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The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about disruption in the way health-care professionals carry out their day-to-day practices across communities. The purpose of this research paper is to explore the professional experiences of occupational therapists working in community and rehabilitation mental health settings during a period of the COVID-19 pandemic and to help gain an understanding of how their day-to-day work practices have been affected.

A qualitative phenomenological research study explored the lived experiences of ten occupational therapists working within Health Service Executive community and rehabilitation mental health services during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants included eight community mental health occupational therapists and two rehabilitative mental health occupational therapists. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews and analysed using reflexive thematic analysis.

Three themes were identified: holding on to what we do; technology: friend and foe; and COVID as a catalyst to clarify the occupational therapy role. These themes capture the community changes, challenges and frustrations experienced by the occupational therapists while striving to provide quality mental health occupational therapy services during the pandemic.

The findings demonstrate the adaptive nature of the profession, the importance of traditional observation methods of community-based care, the experiences with telehealth approaches and an opportunity to clarify misconceptions of aspects of the profession’s role in relation to employment-related issues and occupational therapy group work within such mental health settings.

No occupational therapy outcome measures have been designed specifically for recovery-orientated services.This paper aims to identify occupational therapy outcome measures relevant to mental health practice and assess them against recovery principles adopted by Irish Mental Health Services.

A narrative review methodology was used to appraise outcome measures against CHIME recovery principles.

A systematic search across 13 databases identified eight well-established outcome measures commonly used within occupational therapy mental health literature. The included outcome measures were appraised using a recovery alignment tool.

All outcome measures connected to some recovery processes. Those using semi-structured interview formats and notably the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM) had the strongest alignment to recovery processes.

This is the first known review which provides some validation that the included outcome measures support recovery processes, yet the measures rely heavily on therapist’s skills for processes to be facilitated. It recommends that ways to better support the process of partnership in occupational therapy mental health outcome measures be explored and further research be undertaken.

Goal setting is a crucial aspect of client-centered practice in occupational therapy (OT) for mental health conditions. However, it remains to be seen how goal-setting has been delivered in mental health, particularly the OT process. The purpose of this scoping review was to explore the nature and extent of goal setting delivered in mental health and informed OT practice.

The authors followed the guidelines of Arksey and O’Malley (2005) and searched three databases using key search terms: “mental disorder,” “goal setting,” and “occupational therapy” and their synonyms.

After excluding duplicate records, the authors initially screened 883 records and resulted in 20 records in total after the screening process. Most of the identified articles used goal-setting delivered by both a health professional and a client (n = 14), and focused on people with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder (n = 13), but three interventions were delivered by occupational therapists. Further research needs on goal-setting in mental health OT, exploring the reliability and validity of different goal-setting strategies and investigating the effectiveness of goal-setting for promoting behavior change and client engagement across various mental health conditions and settings.

The scoping review has some limitations, such as not investigating the validity and reliability of goal-setting strategies identified, and excluding conference papers and non-English articles.

This scoping review presents a mapping of how goal-setting has been delivered in mental health and informed OT practice. The findings suggest limited research in OT and highlight the need for more studies to address the evidence gap in individualized client-centered OT.

In the early to mid-twentieth century, psychiatrist-led occupational therapy departments emerged in Irish psychiatric hospitals. This marked a transition towards establishing rehabilitative services in institutional settings. This paper aims to examine the development of occupational therapy in Grangegorman Mental Hospital and its auxiliary hospital, Portrane Mental Hospital from 1934-1954.

Historical documentary research methods were used to analyse primary source data from Grangegorman Committee Minutes, Inspector of Mental Hospital Reports, Boroughs of Mental Hospitals, Department of Foreign Affairs documents and newspaper archives. The archival data was analysed using both a chronological and thematic approach.

The main key event emerged in 1935 when four Grangegorman nursing staff were sent to Cardiff Mental Hospital to undergo a six month training course in occupational therapy. The following themes emerged – “establishing occupational therapy in Grangegorman and Portrane”; “the role of short-course trained nursing staff in providing occupational therapy services” and “therapeutic rationales vs hospital management rationales”.

This study throws light on the early practitioners of occupational therapy in Grangegorman and highlights the complexities of occupational therapy’s role origins in mid-twentieth century Ireland. In line with contemporaneous psychiatric hospitals, the occupational therapy activities promoted in Grangegorman were mainly handicraft or productivity based. The absence of patients’ voices means there are limitations to determining the therapeutic nature of this early occupational therapy service.

The individual placement and support (IPS) model is an evidence-based approach to employment support for people with severe mental illness that functions by co-locating an employment consultant from the local disability employment service within a community mental health team to assist service users to find work. This paper aims to examine the unintended impacts of implementing IPS on occupational therapy practice and offer some suggestions.

The authors performed a narrative literature review on the IPS model, employment and occupational therapy. Authors then analysed and discussed impact on occupational therapy practice and concluded by making suggestions based on current evidence and practice.

The authors concluded that implementation of IPS has resulted in some unintended changes of practice in mental health with occupational therapists taking a less active role in enabling employment outcomes than previously. This paper concludes by calling upon occupational therapists to re-establish their role of enabling employment.

This paper offers an original viewpoint on employment and occupational therapy based on current evidence and authors’ expertise.

