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26 October 2018
Dr Annamarie van Jaarsveld believes occupational therapy is important
Dr Annamarie van Jaarsveld believes occupational therapy is important for personal well-being.
On 27 October the profession of occupational therapy is promoted and celebrated internationally. The theme for this year is “Celebrating our global community.” Due to the theme of this year occupational therapists form all over the globe will be able to join in the World Federation for Occupational Therapy Virtual Exchange webinars.
 
Occupational therapy promotes health and well-being through occupation. The overarching goal of occupational therapy is to enable people to participate in the activities of everyday life that is meaningful to them. Occupational therapists work with people and communities in an effort to enable people of all ages to live life to its fullest by helping them maintain and/or promote health, and prevent (or live better with) injury, illness, or disability. 

Common occupational therapy interventions include helping children with disabilities to participate fully in school and social situations, helping people recovering from injury to regain skills, and providing supports for older adults experiencing physical and cognitive changes. Occupational and social justice along with occupational deprivation are core within the profession as it relates to oppression or restrictions to participation in occupation impacting on well-being and quality of life. 

Taking the lead in Sensory Integration research

Dr Annamarie van Jaarsveld is a lecturer in the Department of Occupational Therapy, and she is at the forefront of research in sensory integration, a specialist field within occupational therapy. Apart from completing her PhD on the curriculum design of a South African professional master’s degree qualification in sensory integration, she is also heading the South African leg of a large international study in collaboration with sensory integration experts all over the world.

Dr Van Jaarsveld explains: “The Evaluation of Ayres Sensory Integration (EASI) is a new test which aims to be a first of its kind in the field of sensory integration and occupational therapy. It will be inexpensive, electronically accessible and practical, and standardised on an international population which includes a South African sample. This will make the test accessible and useful for therapists in South Africa to be able to assess sensory integration related function of all South African children in a valid and reliable manner.” 

In addition to being the South African lead on the international EASI standardisation study, Annamarie was selected as the chairperson of the Board of Council Meetings of the International Council for Education in Ayres Sensory Integration (ICEASI). She is also the International Liaison on the board of the South African Institute for Sensory Integration. 

Annamarie’s passion for sensory integration and the application of a highly researched and specialised subfield where the expertise and guidance are provided by a first-world country is not only evident in her research, but also in various community projects that she is involved in. One such a project, Back to Urth Playgrounds, aims to make sensory integration relevant to the needs of South African children and their families struggling with sensory integration issues within the realities of diverse contexts. Through the designing of sustainable playgrounds based on sensory integration theory, building the playgrounds in collaboration with the community and other stakeholders, and equipping educators and caregivers with knowledge on how to encourage children to use the playgrounds, Annamarie has contributed to making the potential of sensory integration-based intervention accessible to the most under-resourced of areas. 

With the 27th of October being International Occupational Therapy Day, Annamarie says: “Sensory integration is not only the best researched field within occupational therapy, providing more and more best practice evidence through rigorous research, it is also becoming more available to children and families from all walks of life – indeed exciting times ahead for this field of practice and it remains a privilege to be involved in it”.  

News Archive

NRF grants of millions for Kovsie professors
2013-05-20

 

Prof Martin Ntwaeaborwa (left) and Prof Bennie Viljoen
20 May 2013


Two professors received research grants from the National Research Foundation (NRF). The money will be used for the purchase of equipment to add more value to their research and take the university further in specific research fields.

Prof Martin Ntwaeaborwa from the Department of Physics has received a R10 million award, following a successful application to the National Nanotechnology Equipment Programme (NNEP) of the NRF for a high-resolution field emission scanning electron microscope (SEM) with integrated cathodoluminescence (CL) and energy dispersive X-ray spectrometers (EDS).

Prof Bennie Viljoen from the Department of Microbial, Biochemical and Food Biotechnology has also been awarded R1,171 million, following a successful application to the Research Infrastructure Support Programme (RISP) for the purchase of a LECO CHN628 Series Elemental Analyser with a Sulphur add-on module.

Prof Ntwaeaborwa says the SEM-CL-EDS’ state-of-the art equipment combines three different techniques in one and it is capable of analysing a variety of materials ranging from bulk to individual nanoparticles. This combination is the first of its kind in Africa. This equipment is specifically designed for nanotechnology and can analyse particles as small as 5nm in diameter, a scale which the old tungsten SEM at the Centre of Microscopy cannot achieve.

The equipment will be used to simultaneously analyse the shapes and sizes of submicron particles, chemical composition and cathodoluminescence properties of materials. The SEM-CL-EDS is a multi-user facility and it will be used for multi- and interdisciplinary research involving physics, chemistry, materials science, life sciences and geological sciences. It will be housed at the Centre of Microscopy.
“I have no doubt that this equipment is going to give our university a great leap forward in research in the fields of electron microscopy and cathodoluminescence,” Prof Ntwaeaborwa said.

Prof Viljoen says the analyser is used to determine nitrogen, carbon/nitrogen, and carbon/hydrogen/nitrogen in organic matrices. The instrument utilises a combustion technique and provides a result within 4,5 minutes for all the elements being determined. In addition to the above, the machine also offers a sulphur add-on module which provides sulphur analysis for any element combination. The CHN 628 S module is specifically designed to determine the sulphur content in a wide variety of organic materials such as coal and fuel oils, as well as some inorganic materials such as soil, cement and limestone.

The necessity of environmental protection has stimulated the development of various methods, allowing the determination of different pollutants in the natural environment, including methods for determining inorganic nitrogen ions, carbon and sulphur. Many of the methods used so far have proven insufficiently sensitive, selective or inaccurate. The availability of the LECO analyser in a research programme on environmental pollution/ food security will facilitate accurate and rapid quantification of these elements. Ions in water, waste water, air, food products and other complex matrix samples have become a major problem and studies are showing that these pollutants are likely to cause severe declines in native plant communities and eventually food security.

“With the addition of the analyser, we will be able to identify these polluted areas, including air, water and land pollution, in an attempt to enhance food security,” Viljoen said. “Excess levels of nitrogen and phosphorous wreaking havoc on human health and food security, will be investigated.”

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