Graduation Year
2026
Document Type
Capstone Project
Research Type
Project
Degree Name
Doctor of Occupational Therapy
Department
Occupational Therapy
Program Chair
Kitsum Li, OTD, OTR/L, CSRS
Faculty Mentor
Karen McCarthy, OTD, OTR/L
Content Expert
Naomi Elvove, MA
Site Mentor
Naomi Elvove, MA
Community Partner
Student Success Center at Dominican University of California
Abstract
Background: Many students struggle to balance their occupations, especially in their first year of college. One reason they struggle may be that they are unprepared for the demands of college life as they transition out of high school. They may struggle with adjusting to different academic standards, adapting to their new social life, transitioning to a new environment or living situation, and managing their mental health. Occupational therapists support high school students in learning and implementing occupational harmony. Occupational therapists can support pre-college students in a summer bridge program as students learn to balance their academics, manage their social lives, and navigate a new environment to improve their health, well-being, and academic performance. Therefore, this project aims to develop an educational program in the summer bridge to demonstrate the need for occupational therapists on college campuses. Methods: This project will use Occupational Harmony as a framework to implement a series of 15 workshops for high schoolers and incoming freshmen designed to introduce and practice skills such as establishing occupational harmony, building resilience, and exercising self-care (Liu et al., 2021). This project will be evaluated by using a pre- and post-survey to determine how students implement balance into their lives. Results: Overall, there was an increase in self-reported confidence levels, specifically for the students who initially reported “low” or “average” confidence levels, indicating that the MAP class was successful in increasing confidence levels of the students in the various topics covered. Implications: This capstone project benefits the occupational therapy profession as it provides more evidence of how occupational harmony can improve the experience and well-being of high school students as they transition to college.