Take Away (Cameron's Case Study)

The case study that my group reviewed was about a fictional character Will Trainer, who had a spinal cord injury that resulted in quadriplegia. Will used to be very active and athletic in his previous life, so the injury had a huge impact on his mental health. After the accident, he rarely left his house, so part of the occupational therapy intervention would focus on community engagement and social interactions. It would also be important to help Will participate in outdoor adaptive activities and sports. However, in the movie, Will had very little motivation to work on these areas, so the occupational therapist would want to talk to him about possibly seeing a psychiatrist to improve his mental health.  What I took away from this case study is that an OT must understand how someone's mental health can affect motivation to participate in occupational activities.