Lifestyle Medicine and OT

Helping people change their habits to change their health is one of the main mechanisms that makes OT effective.

But, I don’t think we spend enough time thinking about how HARD it is to change our habits.

The article we are looking at today focuses on changing lifestyle habits for adults at high risk of a cardiovascular incident, like a stroke. The author’s aim is to conceptualize how engaging occupations can be used to facilitate health promoting habits.

We’ll use this article as a jumping off point to discuss both habit formation and Lifestyle Medicine with Ryan Balats Osal OTD, MS, OTR/L, NZROT, CEAS, CHC.

Screens for OTs to use for each pillar of Lifestyle Medicine

1. Avoidance of risky substances

• National Institute on Drug Abuse Quick Screen

2. Stress management

• Perceived Stress Scale

3. Physical activity

• Physical Activity Vital Sign

4. Restorative sleep

• The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI)

5. Whole-food, plant-predominant eating pattern

• Starting The Conversation Assessment

6. Positive social connections

• Social Support Questionnaire (SSQ6)

Health behavior change models for OTs to be aware of

• Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

• Focused Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (FACT)

• Motivational Interviewing (MI)

1. You will be able to describe how occupation can be used to influence lifestyle habits and thereby health risks.

2. You will be able to identify intersections of lifestyle medicine and OT.

• Intro

• Breakdown and analysis of journal article

  • What we know about lifestyle habits and stroke risk

  • Engaging occupation and promoting health lifestyle habits

  • Why was this specific article written?

  • What is Make My Day?

  • Who participated in the study?

  • What were their methods for exploring the impact of evaluations?

  • Results

  • Discussion

  • Conclusions

  • Takeaways for OT practitioners

• Discussion on practical implications for OTs (with Ryan Osal)

  1. Can you tell me how you found OT?

  2. How did you find Lifestyle Medicine?

  3. What were your initial impressions of our journal article?

  4. This article did not specifically mention lifestyle medicine, but does it align with your understanding of it?

  5. How do you see OT intersecting with lifestyle medicine?

  6. What do you think OT can learn from lifestyle medicine?

  7. How can OTs in traditional practices incorporate lifestyle medicine principles?

  8. How can an OT become more involved in lifestyle medicine?

  9. How has working in different countries impacted your understanding of lifestyle medicine?

Primary

• ‘Weaving lifestyle habits’: Complex pathways to health for persons at risk for stroke

Additional

• The effect of occupational engagement on lifestyle in adults living with chronic pain: A systematic review and meta-analysis

• Defining a structure and methodology for the practice of Lifestyle Medicine

• Preparing physical and occupational therapists to be health promotion practitioners: A call for action

It is the policy of OT Potential to disclose any financial and non-financial interest the provider or instructor may have in a product or service mentioned during an activity. This is to ensure that the audience is made aware of any bias of the speaker.

OT Potential pays guest speakers an honorarium for their participation, either directly or to an institution of the speaker's choosing at their request. We invite guests whose expertise often comes from practices, programs, or building products in their field. Where a speaker has a financial interest in the subject of a course, we disclose it below so you can weigh it for yourself.

OT Potential's interest in this topic: We have no financial stake in this topic.

Speaker interests: Ryan Balats Osal has no financial interest in this topic to disclose.