Occupational therapy and child abuse.
This report describes the part occupational therapy played in a community-based research and demonstration project instituted to treat abusive parents and their children. The development of the project, designed to define characteristics of abusive parents and their children and to experiment with various forms of treatment, is discussed first. The psychosocial and psychological dynamics of abusive parents are reviewed next. Through an occupational therapy evaluation process, these dynamics were found to be isolation, poor group and socialization skills, inability to set priorities or to develop order in most situations, a weak internalized ego structure as a basis for determining their needs and identity, the inability to perceive one's abilities and limitations accurately, and a great need for clear external structure. Finally, occupational therapy as a viable, evaluative tool and treatment mode in child abuse is discussed wherein the parents learned and understood cause and effect and developed some measure of control of a situation.
D002649:Child Abuse; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003631:Day Care, Medical; D005196:Family Therapy; D006126:Group Processes; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009519:New York City; D009788:Occupational Therapy; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D012381:Role Playing; D012934:Social Isolation; D012951:Socialization