Occupational Therapy Projects
The focus is on projects that enable people with limited capacity to be more independent and participate in self-care, education, work, leisure activities, and social life.
Project Database
All Occupational Therapy Research Unit research projects are listed in chronological order by project start date. Specific research projects can also be found by using the search function.
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Preliminary study for an innovative lift retrofit system for people with disabilities
The company flexomobil ag was founded just a few months ago and builds on the decades of experience of Flexo-Handlauf GmbH. Flexo-Handlauf GmbH has many years of experience in retrofitting handrails in detached houses and apartment blocks, and it has become clear that retrofitting stair lifts has disadvantages as ...
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Autonomous Ageing at home in the digital age
Background Most olderadults wish to age in their own homes and familiar environments. "Aging inplace" refers to the ability of living safely and autonomously in one'sfamiliar surroundings, regardless of individual capabilities. Apps andwearables can support "aging in place" and healthy ageing byproviding tools and ...
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Mobility, community participation, and health of persons with disabilities in Switzerland (MOBILE)
Background and Rationale Persons with disabilities face inequalities in their everyday life due to the inability to participate in community activities and access places. Many of these inequalities are based on environmental restrictions. Mobility is an important prerequisite of community participation and health of ...
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Transforming clinical assessments: Explicitly articulating implicit clinical decision-making to train AI
We are currently creating an AI algorithm using modern computer vision methods to assess movement quality in people after stroke. Our project, as many others, depends on therapist’s manual movement quality rating to create the ground truth. While therapists are trained to reliably assess movement quality in person ...
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Psychosocial factors in the everyday life of refugee children in collective centers - an explorative analysis
Refugee children and their parents live in a difficult and often stressful health situation. In the study "Psychosocial factors in the everyday lives of refugee children in collective centers", we are interested in what can help children deal with their challenges. The project examines their living situation and ...
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Artificial Intelligence for Myoelectrically Controlled Cooperative Arm Prostheses: A proof-of-concept Study
This proof-of-concept study will be embedded into our line of research in this field. Our overall aim is to render the control of a myoelectrical forearm prosthesis (MCP) intuitive. Currently, an MCP typically has two integrated electrodes, through which the user provides input to the prosthesis. With these two ...
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Cognitive assessment of fitness to drive: Recommendations for Switzerland
Background Driving allows freedom and flexibility, facilitates social contact and makes places accessible. However, cognitive impairment (e.g., acquired brain injury or dementia) may challenge the ability to drive. A driving ban can lead to loneliness and health problems (e.g., depression, low self-esteem) or ...
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Quality Indicators for Occupational Therapy: a Scoping Review
Background: Occupational therapists are increasingly asked to demonstrate the effectiveness, appropriateness, and efficiency of their interventions to funding bodies. The aim of this scoping review was to establish which quality indicators are used internationally to demonstrate the effectiveness, appropriateness, ...
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Return to work of people with post-covid condition
Moving forward from the COVID-19 pandemic, health systems around the world are adapting to new ways of providing health care services alongside discovering pressing global health issues including mental health issues, substance misuse and abuse, and the disruption in people’s everyday living among others. According ...
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Substance use to maintain occupational performance among persons with chronic pain
Background Around 18 % of the Swiss population suffers from chronic pain at least once in their live. Chronic pain affects all areas of daily life and has a negative impact on quality of life, workability and well-being. Prescribed medications such as opioids are taken by persons with chronic pain primarily for pain ...
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Parti-CP: Barriers and facilitators for participation in children for cerebral palsy, their siblings and families in Switzerland
The aim of Parti-CP is to gather profound knowledge about how children with CP, their siblings, and their families as a whole experience participation in Switzerland, then use this knowledge to formulate evidence-based recommendations. The mixed-methods study will include four work packages with qualitative and ...
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Technologies for Therapy at a Distance for Individuals With Stroke
Stroke is one of the main causes of permanent limitations in activities of daily living and participation in everyday life worldwide. Occupational therapists make a significant contribution to helping clients return to their daily lives after stroke. A high number of people living with the effects of a stroke want ...
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Mobile Inclusion Lab
We create a Real-Lab (Mobile Inclusion Lab, “MobILe”) that enables experimental development of sustainable rehabilitation and assistive (R&A) technologies for people with disabilities. By providing a toolkit (hardware and software, e.g., 3D-printing, sensors, motors, human-computer interfaces) with teaching and ...
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Creating Inclusive Education: from the Perspectives of Children, Parents, Teachers and Others
Inclusive schools teach children skills to engage with each other and do things together in classrooms, playgrounds, and other places, disregarding differences in abilities, gender, race, class, and language. Education is contextualised within local systems, varying across socio-historical and cultural settings. ...
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Family Outcome of Early Intervention
Background Family-centred practice, an approach in which intervention is directed at the whole family, is now considered "state of the art" in paediatric early intervention. Studies have shown that children develop best in a supportive family where the needs of all family members are addressed. The goal of ...
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Artificial Intelligence for Myoelectrically Controlled Cooperative Arm Prostheses
Individuals with an upper limp amputation often use a prosthesis to conduct activities of daily living and participate in society. However, the upper limb is challenging to replace, as the arm and hand have to conduct very complex gross and fine motor movements, with many degrees of freedom. In a survey with 307 ...
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Tele-Assessment: Leveraging Deep Learning to Assess Upper Limb Kinematics after Stroke with Off-the-shelf Webcams
We are developing and validating a camera-based compensation classifier ("3C") for tele-neurorehabilitation to distinguish normal arm movements from those with compensation. The algorithm can be used with a webcam alone or in combination with an inertial measurement unit (IMU). This method improves ...
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Sleep Coach
Quality of sleep has an impact on mental and physical health and thus on general well-being. several factors that influence sleep quality exert their effect in the hours before falling asleep. Activities that promote or hinder sleep quality during this time are commonly subsumed under the term "sleep hygiene". ...
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Practical considerations for the application of occupational therapy at a physical distance
The Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW), in collaboration with the Swiss Occupational Therapists Association, is developing a digital brochure on the use of occupational therapy at a distance for occupational therapists in the Swiss healthcare system.Spatial distance occupational therapy circumscribes all ...
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The situation of paratransit users in Switzerland
Description Many people in Switzerland cannot use public transport or can only use it to a limited extent (e.g., due to a motor or visual impairment). They rely on paratransit services to participate in daily life. Various insurance providers, such as health insurance funds and the Swiss Disability Insurance and Old ...