Occupational Therapy Military Research Planning Summit
The Director of Research of the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) attended a military research planning summit at Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center (TATRC) on Oct. 28, 2009. Dr. Mary Radomski convened the meeting to facilitate collaboration and integration of resources toward the goal of improving occupational therapy researchers’ role in military research.
With clinicians, researchers, and administrators in attendance, discussion included funding opportunities, clinical care (e.g., Warrior Transition Units), military organizations (e.g., Proponency for Rehabilitation and Reintegration), and the role of AOTA and American Occupational Therapy Foundation (AOTF) in facilitating research. Smaller work group discussions led to a prioritized list of potential research topics including Return-to-Work tools and Driving. Another research topic focused on studying the effectiveness of life skills programs, which coincides with AOTA and AOTF’s recent Research Agenda that lists intervention research as one of the top priorities. Also, with service members receiving neuropsychological testing by means of the Automated Neuropsychological Assessment Metrics (ANAM), a tremendous opportunity exists to analyze pre-deployment and post-deployment ANAM data in subpopulations such as mild traumatic brain injury.
The group agreed to continue this discussion via conference calls and another meeting at AOTA’s Annual Conference in Orlando. If you would like to learn more about this initiative, please contact Susan Lin at slin@aota.org or (301) 652-6611 x 2091.
