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Dr. Cohn has conducted
numerous qualitative studies of parents' perspectives of living with and
parenting children with a range of diagnostic conditions. Dr. Cohn's current
research, funded by the National Institute of Health, is exploring parents'
culturally based explanatory models of health, illness and medicine among
African-American, Latino and white children with persistent asthma. The
research focuses on missed opportunities in patient-provider communication
present in many cross-cultural interactions, and how miscommunication may
contribute to the differences in care and outcomes that have been observed
among minorities. The research also focuses on understanding how families
negotiate the occupation of parenting children with a chronic condition such
as asthma. She also has an interest in children and families' perspectives of
personal, contextual and occupational characteristics that support or inhibit
successful social participation in school, home, and in the community. She
has published several papers on broadening the focus of occupational therapy
intervention to include family perspectives in all aspects of service
delivery. Related areas of interest focus on understanding outcomes of
occupational therapy using sensory integration approaches. |
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Specific
projects include: ► Culture and Communication
in Hypertension Management ►
Conceptualizations
of Friendships in Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders Culture and Communication in Hypertension Management Prof.
Ellen Cohn is an investigator in a large study of patients with uncontrolled
hypertension being conducted at two large Veterans Medical Centers. The goal
of the project is to gain a better understanding of patients’ and providers’
explanatory models of hypertension, its treatment and management. Individuals with hypertension face the
challenges of trying to successfully manage their conditions through
medication and lifestyle modifications. The research team developed a
conceptual model of to specify four domains that affected the actions
patients took to manage their hypertension: 1.
Explanatory models – beliefs that
individuals have regarding the cause, mechanisms & course of illness, and effects of
treatment; 2.
Planned action –patients’ reported
plans and motivations to control their hypertension; 3.
Daily lived experience – patients’
context, routines and other health problems that affect hypertension
management; and 4.
Relationship with provider –
including patients’ attitudes towards their provider and provider
communication. A
breakdown in one or more of these areas was found to interfere with the
patients’ ability to engage in accepted hypertension control behaviors such
as watching their diet, exercising, or taking prescribed medications. The
research team has presented the study findings at numerous professional
conferences and is in the process of preparing manuscripts for publication. Conceptualizations of Friendships in
Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders Drs.
Ellen Cohn and Gael Orsmond are currently
collaborating on a mixed-method study examining how adolescents with an ASD
understand and perceive friendships. We examine the social
experiences of adolescents with an ASD during their discretionary time and
how they perceive their friendships, including the barriers and facilitators
to friendships. Using time use
methodology and visual narratives, in which the adolescents are given video
cameras to record their experiences, we explore their understanding of social
experiences. This pilot study was study was funded by the Dudley
Allen Research Fund at |
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Dept of Occupational Therapy Boston
University | Sargent
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July 1, 2009