This practice piece aims to review an occupational therapy led pilot programme – social farming as an intervention option in an adult community mental health setting in Ireland. It will also reflect on the practical implications of delivering the natural surroundings based programme through the COVID-19 pandemic and plans for the future development of such programmes in adult mental health services.

The Occupational Circumstances Assessment Interview Rating Scale (OCAIRS) was used to measure occupational participation (Forsyth, 2005). This was administered with participants’ pre and post their participation in the 10-week programme. An internal questionnaire was developed to further capture both the participant and farmer experiences of the social farming programme.

Whilst improvements were noted in a number of OCAIRS domains, it was difficult to identify small changes over a short period of time. The main domains of change were habits, roles, interests and personal causation. The success of the social farming placements was also reflected in the internal questionnaire. The pilot programme has resulted in the further development of the social farming programme and securing of funding for placements for five years.

It would be beneficial to consider other standardised assessments that assess quality of life and occupation for future placements. It is also beneficial to consider practical implications in delivering a social farming programme, particularly to those with barriers to transport. It is hoped this paper will contribute to the growing knowledge of social farming as a meaningful therapeutic intervention in mental health occupational therapy practice.

The COVID-19 pandemic transformed the delivery of occupational therapy (OT) community mental health services nationally, resulting in the rapid expansion and delivery of services through telehealth. While telehealth technology and its use are not new, widespread adoption was precipitated by the cessation of face-to-face services due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Research in this field has been conducted previously; however, it is not specific to OT in the Irish context. This study aims to explore service users’ experience of telehealth OT interventions in adult mental health services during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A descriptive qualitative approach was used to explore service users’ experience of mental health telehealth OT services. Five service users were recruited to participate in a focus group to explore their experience of OT via telehealth. The themes identified from this focus group were then further explored via individual interviews. Four of the service users who participated in the focus group chose to complete in-depth interviews. Reflexive thematic analysis was then completed.

Two key themes emerged from the data. The theme of positive telehealth experiences included subthemes of gratitude for the option of telehealth and accessibility. The second theme of learning from experience, included subthemes of human connection, preferred platforms of telehealth methods and future considerations for telehealth interventions.

These findings provide a unique insight into the importance of continuing OT services via telehealth, from the service users’ perspective.

Physical activity is associated with both physical and mental health benefits for people with psychosis. However, mental health services have been criticised for failing to adequately promote physical activities. Occupational Therapy, with its focus on meaningful everyday occupations, is well placed to incorporate physical activity interventions. The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of men with psychosis participating in an Irish community-based football programme.

Six men with psychosis participated in qualitative interviews. The interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Interview data were analysed thematically.

Participants identified many benefits of engaging in the programme. Football became a valued part of weekly routines and fostered re-engagement with previously valued roles. Participants identified improvements in social confidence and motor and process skills, as well as a positive impact on their mental and physical health.

This study highlights the value and meaning of participation in football for men with psychosis, as well as demonstrating the longer-term feasibility of football as a therapeutic medium in Occupational Therapy mental health service provision. Findings could help to promote the routine use of sports interventions to mental health services.

This paper aims to evaluate the impact of an eight-week gardening and woodwork group programme on individuals’ recovery goals in an adult community mental health setting.

Seven individuals participated in the research. The programme was designed and facilitated by two occupational therapists (the authors) and one horticulture and trade skills facilitator. The goal attainment scale was used as a quantitative outcome measure as it allowed individuals to collaboratively set occupation-focused recovery-oriented goals. Due to the small sample size, descriptive statistics were used to analyse this data. Qualitative feedback was gathered through participant feedback forms when the programme ended.

Quantitative findings indicate positive results for individuals’ progression towards their recovery goals, with six out of seven participants either achieving or exceeding their goals. One person who attended only one out of eight groups had “worse than expected” goal achievement.

While there is evidence for the use of gardening and woodwork group therapy in mental health settings, most studies have relied on symptom-focused questionnaires or qualitative results rather than quantifiable recovery-oriented measures (Cipriani et al., 2017; Kamioka et al., 2014; Parkinson et al., 2011). It is hoped that this paper begins to bridge that gap and also outlines how recovery principles, gardening and woodwork can be incorporated into occupational therapy group programmes. This is of particular merit during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has led to a greater need for group intervention in outdoor settings, where social distancing can be comfortably facilitated.

In early 2015, an Occupational Therapy led Operation Transformation healthy eating and exercise programme produced results suggestive of the value and need to promote and integrate physical activity interventions into mental health services.

In all, 41 clients with various mental illness diagnoses participated in the eight-week Operation Transformation programme. The outcome measures involved weekly weigh-ins and an end of programme evaluation form.

The quantifiable benefits – a total weight loss of nine stone ten and a half pounds – were mirrored in equally impressive qualitative impacts. Participants’ feedback via anonymous evaluation forms, echoed the findings of the articles appraised in the literature, including improvements in mood and energy levels, better sleep and increased motivation.

The organisers will benefit from lessons learned in this first experience, including overcoming logistical and organisational difficulties experienced in enabling clients’ full participation.

The evidence base points to the successful benefits of physical activity in promoting positive mental health. Occupational Therapists have a unique opportunity to drive forward the message of promoting physical activity via meaningful occupations.