Community Engagement, Independent Living and Participation SOPC
Remove barriers to support full and equitable participation in society
The Community Engagement, Independent Living and Societal Participation Scholarship of Practice Collaborative is focused on collaborating with individuals, groups, communities, organizations, and/or populations to support desired and meaningful occupational engagement, independent living, and community and social participation.
Using evidence-based strategies, our collaborative strives to remove barriers to support full and equitable participation in society. These strategies may include, but are not limited to, involvement in advocacy initiatives, instrument development and validation efforts, and a variety of intervention approaches such as self-management programming to support community living and participation, support during life transitions and strategizing environmental barriers to full societal participation.
Strategizing equitable participation and social justice
Joy Hammel’s research focuses on four major areas: participatory action research with disability communities to identify key environmental barriers and supports to community living and societal participation; designing and testing innovative community living, participation and environmental programming; evaluating the impact of policy and systems changes on civil rights; and building community capacity and empowerment.
Learn more about Joy’s scholarship
Email hammel@uic.edu
Addressing falls and fear of falling
Elizabeth Peterson‘s research focuses on falls and fear of falling: epidemiology, measurement and interventions for community-dwelling older adults and people living with multiple sclerosis. Her research also examines fall prevention practices among health care providers, fall prevention behaviors among service recipients, and strategies to evaluate interprofessional education efforts.
Learn more about Elizabeth’s scholarship
Email epeterso@uic.edu
Promoting occupational therapy’s role in mental health and supporting fieldwork education
Ryan Thomure focuses on the role of occupational therapy in community mental health settings. Specifically, he is interested in the role that occupational therapy can play in serving people affected by issues of homelessness and addiction as well as potential roles for occupational therapy in non-traditional settings such as social service agencies and federally qualified health centers. Ryan also has a strong interest in fieldwork education and the role that stress and anxiety can have on fieldwork performance.
Learn more about Ryan’s scholarship
Email athomu2@uic.edu
Supporting self-management of falls and fatigue for people with multiple sclerosis
Toni Van Denend‘s research focuses on the self-management of falls and fatigue for people living with multiple sclerosis. She is also interested in process evaluation efforts related to complex interventions, considering the implementation, mechanisms of change and contextual factors that support intervention delivery.
Learn more about Toni’s scholarship
Email tvande2@uic.edu
Improving health care justice for people with disabilities
Susan Magasi directs the Healthcare Justice for People with Disabilities Research Lab. She and members of her lab work closely with disability and cancer survivorship communities and inter-disciplinary colleagues to create innovative peer support and technology-enabled interventions aimed at breaking down barriers to health and social participation for people with disabilities.
Learn more about Susan’s scholarship
Email smagas1@uic.edu
URL https://uicollaboratory.uic.edu/3457-susan-magasi
Student members
Student members are central to the collaborative. They work with faculty to design and conduct innovative capstone projects that are responsive to the needs of community partners.
Table
| Class of 2026 student members | Class of 2027 student members | Class of 2028 student members |
|---|---|---|
| Abigail Ambler | Anna Buzzard | Kelly Corcoran |
| Meghan Cabrera | Scott Carrillo | Katelyn (Kate) Dalrymple |
| Angelina Castle | Adela Diaz | Madison Greenhill |
| Nancy Cuellar-Sanchez | Cynthia Dominguez | Samuel (Sammy) Hengstler |
| Kelly Dunphy | Nicole Feliciano | Lauren Russell |
| Katerina Garbis | Javier Gonzalez | Stella Kochan |
| Grace Irla | Riley Marco | |
| Rachel Montoya | Olivia Kosla | Josey Ocampo |
| Stephanie Orr | Litzy Morales | Katrina Puangco |
| Abigail Smith | Binali Patel | Julia Tanna |
| Nikki Rothstein | Alexis Mountford | |
| Hnu Hnu Win | ||
SOPC in action
We celebrate our first 14 student members on completing their capstone projects at our first-annual ‘Creating Tomorrow’s Practice Poster Symposium‘.
Our preview video below describes project topics that have been or are being pursued in response to the needs of clinic and community-based sites on campus or nearby. Projects have ranged from developing innovative ways to optimize the quality of classroom and experiential educational experiences, to optimizing organizational resources and infrastructure for enacting things like home safety assessments, fatigue management, self-management, and accessible social information and technology. Students successfully accessed their faculty advisor, site mentor, capstone coordinator, and peers within this SOPC for mentorship in rigorously conducting their projects this year in ways that shape the scholarly agenda within our SOPC.
As our next group of 11 members complete their capstone projects this Spring, we begin to design projects with 12 students from the Classes of 2027 and welcome 11 more members from the Class of 2028 join the collaborative. Stay tuned to learn how the next group of capstone projects take shape in ways that live up to the high expectations set by our first cohort of students.
Keep in touch as we continue to build a portfolio of projects within this SOPC at UIC OT, a department steeped in the tradition of advancing a ‘scholarship of practice’ model.
Capstone Project Portfolio
Questions?
Questions?
Want to learn more about the Community Engagement, Independent Living & Participation SOPC? Curious how this collaborative fits in with your career and education goals?
Contact Mary at:
Email mkhetani@uic.edu