Diane Lynn Smith

• Ph.D., OTR.L, FAOTA
• Professor (Associate) at MGH Institute for Health Professions

Older adults from underrepresented racial and ethnic backgrounds and with low vision have independently been found to be at an increased risk of depression. This retrospective cross-sectional pilot study found that non-White older adults with low vision reported significantly more depressive symptoms than White older adults with low vision (P = .00...

Background: Early intervention (EI) providers work with parents of children with or who have risk factors of developmental delay or disability through Part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Many parents in the United States have low health literacy; therefore, EI providers should be aware of and address families' health literac...

Date Presented Accepted for AOTA INSPIRE 2021 but unable to be presented due to online event limitations. As racial and ethnic diversity in the United States continues to grow, the need for a representative OT workforce is amplified. This study illustrates the strategies utilized by OT programs to recruit under-represented minority (URM) students i...

Importance: Matching the demographics of health professionals and patient populations increases access to quality care. However, a consensus has not been reached regarding the most effective strategies for recruitment and retention of diverse practitioners. Objective: To answer the question "What are the perceived challenges to and facilitators...

More than one in four parents in the United States of America (USA) have low health literacy, which is associated with reduced health equity and negatively impacts child health outcomes. Early intervention (EI) programs are optimally placed to build the health literacy capacity of caregivers, which could improve health equity. The health literacy o...

Importance: Transition and integration reentry services continue to grow in carceral settings; however, related provision of occupational therapy is limited. Objective: To examine the implementation fidelity of an occupational therapy-administered interprofessional reentry program initiated in an urban jail. Design: Retrospective, mixed quanti...

Date Presented 04/04/19 Occupation-based, holistic re-entry programming is critical for successful transitions of individuals who are incarcerated. This study explores the fidelity of comprehensive OT services for incarcerated individuals transitioning to community life. Using a mixed-methods process evaluation, this study navigates the barriers an...

In early intervention (EI) and other pediatric health care settings, providers communicate health information to caregivers of children with disabilities. Although more than 21 million American parents have inadequate health literacy skills, understanding of health literacy practices used in communication by EI providers or pediatric providers typi...

Participation is often considered a primary goal of traumatic brain injury (TBI) rehabilitation, but little is known about the influence of driving on participation after TBI. The objective of this study was to examine the independent contribution of driving status to participation at 5 years post TBI, after controlling for demographic, psychosocia...

Title I of the Americans With Disabilities Act prohibits discrimination in employment; however, 26 years later, employment rates for persons with disabilities hover at 34%. This systematic review investigates the effectiveness of evidence-based interventions to increase employment for people with various disabilities. Forty-six articles met the inc...

Objective: This study describes how women with physical disability experience caregiving for a new infant and how they adapt their home environment and care tasks. Method: In 2013, we conducted 2-hr telephone interviews with 22 women with significant physical disability who had delivered babies within the previous 10 yr. The semistructured, open...

Studies show that stroke survivors typically have lower life satisfaction than persons who have not been diagnosed with stroke. To determine if significant differences in life satisfaction exist between stroke survivors with and without functional limitations and whether specific functional limitations, as well as participation in outpatient rehabi...

To determine if there are significant differences in patient-centered communication and access to care experienced by veterans with disabilities compared to veterans without disabilities and nonveterans with disabilities and what variables contribute to the likelihood of poor patient-centered communication and access to care. χ(2) analyses were use...

This study compared emergency preparedness of people with activity limitations, with limitations who use specialized equipment, and with mental health conditions with that of people without these disabilities. Results of chi-square analysis and logistic regression analysis showed that people with activity limitations and/or mental health conditions...

Veterans with disabilities, especially those with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI) have difficulty obtaining and maintaining competitive employment.OBJECTIVE: To determine if there are significant differences in employment between veterans with and without disability, between veterans with a disability and nonve...

In 2011, about 1.8 million or 8 percent of the 22.2 million veterans were women in the US. The unemployment rate for female veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan rose to 13.5%, above the 8.4% for non-veteran adult women. To examine data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), from 2004-2011 to determine the relationship...

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between age and satisfaction with patient–physician communication. Data were obtained from the 2009 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey. Guided by the Communication Predicament Model, chi square analyses were run to examine the relationship of age and satisfaction with physician–patient commu...

Objective: To determine if disability is a significant factor in increasing the likelihood of experiencing stress regarding the ability to pay for housing and healthy food. Participants: 24.6% (n=16206) of 65,960 adults who responded to the social context optional module of 2009-2010 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System identified themselv...

This chapter will introduce the reader to the issue of abuse against women with disabilities as an example of occupational injustice. This particular area of research was explored because of the authors’ mutual passion regarding the empowerment of women and the consideration of environmental influences that support or hinder the empowerment of wome...

We reviewed 22 articles on children and youth published in 2011 in the American Journal of Occupational Therapy and organized the articles by level of research and research type according to a framework adapted from the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF; World Health Organization, 2007). The largest percentage...

To successfully manage their health care, individuals must be able to understand relevant written and verbal communication, navigate the complex health system, and have the skills and abilities to perform health care tasks. Conceptual models have been proposed and utilized to research and develop effective strategies to address barriers to health l...

Although most individuals continue to use and trust their health care professional for health information, they are increasingly bombarded with health information from other sources such as the Internet, television, and family or friends. It is important to understand where variances in the use and trust of health information by various demographic...

This study examined the impact of participation in a wellness assignment on healthy habit changes in pre-professional undergraduate students. Participants consisted of 58 students enrolled in an undergraduate occupational science health and wellness course. Students were given an assignment to alter three to five habits that would improve their wel...

ABSTRACT Many clients have difficulty understanding health information, which may lead to less use of preventive services, greater use of hospital emergency services, poor physical and mental health, and an increased risk of death. Therefore, the objective of this article is to present a review of the accessibility of a rehabilitation center and an...

