#39: Lifestyle Medicine and OT with Ryan Osal (CE Course)

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Full Course Details: Public course page
Learn more about our guest: Ryan Balats Osal OTD, MS, OTR/L, NZROT, CEAS, CHC

Read the article and discussion upon which this podcast is based.

Released September 5, 2022.

Helping people change their habits to change their health is one of the main mechanisms that makes OT effective.

But, I don’t think we spend enough time thinking about how HARD it is to change our habits.

The article we are looking at today focuses on changing lifestyle habits for adults at high risk of a cardiovascular incident, like a stroke. The author’s aim is to conceptualize how engaging occupations can be used to facilitate health promoting habits.

We’ll use this article as a jumping off point to discuss both habit formation and Lifestyle Medicine with Ryan Balats Osal OTD, MS, OTR/L, NZROT, CEAS, CHC.

Primary Journal Article Explored

When you log in, be sure to check out the OT Potential Club’s written breakdown of the following research article. Then, share your questions and thoughts with fellow practitioners.

Mälstam, E., Asaba, E., Åkesson, E., Guidetti, S., &; Patomella, A.-H. (2021). ‘Weaving lifestyle habits’: Complex pathways to health for persons at risk for stroke. Scandinavian Journal of Occupational Therapy, 29(2), 152–164.

Supporting Research and Journal Articles

Nielsen, S. S., Skou, S. T., Larsen, A. E., Bricca, A., Søndergaard, J., &; Christensen, J. R. (2022). The effect of occupational engagement on lifestyle in adults living with chronic pain: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Occupational Therapy International, 2022, 1–15.

Egger, G. (2018). Defining a structure and methodology for the practice of Lifestyle Medicine. American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine, 12(5), 396–403.

Morris, D., &; Jenkins, G. (2018). Preparing physical and occupational therapists to be health promotion practitioners: A call for action. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 15(2), 392.

Screens for OTs to use for each pillar of Lifestyle Medicine

1. Avoidance of risky substances

2. Stress management

3. Physical activity

4. Restorative sleep

5. Whole-food, plant-predominant eating pattern

6. Positive social connections

Health behavior change models for OTs to be aware of

Learning Objectives

  • You will be able to describe how occupation can be used to influence lifestyle habits and thereby health risks.
  • You will be able to identify intersections of lifestyle medicine and OT.

Agenda

Intro (5 minutes)

Breakdown and analysis of journal article (5 minutes)

  • What we know about lifestyle habits and stroke risk
  • Engaging occupation and promoting health lifestyle habits
  • Why was this specific article written?
  • What is Make My Day?
  • Who participated in the study?
  • What were their methods for exploring the impact of evaluations?
  • Results
  • Discussion
  • Conclusions
  • Takeaways for OT practitioners

Discussion on practical implications for OTs (with Ryan Osal) (50 minutes)

  • Can you tell me how you found OT?
  • How did you find Lifestyle Medicine?
  • What were your initial impressions of our journal article?
  • This article did not specifically mention lifestyle medicine, but does it align with your understanding of it?
  • How do you see OT intersecting with lifestyle medicine?
  • What do you think OT can learn from lifestyle medicine?
  • How can OTs in traditional practices incorporate lifestyle medicine principles?
  • How can an OT become more involved in lifestyle medicine?
  • How has working in different countries impacted your understanding of lifestyle medicine?

Contact Hours

1 hour (0.1 AOTA CEUs). Released online from Aurora, NE.

Target Audience/Educational Level

Our target audience is occupational therapy practitioners who are looking to learn about Lifestyle Medicine and OT. The educational level is introductory.

Instructional Methods/Registration/Special Needs Requests/Cancellation Policy

This course is an independent/self-study course delivered via podcast on iTunes, Spotify and Google Play. Explore your listening options on the OT Potential Podcast page.

If you need accommodations to take this course, please contact us and we will address your needs on an individual basis.

If this course were to be canceled, please see our cancellation policy on our terms page.

Course Completion Requirements

In order to receive a certificate for this course, you must first listen to the podcast in its entirety. Then, you will need to take the test (found at the top of this page) and earn 75% or higher. If you pass, a certificate will be automatically generated and sent to your email.

Financial and Non-financial Disclosures

It is the policy of OT Potential to disclose any financial and non-financial interest the provider or instructor may have in a product or service mentioned during an activity. This is to ensure that the audience is made aware of any bias of the speaker.

We here at OT Potential have no financial stake in this topic. Our guest, Ryan Osal, also has no financial disclosures.

