

Responding to the tough question, why are scientists so unresponsive to the needs of women workers, Messing describes long-standing difficulties in gaining attention for the occupational health of women, ranging from the structure of the grant process and the conferences crucial to the professional life of researchers to the basic assumptions of scientific practice. Messing laments the separation of even most feminist health researchers from workplace concerns and asserts that it is time to develop a science that can prevent women workers' pain and suffering. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

"Two eyes to see both sides of the question".
Karen Messing's book advocates setting up of a fruitful dialogue between those interested in women's health and those interested in occupational health. The author decided to study the interactions of biological and social factors. "Environment", according to Messing, "channels the performance and well-being of biologically divergent populations".

Messing states that the work environment ignores women's needs because tools, workspaces and load factors are geared for men and not women as well. She suggests that rather than finding a worker to fit the job, the job should be made accessible to the workers. She also decries the fact that science treats women's biology in ways that reinforce their subordination in society. Scientific studies about the workplace also tend to forget about the additional work load that women have at home, or to treat it as a reason against women holding certain jobs or not deserving insurance compensation.

This glaring discrimination is obvious in the scientific treatment given to work-related injuries. When men get injured, they get compensation more often than women, because cause and effect can easily be established between, say heavy lifting and a back injury, whereas the repetitive strains that women are subjected to in their jobs are less visible and more cumulative in nature. Moreover, men tend to be promoted out of repetitive types of jobs and have greater control over their work environment and methodology.

Karen Messing believes employers, scientists and insurance companies should be accountable for this state of affairs. She recognises that labour unions work very hard to protect their members, but they do not always have the support of highly paid scientific experts or lawyers to protect the rights of women. She also deplores the fact that an agent, or condition must be proved dangerous before being removed from the workplace or the environment, hence she pushes for a preventive approach. Many scientists opt for scientific certainty thereby relying on evident illness rather than symptoms to determine whether job hazards are to be validated by them. Messing diagnoses a male-gender bias in the scientific community at large.

Karen Messing's "Occupational Health..." contains useful information for researchers who wish to ensure that their methodology is not gendered. However, this jumble of facts and findings can be a bit confusing for other readers such as policymakers, labour union representatives, feminist groups and just plain workers who wish to gain an insight into this most important subject. Hopefully readers, especially scientists, will not be put off by this minor drawback in their quest for a science that has two eyes to see both sides of the question.

Women's occupational health issues omitted from policy.
The implications of Messing's arguments regarding the disparate orientation of policies and practices, research and research funding, and record keeping regarding workers, is a call to awareness about how bias toward men workers has resulted in omission of women's occupational health issues from research and policy. The thoroughness of her review, the integration of hundreds of studies and the multitude of concrete examples clearly demonstrate the breadth and depth of the problems for parity in occupational health research and remedies. ... Read more

Book Description

Psychopathology and Function, Third Edition is a one-of-a-kind reference that compares diagnostic criteria used by other mental health professionals with the framework used by occupational therapists.Updated and revised, the third edition includes the most recent, critical information available on psychiatric diagnosis.This book provides an overview of both the development of the classification systemDiagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV (DSM-IV)and the occupational therapy process in mental health. The relationship of these two different models for conceptualizing psychosocial problems is explored and analyzed.There are several new features unique to the third edition, including the adoption of concepts from the AOTA Occupational Therapy Practice Framework and WHO International Classification of Function.The latest information on various topics is available, such as epidemiology, treatment of psychiatric disorders, and psychopharmacology. Another attractive feature of this comprehensive text is the professional insight regarding emerging trends in the delivery of occupational therapy services in mental health settings.Psychopathology and Function, Third Edition is the perfect resource for both students and clinicians in the field of occupational therapy. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Excellent mental health resource and guidebook for OTs
This book offers an extensive yet concise, easy to follow guide to all aspects of OT in mental health. Bonder translates the DSM-IV into OT terms with an emphasis on effective treatment. The etiology of the conditions and the application of performance areas and performance components are directly applicable to OT practice. The book also provides extensive references for further reading and study. An excellent resource! ... Read more

Book Description

This user-friendly text provides the basics needed to master the fine detail of splinting. An excellent textbook, Introduction to Splinting includes the basic theory of splinting and its application to the design, fabrication, and evaluation of splints for patient care. This book also covers applied knowledge of pathology, kinesiology, anatomy, and biomechanics. As a combination textbook/workbook, Introduction to Splinting features an abundance of illustrations to show the detail of splinting. It includes quizzes, laboratory exercises, and case studies to help students grasp the basics of effective splinting techniques and skills. ... Read more