January / February 2000 Table of Contents
In this article
Are
you lost on the information highway and need some direction? Do you have
questions about how to search and find Web sites related to occupational
therapy? Do you need help in learning how to surf the Internet with greater
ease, better results and less waste of time?
If you have answered yes to any of these questions, you might be in need
of some help from Rhod@. Send me your questions… and I will suggest
web sites to visit, Internet tools to use or software to download. I will
offer clear and simple advice that will encourage you to become a skilled
InternOT. I invite you to share with our readers any useful Internet tips
you might have to offer or addresses of super web sites you have found.
By reading or contributing to the mail published in this column, you will
discover the tremendous value of using the Internet in occupational therapy.
Rhoda Weiss-Lambrou is Professor at the École de réadaptation, Université de Montréal and author of InternOT, one of the first occupational therapy web sites.
Please address your Internet questions, helpful tips or
oh-so-good Web addresses to:
You ask… Rhod@ answers
E-mail : Rhoda.Weiss-Lambrou@umontreal.caProf. R. Weiss-Lambrou, École de réadaptation
Université de Montréal, C.P., 6128
succursale Centre-ville, Montréal Québec H3C 3J7Please include your name and place of work in your letter.
Q. I need help. My husband, Mark, and I are expecting a baby this November, and we are in the market for a wheelchair accessible crib. Mark is an occupational therapist at the Nova Scotia Rehabilitation Centre, but he has not had any luck with the resources there. I have a low spinal cord injury and would greatly benefit from a crib I could wheel-up to (swing-open railing). Do you have any advice for me?
— Thank-you. Jana & Mark
Rhod@ answers
In my course on assistive technology, I invited my third year students to help me respond to your query. One of my students, Julie Patenaude did an electronic search in the database of HYPER ABLEDATA and found a baby crib manufactured by "Baby Tenda Corp", located in Kansas City. The name of the product is "FOUR-IN-ONE CONVERTING CRIB", and the phone number to get more information is (800) 467-2255 or (916) 756-2444. You could also get the description of the crib by clicking here.We hope that this information might be useful.
Q. I am a newcomer to the Web and would like to learn about the Internet by taking some online courses or tutorials. Can you recommend any sites that will help me learn to surf the Internet with greater ease so that I can become an InternOT?
— John
Rhod@ answers
There are some great "Surf schools" on the Web where you can learn to better use the Internet. Here are two sites to get you started:
Q. I'm a commuity-based occupational therapist trying to find Web resources on adapted clothing for disabled persons of all ages. I would greatly appreciate any assistance in finding some useful Web sites on this topic. Thanks!
— Cindy
Rhod@ answers
I used my "search and find" skills by using the Internet motor search engines. Of the many sites that were retreived, I consider the following four to be among the best sites on adaptive clothing:Resident Shopper's Service Inc.
Adapted clothing: Internet Resources for Special Children
Adaptive clothing: The Boulevard
TRI Online: Adaptive clothing
I suggest that you begin to develop your "search and find" skills so that next time you will be able to share your Web findings with the readers of this column.
Q. I teach a course on occupational therapy research and I am looking for Web sites that offer worthwhile content on the research process and methodologies. I am also interested in learning if and how other professionals are conducting Web-based research. I would appreciate any suggested Web sites that you may have to offer me.
— Prof. Know
Rhod@ answers
After a bit of searching on the Web, I did find a few sites that you should visit.QualityMetric, Inc.
is a company that aims to develop and disseminate the next generation of outcome assessments and analytic services for improving health care from the patient point-of-view. Of particular interest is the section on outcomes researchThe Knowledge Base
is an online textbook for an introductory course in research methods. In my opinion, it is the best and most complete electronic introduction to research principles, methods and measures.To see how other professionals are integrating the Web in their research, you can examine examples of online consent forms and Web surveys that were used for research data collection purposes:
Rationale for Delivering Questionnaires via the Internet
Survey on adult attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
I do not know as yet of any occupational therapists who are conducting web-based research but I believe that we must now begin to examine ways of integrating the Internet in occupational therapy research.
January / February 2000 Table of Contents
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