About Our Research

The Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy at the University of Southern California is internationally recognized for its academic excellence, innovation in research, sustained acquisition of extramural funding, and leadership in implementing successful models of interdisciplinary research. Understanding “real people” in “real lives” requires conceptual and methodological expertise that has been, and continues to be, developed through scholarship in the fields of occupational science and occupational therapy. Methodologically, we are particularly strong in translational research, randomized clinical trial design and qualitative research approaches. Our Division is unusual in that our research programs span the continuum of modes of inquiry. We are contributing to the development of innovative solutions to methodological and analytic challenges related to studying lives in context. We remain committed to facilitating the dissemination of research findings to practitioners and the public, and to promoting approaches to scholarship that facilitate the integration of theory and practice.

Active Funded Projects

Sensory Adapted Dental Environments to Enhance Oral Care for Children with Autism

Principal Investigator: Sharon Cermak
Project Period: 09/15/2011 – 08/31/2013
Total Award: $531,376
Specific Aim: To collect pilot data that will support a later clinical trial on the effectiveness of a specially adapted dental environment for children, including children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and typically developing children, who have difficulty tolerating oral care in the dental clinic, with the potential to revolutionize clinic-based dental care for the growing population of children with ASD.

Beating the Odds: Facilitating Lifestyle Change in Urban Latino Young Adults with Diabetes

Principal Investigator: Elizabeth Pyatak CTSI_logo
Project Period: 08/16/2011 – 06/30/2014
Total Award: $146,279 Helmsley_logo
Specific Aim: To test a lifestyle-based intervention for diabetes management, and its potential to improve health and quality of life outcomes, for urban, low socioeconomic status, Latino young adults living with diabetes.

Lifestyle Redesign^® for Pressure Ulcer Prevention in Spinal Cord Injury

Principal Investigator: Florence Clark NIH_logo_small
Project Period: 09/01/2008 – 07/31/2013
Total Award: $2,820,242
Specific Aim: To test a lifestyle-based intervention that aims to significantly reduce pressure ulcers in the population of adults living with spinal cord injury.

The Mirror Neuron System (MNS) and Action Observation after Stroke Affecting Cortical Motor Regions

Principal Investigator: Lisa Aziz-Zadeh NICHD_logo_small
Project Period: 07/01/11 – 06/30/13
Total Award: $162,000
Specific Aim: To image areas of the brain that perceive action, imitation and social cognition in order to better understand how the human brain’s mirror neuron system might be engaged to promote motor recovery after stroke.

The Mirror Neuron System (MNS): A Neural Substrate for Methods in Stroke Rehabilitation

Principal Investigator: Lisa Aziz-Zadeh AHA
Project Period: 07/01/10 – 06/30/13
Total Award: $231,000
Specific Aim: To use imaging to investigate which brain regions are active when individuals with stroke make a movement in order to develop better rehabilitation methods for motor recovery after stroke.

Training Grants

TREET: Training in Rehabilitation Efficacy and Effectiveness Trials

Project Director: Florence Clark OER MRRIN_logo
Project Period: 05/1/11 – 04/30/16
Total Award: $1,068,942
Specific Aim: An interdisciplinary, two-year training experience for postdoctoral fellows designed to improve fellows’ capacity to independently conduct randomized clinical trials and increase the quantity and rigor of rehabilitation science publications.

Training Occupational Therapy Specialists: Personnel Preparation to Serve Young Children with Disabilities

Project Director: Karrie Kingsley DoE_logo
Project Period: 09/01/08 – 8/31/2012
Total Award: $800,000
Specific Aim: To accelerate the specialized training necessary for entry-level occupational therapists to effectively deliver clinical services to infants, toddlers, and young children with special needs within state and national educational systems.

Contracts

Medicare Payment Reform Demonstration and CARE Tool Development Initiatives

Project Director: Trudy Mallinson RTIinternational_logo
Project Period: 2010 – 2013
Total Award: $44,352
Specific Aim: The demonstration will provide standardized information on patient health and functional status, independent of site of care, and will examine resources and outcomes associated with treatment in each type of setting to allow Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to determine the extent to which similar patients are treated in different settings.

Developing Outpatient Therapy Payment Alternatives

Project Director: Trudy Mallinson RTIinternational_logo
Project Period: 2010 – 2013
Total Award: $31,298
Specific Aim: The Developing Outpatient Therapy Payment Alternatives initiative is collecting standardized patient assessment information in institutional (e.g., nursing facilities) and community settings across the country and using these data to guide the development of recommendations for Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to consider as payment method alternatives.

Development of Teaching Material in Support of SIPT

Project Director: Florence Clark WPS_logo
Project Period: 01/01/07 – 12/31/11
Total Award: $71,389
Specific Aim: Together with Western Psychological Services, the Division offers a four-course series in Sensory Integration Theory and Practice, the most thorough and practical sensory integration training in the world.