MAS graduates develop app and recommendations for specialists
On 10 January 2018, Selina Süsstrunk and Sonja Rocker presented their final projects for their Master of Advanced Studies (MAS) degree in occupational therapy. They had both developed practical instruments for everyday professional practice. Anyone interested in the next MAS programme can still decide to take the CAS “Best practice in occupational therapy”, which is required for five of the MAS specialisations.
Is it advisable for people affected by mental illness to speak about their condition in the workplace? This tricky question arises very frequently in psychiatric practice. In order to help specialists give their clients better support when they are faced with this issue, Selina Süsstrunk dedicated her Master’s thesis to developing science-based recommendations for use in counselling situations. They include a four-step situation analysis of the individual, illness and workplace and are intended to help the client make a decision.
Sonja Rocker, too, developed a tool for everyday professional practice in her final project. It is designed to be used in the follow-up treatment of people with a distal radius fracture. Successful recovery from this common forearm fracture requires patients to do specific exercises at home. However, when the exercise programme was provided on paper, the clients often did not perform the exercises as prescribed. In collaboration with a computer scientist, Sonja Rocker developed the prototype for an app that helps specialists create and adapt individual exercise programmes for clients and make statistical evaluations. She also improved the current home exercise programme on the basis of scientific findings and adapted it for the app. Her work has proved a success: initial usability tests have shown that the app was able to motivate clients to do their exercises more frequently than the previous programme.
Five MAS specialisations about to start
Having completed their Master’s theses, Selina Süsstrunk, Sonja Rocker and Daniela Bundi, who at the end of January presented her project on the follow-up treatment programme for patients with trapeziometacarpal osteoarthritis after APL suspensionplasty, have reached the end of their MAS programme. Sonja Rocker and Daniela Bundi will graduate with a specialisation in hand therapy, while Selina Süsstrunk will graduate with a specialisation in psychiatry.
All of the MAS specialisations except for hand therapy require the completion of a CAS in “Best Practice in Occupational Therapy”, which starts this February. Anyone who wishes to register for this CAS course at short notice can do so upon consultation with the CAS manager Brunhilde Matter.