Meral Zarif

By Sedef Şahin, Semin Akel and Meral Zarif

Cancer is a chronic disease that may occur in both children and adults. Occupational therapy focuses on the activity limitations and participation problems in their life. Oncology rehabilitation involves in helping an individual with cancer to regain maximum physical, psychological, cognitive, social, and vocational functioning with the limits up to disease and its treatments in an interdisciplinary team concept. These treatment options are associated with the risk of some side effects, including fatigue, pain, cognitive problems, decrease in bone density and muscle endurance, weight loss, and stress- or anxiety-related psychosocial problems. Occupational therapy approaches are a holistic view in a client center and use training in activities of daily living, assistive technology, education of energy conservation techniques, and management of treatment-related problems, such as pain, fatigue, and nausea. In palliative and hospice care, occupational therapists support clients with cancer by minimizing the secondary symptoms related to cancer and its treatments. At the end of life, occupational therapy offers to identify the roles and activities that are meaningful and purposeful to the client with cancer and try to determine the barriers that limit their performance. Clients with cancer who have childhood cancer or adult cancer can face problems about body structure and functions, activity, and participation, which may limit their participation to their daily life.

Part of the book: Occupational Therapy

By Sedef Şahin, Barkın Kose and Meral Zarif

Developing technology, rehabilitation services, and health definitions have brought about the use of different treatments as well as traditional treatments. Some of these methods are virtual reality, animal-assisted practices, and aqua therapy. Animal-assisted approaches are the therapeutic methods of eliminating and using the problems that an individual experiences in the physical, emotional, psychological, social, sensory, and environmental development areas by taking advantage of human and animal interaction. These methods consist of two basic chapters: animal-assisted activities (AAAs) and animal-assisted therapies (AATs). An interdisciplinary team is needed to implement the methods. This team is composed of personnel, such as occupational therapist (OT), physiotherapist, speech therapist, special education specialist, and a psychologist, who have been trained in this area. In recent years, these methods have been used to increase social interaction with physical structure and functions in neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism spectrum disorder and cerebral palsy. In addition, it is actively used in mental disorders such as depression and anxiety because an improvement is observed by providing the individual to feel safe. When participation is considered in the context of independence in daily life activities are very important, the use of animal-assisted in occupational therapy.

Part of the book: Occupational Therapy