Forming partnerships with obstetricians & gynecologists: exploring occupational therapy's role in the primary care of women

Abstract

The American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) supports the expansion of Occupational Therapy (OT) in primary care (PC), including specialty areas like Obstetrics & Gynecology (OB/GYN) (AOTA Commission of Education, 2017). The American College of Obstetrics & Gynecology (ACOG) recommends that physicians utilize an interdisciplinary team to address obesity (ACOG, 2016). However, OT’s role in OB/GYN is undefined and both disciplines are unaware of this role. The hope of this project is to facilitate the integration of OT services into OB/GYN PC teams by defining a role for OTs, increasing OTs’ awareness of this role, and contributing to the tools for OTs in OB/GYN PC. A webinar will be used to increase OT’s awareness because of their convenience, interactivity, and efficacy to increase OT’s knowledge and confidence on a subject (Pittman & Lawdis, 2017).The Ecology of Human Performance (EHP) framework is used to understand the healthcare need. There is an increasing prevalence of overweight/obesity and low rate of physical activity (PA) in women of reproductive age (WRA, 19-39 years) (Flegal, Kruszon-Moran, Carroll, Fryar, & Ogden, 2016; Melton, Bland, Marshall & Bigham, 2016). Therefore, WRA are limited in their performance of health management and maintenance tasks that influence obesity (AOTA, 2014). This is a public health concern because women with obesity and little PA have an increased chance of developing other chronic conditions, having a child with neurodevelopmental conditions and obesity, also social stigma and limited performance of life tasks (Mitchell & Saw, 2015;Saliman Reingold, Jordan, & Amini, 2013). This population relies on OB/GYNs for their PC (Stormo, Mona, Hing, Henderson, & Sawa, 2014). However, OB/GYNs do not routinely treat obesity because of self-reported barriers including lack of time/training and social/weight bias (Lindheim et al., 2017; Smith et al., 2015). Also, OT’s—who are distinctly qualified to address health management and maintenance—are not utilized in OB/GYN PC because of both profession’s decreased awareness of OT’s role. This project proposes that OTs have a distinct role in OB/GYN PC teams by supporting physicians in treating obesity using a context and occupation-based approach, not currently utilized, which impacts WRA and future generations.