OT professors present Camp Discovery research in Bangkok

Three Augusta University occupational therapy professors, along with colleagues from Columbia University, recently presented outcomes from Camp Discovery at the 19th World Federation of Occupational Therapy Congress in Bangkok, Thailand.

Pam Kearney, EdD, department chair of the Occupational Therapy program in AU’s College of Allied Health Sciences, along with Patty Watford, OTD, and Beth Willson, both occupational therapists, represented AU at February’s conference. Faculty has represented AU at the event, which is held every four years, for more than a decade.

Camp Discovery is entering its fourth year in Augusta and is organized by the Department of Occupational Therapy. The concept was created by colleagues Colleen Maher, OTD, and Rochelle Mendonca, PhD, in Philadelphia 15 years ago at what is now St. Joseph’s University. The model was adopted when Kearney moved to Augusta and was created with the help of Watford, Willson and Hari Kashyap, PhD, of the Georgia Cancer Center.

This year’s collaborative poster, “Evaluation of a one-week occupation-based program on occupational performance and quality of life of women with cancer living in the community,” was one of more than 2,000 presentations, and the AU team was one of 100 to present a physical poster along with their digital copy.

The information, based on responses from 99 female cancer survivors, examined quality of life changes across physical and psychological health, social relationships and environment as well as self-perceived occupational performance and satisfaction with performance of community living after participating in the camp.

“I am proud of our Occupational Therapy faculty for presenting their outstanding research on the international stage in Bangkok. Among the most service‑oriented professionals in the health sciences, occupational therapists demonstrate a rare blend of compassion, creativity and innovation,” said Lester Pretlow, dean of the College of Allied Health Sciences. “They look at every challenge as an opportunity to help individuals live their lives to the fullest. Their work empowers people to overcome obstacles, reclaim independence and continue leading productive lives. Dr. Kearney, Watford and Willson’s dedication elevates the entire OT profession and AU.”

Camp Discovery is a one-week, activity-based program held at the HUB for Community Innovation Augusta. The program’s goal is to support women who are cancer survivors while building community, improving quality of life and increasing engagement through meaningful activities and exercises.

Kearney, Willson and Watford cherish the opportunity to present at conferences when they can. They said at international conferences, everyone gets to hear voices and talk to people from across the globe. They also noted that occupational therapy varies in different countries, based on the health care systems the countries have established.

“For a program like Camp Discovery, which is such a community-based wellness type of program, there are a lot of countries that do community care better than we do here in the United States. I think for us to be able to talk with people from across the globe about a community program like Camp Discovery was helpful,” said Kearney, who noted they networked with cancer researchers whose work they’ve highlighted in their literature review to help support Camp Discovery.

Willson said the conference allowed them to see all works related to Camp Discovery and have conversations about different materials or what evaluation tools are being used to conduct their research.

“It was good to bounce those ideas off each other so we could kind of remold what we’re about to start again in a new process,” Willson said. “It was good to hear their perspectives and what they’re doing so that we could feel when we’re going into our next steps, that we’re moving forward in the direction we want to go.”

The opportunity to travel and talk about Camp Discovery means a lot to Kearney, Willson and Watford. They know they are not only representing AU, but also the women who have invested their time with the program. Kearney said the participants “were engaged and committed to each other and us by default.”

“Especially the women who’ve been there from the beginning of Camp Discovery as we are,” Willson said. “They are proud to be a part of it and to support each other and support us along this journey. They want to see everyone be as successful as possible at the same time, too. We’re representing them globally and I’m sure that that matters a lot to them as well.”