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Interview with Valerie Cunningham
Get PDFThis is an interview with the founder and CEO of The Synergy Health Center Valerie Cunningham recorded on January 22, 2025. Ms. Cunningham was interviewed by JB Brown as a part of SHARE\u27s “Standing on Her Shoulders” oral history project. During the interview Ms. Cunningham discusses the following topics: Her childhood in Kalamazoo; Her mother as her main inspiration; Her experience as a Black Woman at a PWI; Pivoting from business to social work; Being a busy mother while pursuing her MSW; Founding the Synergy Health Center; Defining and expanding her vision; How she overcame hurdles in the development of her business; Researching race disparities in mental health; Developing the Black Wellness Network; The importance of cultural awareness and sensitivity in providing services; Her company’s strategies for breaking the stigma around Black mental health; Her thoughts on being a Strong Black Woman; Maintaining her work-life balance; Youth outreach; The future of Black mental health support; Advice to her younger self, and; The importance of archiving Black stories and voices.https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/standing-on-her-shoulders/1005/thumbnail.jp
Breastfeeding Interventions for Dyads with Medical Complexity: A Mixed Methods Study
Get PDFBackground: Breastfeeding dyads with medical complexity have lower success with direct breastfeeding. Evidence to support occupational therapists working with this population is limited. This study explored occupational therapists\u27 experiences, training, and interventions for breastfeeding dyads with medical complexity.
Method: Occupational therapists providing clinical breastfeeding services for parents and or children with medically complex conditions participated in this study. The study employed an explanatory, sequential mixed-methods design, consisting of an online survey (N = 102) followed by two 75-min semi-structured focus groups (N = 7).
Results: Occupational therapists with more clinical breastfeeding experience (p = .003) and specialty certifications (lactation, p \u3c .001; non-lactation, p = .03) provided at-breast interventions more frequently. Occupational therapists with lactation certifications reported higher clinical intervention frequencies (p \u3c .001), advocacy (p = .03), and confidence in at-breast interventions (p = .001). Focus group themes of holistic interventions, clinical challenges, and role expansion emerged. Occupational therapists\u27 perspectives revealed missed breastfeeding opportunities experienced by this population.
Conclusion: The study\u27s results provided insight into occupational therapists’ at-breast interventions to support direct breastfeeding for dyads with medical complexity. More education and research are needed to adequately support this vulnerable population. In addition, interprofessional awareness of therapeutic services used by occupational therapists may benefit access and care
Environmental Advocacy as an Occupation: Perceived Self-Efficacy and Occupational Justice in Community Programming
Get PDFBackground: Current occupational therapy literature demonstrates a gap in knowledge of environmental advocacy as an occupation, which directly impacts occupational justice in those experiencing environmental racism or discrimination. This study’s purpose was to provide foundational information on the importance of advocacy work in the sphere of environmental and occupational justice through the lived experiences of those directly involved in community environmental advocacy.
Method: Qualitative data was collected via three focus groups using semi-structured interviews focused on perceptions of participant experiences in environmental advocacy occupations. Thematic analysis was used to identify themes relating to research questions.
Results: When exploring the meaning of environmental advocacy participation, four themes emerged: Education, Community Engagement, Empowerment, and Sustainability. Perceived facilitators to environmental advocacy participation resulted in three themes: Community Input, Consistency, and Intrinsic Motivation. Three themes emerged from perceived barriers to participation: Structural Inequities, Limited Community Involvement, and Overwhelmed.
Conclusions: Participation in environmental justice advocacy is an occupation conceptualized as a cyclical series of actions, ultimately resulting in empowerment and sustained occupational participation. Such results implicate an emerging area of occupational therapy practice that is both within the professional scope of practice and effective in providing opportunities to increase occupational justice and life satisfaction