THE EFFECT OF A SHORT-TERM OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY TREATMENT PROGRAM ON SELF-ESTEEM, GROSS MOTOR SKILLS, AND FINE MOTOR SKILLS OF EMOTIONALLY DISTURBED INSTITUTIONALIZED ADOLESCENTS

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of incorporating an intensive, short-term occupational therapy program into the regular treatment program for emotionally disturbed adolescent patients. The first objective was to determine whether a significant difference occurred at the .05 level of significance among groups in the areas of self-esteem, gross motor skills and fine motor skills after the implementation of the treatment. The second objective was to determine if there was a difference within groups following the treatment.;The null hypotheses dealing with self-esteem components of general-self, social-self, home-self, school-self, lie-self and total-self among groups and within groups were retained as there were no changes at the .05 level of significance.;Gross motor skill component comparisions among groups were not significantly different on agility, balance, strength or upper limb coordination nor was there a difference within groups on balance. There was a significant difference among groups on bilateral coordination and within groups on agility, bilateral coordination, strength and upper limb coordination.;Fine motor skills among groups showed no significant difference on response speed, visual motor control or upper limb speed and dexterity. Fine motor skills within groups were not different on visual motor control or upper limb speed and dexterity but did show a significant difference on response speed.;From a population of seventy-one emotionally disturbed patients in residential treatment at a state mental hospital, subjects were matched on age, intelligence quotient and socioeconomic status. This resulted in nine sets of matched fours. Each set of matched fours was randomly divided into four groups of nine subjects each, treatment groups A and B and Control Groups C and D. All groups were pretested on the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory and the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency. Groups A and B were given the 30-day occupational therapy program. Groups C and D were given no treatment. Each group was posttested on the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory and the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency. Data were analyzed using an Analysis of Variance.;Conclusions addressed the need for further research in the discipline of occupational therapy and with emotionally disturbed adolescents as a population.