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

Examining the Relationship Between Clinician-Observed and Patient Self-Reported Visual Function in Everyday Activities

Co-Principal Investigator: Trudy Mallinson
Project Period: 07/01/2012 – 06/30/2013
Total Award: $313,714
Specific Aim: To determine the extent to which self-reported measures and observed performance measures provide comparable information about the functional status of patients with progressive visual due to diabetic macular edema and geographic atrophy.

Integrating Electromyography and Sonographic Imaging for Evidence-Based Physical Therapy for Chronic Pelvic Pain

Principal Investigator: Shawn Roll
Project Period: 07/01/2012 – 06/30/2013
Total Award: $30,000
Specific Aim: To identify a set of neuromuscular biomarkers for chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome patients using sonographic imaging and electromyographic recording that will enhance the current clinical phenotyping system for referral and treatment of patients with this pain syndrome.

Modulating Motor Behavior by Action Observation and Imitation: Implications for Stroke Rehabilitation

Principal Investigator: Lisa Aziz-Zadeh
Project Period: 01/01/2012 – 12/31/2014
Total Award: $200,000
Specific Aim: Investigators will use MRI and fMRI imaging to examine whether, and how best, the mirror neuron system can be activated
following stroke to optimally tailor stroke rehabilitation for individual patients. The study may identify crucial factors that will determine for individual patients whether and, if so, how the mirror neuron system can be optimally activated to improve motor rehabilitation outcomes.

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.

Community Discharge After Hip Fracture

K12 Scholar: Natalie Leland
Project Period: 09/01/2011 – 08/31/2014
Total Award: $75,000
Specific Aim: To further develop quantitative methodological skills to examine the national and temporal variation in the patient outcome of discharging back to the community and remaining there among post-acute care Medicare patients who have experienced their first hip fracture.

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

Principal Investigator: Elizabeth Pyatak
Project Period: 08/16/2011 – 06/30/2014
Total Award: $146,279
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
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
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
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
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
Project Period: 09/01/08 – 8/31/2013
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

Lifestyle Redesign^® for Pressure Ulcer Prevention in Rural Veterans with SCI

Project Director: Florence Clark
Project Period: 08/16/2012 – 8/15/2013
Total Award: $180,511
Specific Aim: A demonstration project to develop a sustainable Lifestyle Redesign^® program tailored for pressure ulcer prevention in rural veterans
with spinal cord injuries to be delivered via telehealth systems.

Measurement and Outcomes Post Severe Brain Injury

Project Director: Trudy Mallinson
Project Period: 08/01/2012 – 07/31/2013
Total Award: $9,891
Specific Aim: The aims are to provide health services research expertise in rehabilitation outcomes and psychometrics for research being conducted on
the measurement and outcomes of traumatic brain injury.

MetaNet: A Multilingual Metaphor Extraction, Representation, and Validation System

Project Director: Lisa Aziz-Zadeh
Project Period: 1/1/2012 – 12/31/2017
Total Award: $293,273
Specific Aim: The scope of the USC-led experiment is to conduct a fMRI study on metaphorical language processing and emotion processing to approximately 20 subjects.

Improving Adherence in Type 1 Diabetes by Peer Mentoring: A Feasibility Study

Project Director: Beth Pyatak
Project Period: 2011 – 2013
Specific Aim: Investigators will develop surveys to gather information from potential Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) mentees and mentors in order to assess and evaluate the feasibility of peer mentoring for T1D patients
in adolescence and young adulthood, with the goal to improve self-management and glycemic control, and to delay and ameliorate T1D-related complications.

Medicare Payment Reform Demonstration and CARE Tool Development Initiatives

Project Director: Trudy Mallinson
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
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
Project Period: 06/01/98 – 6/30/13
Total Award: $1,025,924
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.