Evaluation of Patient Education Materials for the SMMART Clinic

Author

Aimee Lutz, St. Catherine University
Mariah Hedner Beckius, St. Catherine University
Anna Restemayer, St. Catherine University
Emenet Sime, St. Catherine University
Kyia Wu, St. Catherine University

Date of Award

5-2023

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Occupational Therapy

Department

Occupational Science/Occupational Therapy

First Advisor

Kimberley Persons, DHS, OTR/L, CLA

Department/School

Occupational Therapy

Abstract

Community health and health literacy go hand in hand. To better understand the extent of this in within their own community, a group of master’s students in the occupational therapy program at St. Catherine University examined the link between usable educational materials and the local community health clinic. Within the St. Paul community, there’s a strong partnership with the St. Mary’s Health clinics, their affiliate clinic St. Mary’s Medical And Rehabilitation Therapy Clinic (SMMART), and the university. The role of both medical clinics is to provide affordable and comprehensive care to underserved communities. A new element to this is the establishment of the Bienestar clinic under the wing of the SMMART clinic.

As occupational therapy students, we developed our master project with an emphasis on identifying barriers that exist in primary healthcare settings from the perspective of Latino individuals. When developing our project, we observed the SMMART clinic and conducted a needs assessment by interviewing the interdisciplinary team members, including but not limited to dietitians, physical assistants, physical therapists, and occupational therapists, and their experience working within the clinic. As a result, responses reported expanding resources for Latino clients. We created client education materials utilizing the Patient Education Material Assessments Tools (PEMAT) to promote readability and accessibility for Latino individuals through an online website with embedded toolkits specific to anxiety, depression, and sleep deficits. Many clients could access these toolkits through the Bienestar website to participate intermittently between therapy sessions to cope with their mental health needs.

Comments

This is a multi-authored project with multiple papers creating a complete project.

Recommended Citation

Lutz, Aimee; Beckius, Mariah Hedner; Restemayer, Anna; Sime, Emenet; and Wu, Kyia. (2023). Evaluation of Patient Education Materials for the SMMART Clinic. Retrieved from Sophia, the St. Catherine University repository website: https://sophia.stkate.edu/gradprojects/1