Long-Term Follow-Up of an Occupation-Based Group Addressing Occupational Performance and Satisfaction in University Freshmen

ABSTRACT

The long-term impact of a 5-week, occupation-based intervention to address the life transition of university students into young adulthood is presented here. Study participants showed statistically significant gains from baseline to long-term follow-up in both occupational performance and performance satisfaction. In post hoc analyses, occupational performance maintained a level of significance. During a time of rapid change, occupation-based interventions have the potential to provide transitioning university freshmen students the skills that they need for a successful transition into a university. Changes in the structure, timing, and focus of the intervention and studies using more diverse and larger samples are warranted.

KEYWORDS:

• Mental health services
• occupational performance
• occupational therapy
• university transition

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank Mr. Anthony L. Harris, Mr. James C. Mellyn, Ms. Nichole R. Neff, Ms. Nisanne Rassie, and Ms. Karen M. Thompson who assisted in the development of the initial pilot program. They were all Masters of Occupational Therapy students at Cleveland State University, Cleveland, Ohio at that time.

The author would also like to thank Ms. Jasmin Durig who assisted in collecting data for the long-term follow-up. She was a Masters of Occupational Therapy student at Cleveland State University, Cleveland, Ohio at the time of data collection.