From the Editor

Welcome to Volume 38, Issue 2! In this issue, the manuscripts are grouped into five theme areas: Stroke, dementia, cancer, health prevention/promotion, and education. While not planned as special issues or themes, grouping the manuscripts with related content offers our readers the opportunity to peruse other ideas or studies on the same or similar topic.

Since cardiovascular accident or stroke is one of the most common conditions that occupational therapy practitioners address in practice, it is not surprising this topic has six manuscripts, although quite diverse. Two of the studies are scoping reviews with one addressing the effectiveness of orthotic interventions on performance skills as well as performance of occupations, the other on the efficacy of home-based occupational therapy services. Both offer tables that can be scanned for practical and useful information. A quantitative study evaluates the effectiveness of synchronous action observation and mental practice on upper extremity motor recovery, while a mixed methods approach was used to study the performance of dietary behaviors in individuals with chronic stroke in the community. Finally, a qualitative study examines the lived experience of family caregivers in the Philippines.

The other significant group of manuscripts in this issue is on occupational therapy education. How we educate occupational therapy practitioners continues to be an important topic, as illustrated in most of these studies. The investigation into predictors of psychological resilience and differences in approaches to learning between students in the USA and Norway both offer a deep dive into the structure of occupational therapy education. While not a novel concept, the manuscript on the collaborative model of fieldwork supervision offers insights to support its use in occupational therapy practice settings. Similarly, the strategy of using a journal club is not new, but this manuscript examines how one led by faculty members can facilitate evidence-based practice skills for students. In a commentary about the incongruence of values of occupational therapy practice, the author proposes the use of literary narratives. It offers the possibility that such as strategy is needed to allow therapists to practice with consilience and provide more impactful and empathic-centered care. Finally, we have an Instructional Insights column describing how to use performance-based backward design to build well aligned courses.

Three papers are grouped together with their focus on dementia. Two of the manuscripts focus on the caregiver as well as the person with dementia; one focusing on the physical fitness and cognitive function of both and the other examining whether occupation-based interventions support the positive aspects of caregiving. In addition, the unique use of immersive virtual reality in sensory session is explored for feasibility and acceptability.

There are also three papers on various aspects of health promotion/prevention. First, is an inter-rated reliability study on the Pizzi Health and Wellness Assessment offering support for use this assessment. Another scoping review examines the intervention characteristics of health prevention strategies for adults in the community, important for building this area of practice. The final paper is an analysis about perceptions of the role occupational therapy for persons who are homeless, questioning our occupational justice in working with these clients.

Finally, there are two papers focused on complex experiences of surviving cancer. Both focus on the experiences from the perspective of the person with cancer and implications for practice. A qualitative study examines women’s experiences with breast cancer from the beginning of radiation to 3–4 years post radiation clearly demonstrating occupational therapy intervention is needed. The other study used the Canadian Occupational Therapy Measure or COPM to capture the complex experiences of individuals with cancer offering the implications for occupational therapy practitioners’ approach to evaluation and interventions.

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this paper.

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Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.