Month: June 2016

Foreword          As occupational therapists, we care about facilitating participation in meaningful occupations and improving human quality of life, especially for people with physical or mental diseases. We help patients or clients with functional restriction participate in what they want to do in daily life through the purposeful and therapeutic use of activities. Occupational therapy’s viewpoint is that human occupational performances can be categorized as social participation, daily living activities, work, leisure, etc. Social interaction has been one of the main focuses of therapy for people with impairments, such as patients with Parkinson’s disease. Patients with Parkinson’s disease often complain that, when interacting with family, age peers, or medical practitioners, they have difficulty conveying messages through facial or bodily movements, since disease symptoms have impaired their faculties. Furthermore, medical practitioners, including occupational therapists, are also likely to misjudge patients’ emotions or motivation during therapy process if practitioners disregard the possible influence of patients’ symptoms on their expression. These clinical needs motivated my one-year Fulbright research project in the U.S. Through academic exchange, I hope to generate new contributions to clinical practice of occupational therapy for patients with Parkinson’s disease. During this Fulbright research, I have been focusing on finding