"This program should come with a warning sign!": Mental wellness in occupational therapy and physical therapy students.

To measure and compare distress in entry-level masters occupational therapy (OT) and physical therapy (PT) students; to evaluate distress levels relative to existing data; and to explore factors that cause stress, effects of stress, and coping strategies. Ninety-eight OT and PT students (75 females, 23 males) from two cohorts at a Canadian university. Sequential mixed-methods including questionnaires and inductive analysis of focus group discussions.

Managing Knee Osteoarthritis: The Effects of Body Weight Supported Physical Activity on Joint Pain, Function, and Thigh Muscle Strength.

Objective: To determine the effect of a 12-week lower body positive pressure (LBPP)-supported low-load treadmill walking program on knee joint pain, function, and thigh muscle strength in overweight patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA).

Design: Prospective, observational, repeated measures investigation.

Setting: Community-based, multidisciplinary sports medicine clinic.

Advancing the use of theory in occupational therapy: a collaborative process.

Background: Theory is important to the growth and evolution of occupational therapy. However, use of theory remains challenging for many therapists.

Purpose: The aim was to develop a process that occupational therapists could apply to advance theory in practice.

Development of a computer-based clinical decision support tool for selecting appropriate rehabilitation interventions for injured workers.

Purpose: To develop a classification algorithm and accompanying computer-based clinical decision support tool to help categorize injured workers toward optimal rehabilitation interventions based on unique worker characteristics.

Methods: Population-based historical cohort design. Data were extracted from a Canadian provincial workers' compensation database on all claimants undergoing work assessment between December 2009 and January 2011.

Reflections on the professionalization of occupational therapy: time to put down the looking glass.

Background: Many changes have occurred in occupational therapy and its environment during the last 50 years. Despite major advances, occupational therapy is not well-known by the general public and concern remains about its professional status.

Purpose: To review "professionalization," and relate it to occupational therapy through reflection on major changes and critical events; to analyze the current status of occupational therapy; and to make suggestions for change.

Pathways to translating experiential knowledge into mental health policy.

Objective: This research explored the pathways through which the experiential knowledge of people who need and use mental health and social housing services (citizen-users) gains access to policymaking.

Methods: Qualitative instrumental case study methodology focused the study on the policy field of mental health and social housing in Manitoba, Canada. Data collection included interviews with 21 key informants from four policy actor groups: citizen-users, service providers, advocacy organization representatives, and government officials.

Experiences with using a pushrim-activated power-assisted wheelchair for community-based occupations: a qualitative exploration.

Background: Occupational therapists strive to engage individuals in occupation and enhance community access through wheelchair prescription. Previous research with pushrim-activated, power-assisted wheelchairs identifies a reduction in the physical demands of manual wheelchair propulsion but limited evidence exists regarding user evaluation in context.

Purpose: This study explored the experience of using a power-assisted wheelchair in the community.

Burn therapists' opinion on the application and essential characteristics of a burn scar outcome measure.

Comprehensive burn rehabilitation requires the use of an appropriate burn scar outcome measure (BSOM). The literature reports many BSOMs; however, an objective, practical, inexpensive, valid, reliable, and responsive instrument eludes us. A problem in the development of such a measure is disagreement in which scar properties to include.

Participation in community-based activities of daily living: comparison of a pushrim-activated, power-assisted wheelchair and a power wheelchair.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate pushrim-activated, power-assisted wheelchair (PPW) performance among dual-users in their natural environment to determine whether the PPW would serve as a satisfactory alternative to a power wheelchair for community-based activities.

Methods: A concurrent mixed methods research design using a cross-over trial was used. The outcome measures used were number of hours reported using the different wheelchairs, Quebec User Evaluation of Satisfaction with assistive Technology (QUEST), Functioning Everyday with a Wheelchair (FEW), Psychosocial Impact of Assistive Devices Scale (PIADS) and Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM).

Determination of inter-rater reliability in pediatric burn scar assessment using a modified version of the Vancouver Scar Scale.

The Vancouver Scar Scale is too subjective for our needs and is not culturally sensitive to our Aboriginal clients. The VSS was modified by developing a color scale to aid with vascularity rating. This study was designed to measure the inter-rater reliability of the modified Vancouver Scar Scale (MVSS).

Training the next generation of researchers in work disability prevention: the Canadian Work Disability Prevention CIHR Strategic Training Program.

Introduction: There is a need to create, disseminate, and implement new knowledge in the work disability prevention (WDP) field. Training programs attracting high-quality applicants and taking into account the complexity of this emerging field are urgently needed.

Methods: An advanced training program, funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), was developed by 24 mentors affiliated with nine different universities.

Adoption of Canada's Physical Activity Guide and Handbook for Older Adults: impact on functional fitness and energy expenditure.

This study investigated whether a behaviour change program, based on Canada's Physical Activity Guide and Handbook to Healthy Active Living for Older Adults (Health Canada, 1999a), would elicit greater benefits than adoption of the guide and handbook alone. Fifteen older adults received the guide and accompanying handbook and completed the 8-week behaviour change program (mean age 73.2 +/- 5.

Return to work after occupational injury. Family physicians' perspectives on soft-tissue injuries.

Objective: To document physicians' views about facilitating factors for and barriers to their helping workers recover after occupational soft-tissue injuries and to ascertain physicians' knowledge and attitudinal barriers to their involvement in return to work.

Design: Faxed survey.

Setting: Manitoba family practices and emergency departments.

Return-to-work: The importance of human interactions and organizational structures.

The purpose of this study was to gain insight into stakeholder perspectives on barriers and facilitators for return-to-work (RTW). Qualitative methodology with purposive sampling was employed. A total of 55 participants, representing a wide spectrum of stakeholders and industry, were interviewed in individual or group format.