Background: People experiencing homelessness oftentimes face barriers that those who are not homeless rarely do. These barriers can range from having limited access to healthy foods and proper healthcare but can also entail experiencing mental illness and substance abuse disorders more frequently than people who have stable housing. There are many different research studies and articles concerning the cause of homelessness, the best interventions for those facing homelessness and so much more. However, there is little research on what occupational therapy, a healthcare profession that focuses on rehabilitating, establishing or maintaining the skills needed to participate in activities of daily living, can do for the lives of children experiencing homelessness. Objective: The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions, understandings, and role that occupational therapy plays with homeless or ill-housed children in the Atlanta area by creating and implementing four different occupational therapy educational modules and presenting them to parents and teachers at the Atlanta Children’s Day Shelter. ACOTE Areas: The ACOTE areas most closely related to this capstone experience are centered around research, advocacy and most importantly, education. Educating the teachers and parents at the Atlanta Children’s Day Shelter about what occupational therapy is, how it can benefit their students/children and how to receive occupational therapy services was consistently at the forefront of this capstone experience. Additionally, providing parents/staff with up-to-date research and encouraging them to advocate for themselves and their students/children played a major role in the capstone student’s ability to make a lasting impact. Methods: The capstone student developed and presented four educational modules to the teachers and parents who were actively employed or had children actively enrolled at the day shelter. The topics of the educational modules were centered around the needs of the day shelter and how occupational therapy can transform to fit those needs. Each educational module was created in both a graphic handout version and whiteboard animation video format. To measure the effectiveness of the information provided, parents that participated were urged to complete anonymous surveys at the end of each module. The data from each survey was then analyzed into statistical deliverables. There were four additional smaller projects for implementing the capstone experience throughout outlined in further detail in “Project Design” section of paper.
Results: The results from the anonymous surveys displayed clear trends pointing towards the parents having an inherent desire towards learning more occupational therapy and how it can be introduced into their children’s lives. Results for each individual modules and combined results are in the “Results” section of paper below. Conclusions and Relevance: Results from anonymous surveys, observed attitudes, willingness to learn, and questions asked during Parent Pods displays that parents experiencing homeless are truly interested in learning and implementing occupational therapy interventions in their children’s lives. Background research displays the effectiveness of occupational therapy intervention within the homeless adult population and the results from this capstone experience displays the need for more research and intervention efforts within the homeless or ill-housed pediatric population.