Exploring Racism: Race, Context, and Healthcare Use among People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities 
Mentor: Kathleen C Thomas, PhD

Access to Tele-rehabilitation for Rural and Socially Disadvantaged Stroke Survivors during COVID-19
Mentor: Kit N. Simpson, DrPH

Congratulations to our 2023 Health Services Research Grant Recipients:

Khalilah Johnson, PhD, MS, OTR/L, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hil
Exploring Racism: Race, Context, and Healthcare Use among People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities 
Mentor: Kathleen C Thomas, PhD

Corey Morrow, PhD, MOT, OTR/L, Whitworth University
Access to Tele-rehabilitation for Rural and Socially Disadvantaged Stroke Survivors during COVID-19
Mentor: Kit N. Simpson, DrPH

Health Services Research (HSR) examines how people get access to health care, how and what care is delivered, the cost of that care, and what happens to patients as a result of receiving or not receiving care.  Specifically, HSR is a multidisciplinary field that studies how social factors, financing systems, organizational structures and processes, health technologies, and personal behaviors affect access to health care, the quality and costs of health care, and ultimately, the health and well-being of health care consumers. 

The Health Services Research Grant program is made possible through a generous donation from NBCOT.

Learn more about the HSR Grant

Congratulations to our 2023 Intervention Research Grant Recipients:

Emily Kringle, PhD, OTR/L, University of Minnesota

duoABLE: Feasibility of a Behavioral Activation-based Intervention to Reduce Sedentary Behavior Among People with Stroke and Their Support Persons Mentor: Beth Lewis, PhD

Pedro Almeida, OT, PhD, OTR, Boston University Sargent College

Developing a Client-centered, Occupational-based Joint-protection Protocol: The Feasibility of The CO-OP Approach for Clients Living with Hand Osteoarthritis

Mentor: Emily Rothman, ScD

Andrea Fairman, PhD, MOT, OTR/L, CPRP, ATP, Johnson & Wales University Clinical Efficacy of CO-OP And Mhealth to Support Self-catheterization In Youth with Spina Bifida

Mentor: Douglass Clayton, MD

Mark Hardison, PhD, OTR/L, University of New Mexico

Assessing the Feasibility of the Restorative Occupational Approaches for Disordered Eating (ROADE) Program Mentor: Catana Brown, PhD, OTR/L, FAOTA

Kelle DeBoth, PhD, OTR/L, Cleveland State University Ohio

Building Resilience and Social-emotional Skills in Under-resourced Preschoolers with History of Trauma

Mentor: Susan Bazyk, PhD, OTR/L, FAOTA

The purpose of this grant program is to lay the necessary groundwork for larger intervention studies and for larger implementation studies and support the profession’s Vision 2025 of occupational therapy as an evidence-based profession. The intent of the IRG program is to provide seed funding for the development of new and/or novel ideas in order to generate preliminary data as proof of concept. Most larger funders, including federal sources and most of the major nonprofit foundations, require this data in order to apply to them, yet sources to fund this preliminary work are limited at best. The AOTF IRG occupies a very important niche and fills a critical gap by investing in the development of ideas and data in the early state of the occupational therapy research enterprise. 

The Intervention Research Grant program receives donations from the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) and the AOTF St. Catherine Challenge.  

Congratulations to the 2023 Implementation Research Grant Recipients:

Aviva Wolff, EdD, OTR, CHT, Hospital for Special Surgery NY
Implementation Science to Prevent and Reduce Musculoskeletal Occupational Injuries in Musicians
Mentor: Laura Robbins, PT, DTP

Angela Shierk, PhD, OTR, Texas Woman’s University
Implementation of Therapy Together, a Pediatric Constraint Induced Movement Therapy Program, with Early Childhood Intervention
Mentor: Janet Prvu Bettger, ScD

Chiao-Ju Fang, PhD, MA, OTR/L, San Jose State University
Implementation of App-based Coaching Intervention (Social Participation and Navigation; SPAN) to Promote Participation of Young Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD)
Mentor: Laurie Drabble, PhD

Videos of their research coming soon!

The IR grant specifically supports research that is focused on helping occupational therapists take evidence-informed practice from theory to reality in their practice setting. This research grant develops and evaluates the processes used to implement, sustain, and or scale-up evidence-based practice into routine care with an end goal to improve the quality and effectiveness of care.

Learn more about the IR Grant.