Compilation of Articles Used Throughout Fieldwork

Throughout fieldwork I knew I wanted to incorporate practices of mindfulness to assist

patients in managing their anxiety, pain and overall discomfort. The systematic review by Chen,
et al. helped guide and support my mindfulness based interventions (2012). My fieldwork
educator supported the atypical intervention but requested supporting literature. This was a great
source to help me prove the evidenced behind mindfulness based therapies. I used this
evidenced based intervention for patients with active oncology diagnoses as they are known to
have increased anxiety. The mindfulness practice was not for all of my patients, but I had
approximately five patients that were very happy with the outcomes of this intervention.
Along with patients who had active oncology diagnoses, I learned through research that
the majority of patients with cancer are not receiving occupational therapy services (Pergolotti,
Cutchin, Weinberger, & Meyer, 2014). I was fortunate enough to be placed at a facility that has
an oncology specific program. I agree with the article in that patients can truly benefit from
skilled occupational therapy services to address activities of daily living and instrumental
activities of daily living impacted by cancer and cancer treatments. This article specifically
address roles and routines in which the patient may be challenged. I used this to specifically
guide my intervention with a forty year old mother recently diagnosed with stage four
esophageal cancer. I knew it was important to not only rebuild her physical strength, but also her
ability to plan for assistance she made need to fulfill her roles as a mother.
The hospital I interned at also specialized in stroke rehabilitation. I wanted to research
the frequent interventions administered by occupational therapist for patients after a stroke.
Through research I was able to learn basic activities of daily living, upper extremity mobilization
and community integration was the most prevalent interventions (Latham, et al. 2006). This
research was aligned with the interventions I was implementing with my patients except for the
community integration aspect. After this article I focused on addressing community integrations
with my patients. This was a successful addition to my interventions.

References
Chen, K., Berger, C., Manheimer, E., Forde, D., Magidson, J., Dachman, L., & Lejuez, C.
(2012). Meditative therapies for reducing anxiety: A systematic review and meta-analysis
of randomized controlled trials. Depression & Anxiety (1091-4269), 29(7), 545-562 18p.
doi:10.1002/da.21964
Pergolotti, M., Cutchin, M. P., Weinberger, M., & Meyer, A.-M. (2014). Occupational therapy
use by older adults with cancer. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 68(5), 597
607. doi:10.5014/ajot.2014.011791
Latham, N. K., Jette, D. U., Coster, W., Richards, L., Smout, R. J., James, R. A., . . . Horn, S. D.
(2006). Occupational therapy activities and intervention techniques for clients with stroke
in six rehabilitation hospitals. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 60(4), 369
378. doi:10.5014/ajot.60.4.369