Research boom! Skates on in the exciting occupational therapy in perinatal health race

My PhD pre-submission milestone is checked off (hoorah!), and I’m in the final stages of finishing up my thesis for submission. What a journey this is! In wrapping things up, I’ve run another sweep of other research theses which have been published recently about the role of occupational therapy in perinatal health. What a complete surprise… the research output cogs are S P I N N I N G!!! So exciting! I’ve updated my ‘resources page‘ to list all of the graduate research student theses found so far, and will continue updating it as they pop up.

Am I feeling the pressure to publish my thesis? Yes! Absolutely. I wish I had a magical remote control to speed up the process, but perhaps there is something extra in a process taking this long. Ideas have marinated, and I’ve had so much opportunity to listen to participant’s voices in the greatest depth. My research is (thankfully!) still unique, and I can’t wait to contribute my findings and perspective to this exciting new knowledge wave.

“A word after a word after a word is power”

Margaret Atwood

I’m feeling incredibly excited that the spotlight is on how occupational therapists can support women during perinatal stages. Keep it up, squad! The movement is well and truly underway. The more voices joining in the choir, the more powerful the sound…

Learn to unite with other women.

United women can produce more,

Unlike divided women who cannot build anything together.

Gift Gugu Mona
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Author: Dr Hannah Slootjes (PhD)

I'm an occupational therapist, women's health researcher, academic, writer, mum, and passionate life learner. In 2022, I completed PhD exploring how OTs globally do, could or should work to promote health and maintain wellbeing for mothers during and after pregnancy, and matrescence. Titled, 'The Role of Occupational Therapists in Perinatal Health' my thesis introduced the Person-centered Occupational Model of Matrescence (POMM) to understand women's wellbeing from a human-centered approach, and the Functional Co-occupation Spectrum (FCS) for working with mother-infant dyads. I am currently teaching occupational therapy and public health students at La Trobe University, and writing a textbook about working with women during perinatal stages and matrescence based on my thesis (aiming for publication in 2024). I still love clinical practice, and work in women's health locally in Bendigo. After taking a year-long sabbatical to recover and re-energise after completing my PhD, I'm rolling up my sleeves and gearing up for the next life chapter! I'm still writing and teaching, and will be increasing practice-based supports for OTs from this website from May 2023. I am so looking forward to reconnecting with OTs practicing and researching in this space, and cannot wait to be part of the next phase of practice-based professional development!

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