Award Date

May 2023

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Occupational Therapy Doctorate

Department

Brain Health

First Committee Member

Donnamarie Krause

Second Committee Member

Jefferson Kinney

Number of Pages

70

Abstract

Over the past 20 years, multiple legislative acts have been passed mandating support and services for the mental health needs of children and youth in schools; however, Nevada continues to rank last for the provision of such services. Children and youth who are mentally healthy are more likely to be successful in their homes, schools, and communities (Arbesman et al., 2013). Those who have increased mental health needs are more at risk for developmental and long-term consequences that jeopardize overall health and wellness, not to mention the immense effects that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on children and youth. With limited existing resources to improve these rankings, therein lies a need for improved support.Occupational therapy is well suited to address mental health challenges across the lifespan through the therapeutic use of occupations and activities in group and individual interventions. Every Moment Counts, a multi-pronged mental health promotion initiative created by a team of school-based occupational therapists, provides structured programming based on the public health approach to mental health to address positive mental health in the school setting. This capstone project aims to determine the feasibility of the Every Moment Counts initiative at Somerset Academy of Las Vegas – Stephanie Campus through program implementation, assessment of the environment, and faculty, staff, and student perceptions. Pre- and post-surveys and anecdotal feedback were used to analyze the changes in the school environment as perceived by participants. At the time of writing, due to time, space, and resource constraints, implementation of the Every Moment Counts program at Somerset Academy of Las Vegas – Stephanie Campus is not feasible without changes to the structure of programming and school environments.

Disciplines

Mental and Social Health | Occupational Therapy

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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