This study examined the relationship between disability, gender and access to physician services due to cost using data from the 2005 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. Results showed that women with disabilities are less likely than women without disabilities and men with disabilities to report not having seen a physician due to cost. A p...

Background: Ineffective patient-physician communication has been shown to result in poorer health outcomes for various vulnerable populations. However, little research has been done on patient-physician communication issues as perceived by persons with disabilities. The purposes of this study are to determine if there is a relationship between dis...

People with disabilities may be disproportionately at risk of injury or death in emergency situations due to physical, cognitive, and socioeconomic factors. These factors individually or in combination have the potential to affect response to emergencies before, during, or after the incident. This study examines general emergency preparedness of pe...

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the current perceptions of college students in regard to the emergency management of bioterrorism.Design: University students enrolled in Community Health courses were recruited to participate in a paper or online survey to determine their perceptions regarding likelihood of a bioterrorist attac...

The purpose of this paper was to determine the relationship between race, perceptions of racism and disability on life satisfaction. Data from the 2005 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) examined through chi square and regression analysis found that African Americans with disabilities and without disabilities show a stronger relatio...

This article explores domestic violence against women with disabilities from an occupational justice perspective. Domestic violence against these women warrants special attention because they are abused at rates equal to or greater than women without disabilities and they experience disability‐specific forms of abuse. The discussion adds to the bod...

Healthy People 2010 includes access to healthcare as 1 of the 10 leading public health issues. This study compared healthcare access for older adults with disabilities with older adults without disabilities using data from the National Health Interview Survey from 1997 to 2006 to determine the effect of age and disability on healthcare access and e...

The objective of this study was to determine the relationship between disability, gender and access to health care, especially for women with disabilities compared to women without disabilities and men with disabilities. Data from the 2006 NHIS were examined using chi square, linear regression, and logistic analysis to determine the relationship be...

The relationship between the employment status of women with disabilities and the incidence of physical and sexual abuse in the United States was examined. Data from the 2005 Behavioural Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) were analyzed using descriptive analysis and proportional analysis to determine the significance of the relationship betwee...

In the United States, nearly one in five persons report some type of long lasting condition or disability (U.S. Bureau of Census, 2000). However, the employment rate for persons with disabilities is 37.5% compared to persons without disabilities at 77.8% (StatsRRTC, 2005). The objective of this study was to examine data from the Behavioral Risk Fac...

Research on women with disabilities has found that the most common perpetrators of violence were current or former intimate partners (Young etal. Arch. Phys. Med. Rehabil. 78, S34–S38, 1997; Riddington, Beating the “odds”: Violence and Women with Disabilities (Position Paper 2). 1989). This article examines intimate partner sexual and physical abus...

This paper presents results from a survey regarding student perceptions of the use of debate in two occupational therapy courses. The survey was initially used as a classroom evaluation, consisting of open-ended questions asked by the instructor and answered by students in a research and a policy course. Students then were randomly assigned to two...

Despite recent discussions regarding the implementation of the clinical doctorate in occupational therapy (OTD) as the entry-level degree for occupational therapy, there is a dearth of published literature that addresses the issue of the OTD. In this study, recent alumni of an occupational therapy program from an urban midwestern university were su...

Among working aged adults (18–64) with disabilities, three out of 10 (32%) work full or part-time, compared to eight out of 10 (81%) of those without disabilities [9]. In addition, 24.7% of women with a severe disability and 27.8% of men with a severe disability are employed, while women with a non-severe disability have an employment rate of 68.4%...

This research sought to identify the perceptions of individuals with disabilities regarding employment, how prepared they felt for the workforce, and what the limiting factors that affected employment were. Students from a local center for independent living's College for Living classes completed 60 surveys containing yes-no and Likert scale questi...

Studies have found that persons with disabilities who are also members of other minority groups or women encounter dual discrimination. This paper describes how women with disabilities who are in the workplace experience discrimination. In order to determine whether discrimination was a viable issue, theoretical contexts of feminist theory, disabil...

The purpose of this study was to ascertain which extrinsic and intrinsic job satisfaction areas are most predictive of rehabilitation professionals' career satisfaction and desire to stay on the job. This article discusses the results of a survey conducted on practicing occupational therapists, physical therapists, and speech-language pathologists...

Women with disabilities face simultaneous oppression in employment due to discrimination with regard to disability and gender. This article investigates the potential disparity in participation in employment for women, particularly women with disabilities. We analysed weighted data from disability surveillance programs and the Behavioural Risk Fact...

Research shows that participation in employment contributes to life satisfaction for persons with disabilities [18]. Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) sought to prohibit discrimination against persons with disabilities in the workplace, however, the ADA's effectiveness remains controversial. This research utilizes data from the d...

As the occupational therapy profession embraces the developing occupational science, several occupational therapy educational programs are incorporating a baccalaureate degree in occupational science into their educations programs (1). This paper presentation describes one of the courses offered in such a program to address the area of context. The...

The purpose of this presentation is to analyze the concept of violence against women with disabilities using the concept of occupational injustice. Previous models explaining the issues involved in violence against women with disabilities are first explored. Then, specific incidents of violence against women with disabilities are examined according...

Universities complain about clinical doctorates, arguing that degrees like doctor of pharmacy represent little more than degree creep and are not equivalent to, say, the Ph.D. or M.D. But few institutions have done much more than complain, instead coming to rely on the revenues clinical programs bring them — especially given that many students in t...

Inadequate communication between patients with limited English proficiency (LEP) and providers can be associated with lower access to health care. The purpose of this research was to determine if there is a significant difference among those persons whose primary language is English and those with LEP in ability to access care and preventative scre...