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Category: Research

Political Advocacy in Occupational Therapy: A Professional Imperative

Luis Arabit, OTD, OTR/L, FAOTA & Pamela Lewis-Kipkulei, PhD, OTD, OTR/L October 21, 2025

This study conducted interviews with occupational therapists to report on their perceptions of political advocacy. The interviews identified three key ways that advocacy fundamentally benefits OT: It helps practitioners fight for clients’ access to quality care; it advances the profession itself; and it can continually influence policy changes. But how can OTs find the time, and the space, to advocate? Quotes from interviewees bring the abstract down to the clinic level.

Can Swearing Be Professional and Patient-Centered?

Nicholas B. Washmuth, DPT & Adam Meakins, PT & Richard Stephens, PhD & Garrett Trummer, DPT April 12, 2024

Exploring the Role of Swearing in the Physical Therapy Clinical Setting by Nicholas B. Washmuth and Adam Meakins, et al, shines a light on a somewhat taboo subject. Is swearing ever appropriate in the physical therapy clinic? Might it actually help give a patient added strength and endurance during a difficult regimen? And what if the physical therapist curses to indicate empathy toward a patient’s challenges? The authors present evidence that some swearing may indeed produce ‘hypoalgesic’ effects in patients, such as increased pain tolerance and compliance.

Eye Spy 2022: Improving Nonverbal Communication and Interprofessional Perceptions in Health Science Students

Cynthia Dodds, PT, PhD & Brooke Mulrenin, OTR/L, MS & Lisa Kerr, PhD & Carrie Cormack, DNP, APRN & Kimberly Kascak, MS & Rebecca “Becca” Hiester April 25, 2022

In a second article deeply exploring the insights of the Eye Spy program (see Eye Spy, 2018), Cynthia Dodds et al examine the effects of guided visits to an art museum on affective domain development and interprofessional perspective in health science students. The authors demonstrate, step by step, how using visual-thinking-strategy instruction in a museum setting can support the development of “compassionate and patient- and family-integrated care providers.”

Eye Spy for Physical Therapy Graduate Education

Elise Detterbeck & Cynthia Dodds, PT, PhD & Sydney Hammond November 8, 2018

Cindy B. Dodds, PT, PhD, PCS and colleagues describe how their successful pilot program took physical therapy students out of the university setting and into a local art museum for a unique experience of observation using visual thinking strategies.

Art as a Tool for Disseminating Research Outcomes: The Hauā Mana Māori Project and Participatory Action Research in New Zealand

K.A.P. Bryant, BPhty, PGDip & Leigh A. Hale, BSc (Physio), MSc, PhD, FNZCP & Kelly Waiana Tikao, DipNurs, BA, MSciComm & Stephan Milosavljevic, BAppSc, PGDip (Manips), MMPhty, PhD & Tracey Wright-Tawha, PGDip & Aimee Ward, BS, MPH & Brigit Mirfin-Veitch, BA, BA (Hons), PhD June 20, 2016

New Zealand professor Katrina Bryant and colleagues describe their work with patient-centered research resulting in an art exhibit that conveys a cultural experience of disability.

About Research Reports

Erin Elisabeth Hecht January 20, 2015

Original Research submissions should follow a traditional approach with a hypothesis and statistical analysis to support conclusions. Manuscripts should be limited to 4000 words of

Political Advocacy in Occupational Therapy: A Professional Imperative

This study conducted interviews with occupational therapists to report on their perceptions of political advocacy. The interviews identified three key ways that advocacy fundamentally benefits OT: It helps practitioners fight for clients’ access to quality care; it advances the profession itself; and it can continually influence policy changes. But how can OTs find the time, and the space, to advocate? Quotes from interviewees bring the abstract down to the clinic level.

Luis Arabit, OTD, OTR/L, FAOTA & Pamela Lewis-Kipkulei, PhD, OTD, OTR/L October 21, 2025

Can Swearing Be Professional and Patient-Centered?

Exploring the Role of Swearing in the Physical Therapy Clinical Setting by Nicholas B. Washmuth and Adam Meakins, et al, shines a light on a somewhat taboo subject. Is swearing ever appropriate in the physical therapy clinic? Might it actually help give a patient added strength and endurance during a difficult regimen? And what if the physical therapist curses to indicate empathy toward a patient’s challenges? The authors present evidence that some swearing may indeed produce ‘hypoalgesic’ effects in patients, such as increased pain tolerance and compliance.

Nicholas B. Washmuth, DPT & Adam Meakins, PT & Richard Stephens, PhD & Garrett Trummer, DPT April 12, 2024

Eye Spy 2022: Improving Nonverbal Communication and Interprofessional Perceptions in Health Science Students

In a second article deeply exploring the insights of the Eye Spy program (see Eye Spy, 2018), Cynthia Dodds et al examine the effects of guided visits to an art museum on affective domain development and interprofessional perspective in health science students. The authors demonstrate, step by step, how using visual-thinking-strategy instruction in a museum setting can support the development of “compassionate and patient- and family-integrated care providers.”

Cynthia Dodds, PT, PhD & Brooke Mulrenin, OTR/L, MS & Lisa Kerr, PhD & Carrie Cormack, DNP, APRN & Kimberly Kascak, MS & Rebecca “Becca” Hiester April 25, 2022

Eye Spy for Physical Therapy Graduate Education

Cindy B. Dodds, PT, PhD, PCS and colleagues describe how their successful pilot program took physical therapy students out of the university setting and into a local art museum for a unique experience of observation using visual thinking strategies.

Elise Detterbeck & Cynthia Dodds, PT, PhD & Sydney Hammond November 8, 2018