Occupational Therapy: Entry-Level Occupational Therapy Doctorate

Research/Areas of Interest: Chronic Pain, Virtual Reality, Musculoskeletal Health, Ergonomics Nancy Baker's research focuses on ways to mitigate musculoskeletal pain, so people with chronic pain can increase their participation in everyday life. She focuses on three pain mitigation pathways: 1) workstation ergonomics to address work environment properties that propagate pain; 2) improving care delivery in CTS; and 3) virtual reality (VR) as a therapeutic medium for pain. Baker's research is eclectic and uses a variety of tools and techniques to answer her research questions. A new area for her, her current research examines how to implement VR into clinical practice. Here pilot work has looked at what types and dosages of VR are most effective, how different diagnoses, such as chronic back pain or osteoarthritis, respond to VR, and she has partnered with rehabilitation centers to trial different implementation practices. So far, her research consistently demonstrates that VR has a significant effect on pain and that it can be feasibly done by practicing therapists. Some results found a carryover of effect past the immediate VR session. Baker is also working with colleagues to examine new paradigms in carpal tunnel treatment and is completing a trial looking at dosage for standing desk use.

Research/Areas of Interest: Current research interests include the use of tele-health technologies and patient participation in healthcare outcomes. Other interests include the use of social media to enhance engagement and communication within the profession as well as with patients.

Research/Areas of Interest: Rehabilitation Management, Evaluation and Treatment of physical dysfunctions, Evaluation and Treatment of Orthopedic Dysfunctions in the Athlete, Concussion Management and Education, Adaptive Sports as a Rehabilitation Tool Adaptive Sports, Concussion Management of the Athlete and Student, Professional development of the Health-Care Manager

Research/Areas of Interest: Board Certification in Pediatrics (BCP) 2012-2022, American Occupational Therapy Association Occupational therapy evaluation and intervention in pediatrics, particularly contextual and strengths-based services Pediatrics Evaluation, including strengths-based evaluation, occupation-based evaluation, context & environment Intervention, including models of occupation-based service provision, contextual services, collaboration, strengths-based, least restrictive environment Program development, including systems approaches, strengths-based, mindfulness, social-emotional regulation, physical literacy Teaching and Learning Models of professional development, andragogy, self-regulated learning Project-based learning, technology in teaching and learning, using visual analog scales in course evaluation, concept mapping Online teaching and learning, course design (F2F, hybrid, online)

Research/Areas of Interest: Design and analysis of outcome based studies in the acute care setting, and the quantitative analysis of hand function after injury.

Research/Areas of Interest: Brain Injury, Neurological Disorders, Substance-Use Community Programming, Occupational Therapy in Post-Secondary Education, Evaluation and Treatment of Physical & Cognitive Dysfunction, Rehabilitation in Inpatient Settings, Rehabilitation Management, Fieldwork

Research/Areas of Interest: Complex medical pediatric occupational therapy, fieldwork education, professional communication, professional development of emerging occupational therapists, interprofessional collaboration, community-based practice