Speakers

Ryan Balats Osal OTD, MS, OTR/L, NZROT, CEAS, CHC

Ryan Balats Osal OTD, MS, OTR/L, NZROT, CEAS, CHC

Ryan Balats Osal is a practicing occupational therapist in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand. He has worked in various settings – home health, rehabilitation centers, early intervention, outpatient, workplace wellness, and academia. Ryan received his Doctorate of Occupational Therapy from Boston University. He was a lecturer and mentor for doctoral students doing research projects focusing on health and wellness, primary care, lifestyle modification, and behavioral economics at Slippery Rock University and University of Central Arkansas. He was a guest lecturer to Occupational Therapy universities and associations in the USA, Ghana, Haiti, Portugal, Namibia, and Spain.

Sarah Lyon, OTR/L:

Sarah Lyon, OTR/L headshot

Sarah’s passion is helping fellow OT practitioners translate evidence into daily practice. Sarah earned her BA in religion from St. Olaf College, then earned her master’s degree in occupational therapy from New York University in 2011. Since then, she’s worked in numerous facilities, including a critical access hospital, an acute trauma hospital, and a state inpatient psychiatric hospital.

Sarah is the founder/owner of OT Potential. Read more about OT Potential here.

Ep39-AOTA-Badge

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Please share any other feedback below! Including, ideas for future programming, and most importantly, how you feel this podcast will impact your practice!

2 Likes
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Sarah,
This was an eye-opening conversation. I will start using some of those screens I had not heard of. This will help me to incorporate a different approach to lifestyle habit change to the fragile elderly who live in the community, and it will be so exciting to see if change comes out of this new approach. Thanks for posting the pillars, the resources and for bringing the idea of lifestyle medicine to our attention.
Janet W. OT, Boulder CO

2 Likes
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I so agree! This was a totally eye-opening convo for me. I had read the book the Blue Zones several years ago, which had already start to change how I think about my own health, our patient’s health, my communities health.

And, then this episode really simplified and synced the things I had learned. I’m excited to see where this movement goes!

1 Like
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I found the introduction to Lifestyle Medicine to be intriguing. I’m excited to consider some of these approaches as I help adults with I/DD develop habits that will improve their long term health.

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I love that you are talking about such an important, current concern and helping OTs to bring this more fully to our clients. Lifestyle medicine is so important to health. The screenings were a great bonus!

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This was such a great example of how how OT can lead health promotion activities! The pillars of Lifestyle medicine are so intertwined with OT! Thanks Ryan for helping us spread our wings beyond the sick model!

2 Likes
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I would like to add some of the assessments discussed in this episode to help improves my client’s manage of lymphedema and prevention of future venous wounds

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Kia ora koutou, Janet, Sarah, Jennifer, Kathleen, Ann, and Julie. Thank you for your comments and feedback. I wish you all a lovely day.

Ngā manaakitanga,

Ryan

1 Like
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Easy to navigate forum. Always informative. Sarah makes every reader feel engaged. I am interested in topics related to OT and sleep.

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Adding to all the pillars- medication management should be critical in this podcast. Limited emphasis is given and we should highlight this risk factor

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Kia ora, Purnima. There are indeed a lot of pillars of health. LM highlighted the focus of the 6 pillars with medication management as an adjunct. At my current practice in primary care, our physicians advocate first for health behaviour changes, lifestyle interventions, and community groups before prescribing medications. Those activities are in collaboration with our dietitian, exercise physiologist, OT, nurses, psychologist, and other health providers. Thank you for advocating patient-centred medication therapy.

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Thanks Ryan for your explanation. I really enjoyed the podcast, and I am very involved with everything you talked about with all my outpatients with stroke or MCI. And this just helped to look beyond what I am doing.
thank you so much.

Thanks
Regards

Purnima Karia OTR/L, CDRS
310.951.1495
purnimakaria@yahoo.com

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Another great read is The Alzheimer’s Solution by Dean and Ayesha Sherzai and Undo it by Dean and Anne Ornish. I think there is such an important role for OT to fill in the gap of actually implementing these kinds of programs to make sustainable changes. Thank you so much for posting all of the resources and assessments!

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Kia ora, Tara. Those are wonderful books. Thank you for sharing.
My colleagues and I primarily used focused acceptance and commitment therapy to establish rapport with our clients and guide them on making S.M.A.R.T.E.R. and sustainable goals.
I wish you a lovely day.

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I just put both of those books in my Amazon cart! (And then when down the rabbit hole of looking at the new books coming out on nutrition. All of the ones I was looking at back up the emphasis on plant predominant eating!)

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Hi Ryan. I’ve been looking into acceptance and commitment therapy. I saw that AOTA has a brief introductory course on ACT, but if you have any suggestions as to other resources or courses to look into, I would gladly accept any recommendations. Thank you!

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