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“With CO-OP I’m the boss” – experiences of the cognitive orientation to daily occupational performance approach as reported by young adults with cerebral palsy or spina bifida

OHRVALL, Ann-Marie
BERGQVIST, Lena
HOFGREN, Caisa
PENY-DAHLSTRAND, Marie
May 2019

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Purpose: Restrictions to activity and participation in persons with cerebral palsy or spina bifida are often due to both motor and executive dysfunction. Hence methods focusing solely on motor issues are not enough to enhance participation. The Cognitive Orientation to daily Occupational Performance ApproachTM is a performance-based approach offering clients opportunities to create their own strategies to learn skills. The aim of the present study was to explore and describe experiences of the Cognitive Orientation to daily Occupational Performance Approach as reported by young adults with cerebral palsy or spina bifida.

 

Methods: Qualitative content analysis was used. Semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with the 10 participants aged 16–28, post-intervention and at 6-months follow-up.

 

Results: The participants described how the Cognitive Orientation to daily Occupational Performance Approach enhanced their self-efficacy. Four categories describing the participants’ experiences emerged: “CO-OP is a different way of learning”, “CO-OP sometimes puts a strain on me”, “CO-OP supports my way of thinking and doing” and “CO-OP boosts me”.

 

Conclusion: The young adults expressed that the Cognitive Orientation to daily Occupational Performance intervention, although sometimes challenging, was worth the effort because it provided them with an opportunity to master everyday-life problems by using meta-cognitive thinking, which enhanced their self-efficacy.

Return to work predicts perceived participation and autonomy by individuals with stroke

Westerlind, Emma
Persson, Hanna C
Tornbom, Karin
SUNNERHAGEN, Katharina S
May 2019

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Purpose: Participation in activities of everyday life is seen as main goal of rehabilitation after a stroke and return to work is an important factor to consider for the substantial number of persons having a stroke at working age. The current study aims to investigate whether returning to work would predict self-perceived participation and autonomy in everyday life after a stroke, from a long-term perspective.

 

Materials and methods: Persons with first-ever stroke at age 18–63 years in 2009–2010, Gothenburg, were included. As 5-year follow-up, the Impact on Participation and Autonomy questionnaire was sent out, investigating self-perceived participation/autonomy in five levels, and work status was investigated from national sick-absence registers. Prediction of work on participation/autonomy was investigated with logistic regression.

 

Results: A total of 109 participants (49%) responded to the questionnaire. The majority (69–94%) perceived very good participation/autonomy in all domains and 59% were working 5 years after stroke. Working was a significant predictor of high participation/autonomy in all domains of the questionnaire.

 

Conclusions: Being able to return to work after a stroke seems to be important for self-perceived participation/autonomy. This emphasizes the importance of work-oriented information and rehabilitation after a stroke at working age.

Towards independent living: Collecting examples from Europe

ANGELOVA-MLADENOVA, Lilia
March 2019

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This Collection is a joint initiative of the European Network on Independent Living (ENIL) and the European Disability Forum (EDF). It features examples from different EU Member States, which to a different extent facilitate the right to live independently in the community.

The examples are divided into four areas, presented in different chapters:

  • Legislation and funding: State Funded Peer-Counselling – Estonia; Direct Payments – Ireland.
  • Community-based support: Peer-Counselling for women with disabilities – Austria; Supported living for adults with intellectual disabilities – Croatia; Supported Decision-Making – The Czech Republic; Mobile Mental Health Units – Greece; Personal Assistance for People with Complex Disabilities – Sweden .
  • Involvement of disabled people: Co-Production in Social Care – United Kingdom; Participation of Organisations of People with Disabilities – Italy
  • Self-advocacy: Self-Advocacy of Disabled People – Romania

 

Young people with intellectual disability—The role of self-advocacy in a transformed Swedish welfare system

TIDEMAN, Magnus
SVENSSON, Ove
2015

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A growing number of young people in Sweden with intellectual disability have organized themselves during the last 15 years in self-advocacy groups for socializing, empowerment, and expressing opposition to the norms and attitudes in a society that labels them as disabled. At the same time, the Swedish welfare system has transformed dramatically with processes of far-reaching individualization, closure of the major institutions, decentralization of responsibility from the state to local governments, and an emerging welfare market where service users are turned into customers. The aim of this article is to analyse and discuss the significance of self-advocacy in the new welfare context. Data were collected over a period of more than 10 years using repeated interviews with members of two self-advocacy groups and participation observations. Findings suggest that participation in self-advocacy groups opens up members for increasing health and well-being through new roles and identities, and it strengthens their control over everyday life. Support is still needed, however, but in new ways; otherwise, the restrictions of the institutions will simply be reconstructed in the new welfare system.

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