TELETHERAPY- AN INNOVATIVE WAY OF TREATMENT IN THE FIELD OF OCCUPAIONAL THERAPY IN PAKISTAN

Teletherapy is an emerging and enlarging tool for having treatment in occupational therapy in rehabilitation sciences among occupational therapists all over the world mainly in Pakistan, especially during the era of COVID-19. A lot of studies have been done already highlighting the paramount of teletherapy around the world but it is a new rising mode of treatment in Pakistan coming to light. Therapists and Patients throughout the country making the most of this treatment way respectively and hence this method of treatment while using of technologies is highly being appreciated. The aim of this study is to foster and encourage the use of this technology in third-world countries like Pakistan. It is the most used treatment tool during COVID-19 among occupational therapists all over the country and is highly appreciated in order to cut-down the negative circumstances of a one-to-one session in which therapist and patient is in highly close contact to each other. This course of action has advocate the on-going rehabilitation treatment and has kept away people from COVID-19 expansion to the most extent. In this study, a 5years old boy was included with an under-diagnostic process within the umbrella term of genetic disorder. Having genetic disorder, his sessions were taken in tele-clinic using video call technology during COVID-19. In this process, AOTA Occupational Therapy Tele-Health Decision Guide, AOTA Occupational Profile Template, AOTA Advisory Opinion for the Ethics Commission Teletherapy, i-PiCS-Internet-Based Parent-Implemented Communication Strategies Program, and modeling strategy were followed.

Exploring Processes of Career Guidance and Counseling Practices in a Private Education Network in Karachi, Pakistan

Career Guidance and Counseling (CGC) practices of one of the private Education Network in Karachi, Pakistan is being reported and analyzed in this study. Education Network where this study was conducted comprises separate schools for students of Early Childhood Education and Development, Primary, Secondary, Higher Secondary and Graduation level. The network also has a separate teachers' professional development center. CGC services in this Education Network have initiated initially with Higher Secondary School (HSS) Students, which has been studied in this study. However, the Education Network has plans to spread CGC services to the whole network. In this regard, a complete plan of CGC services for Secondary School (SS) students has also developed by the Education Network. This plan is also presented in this report. CGC support that the Higher Secondary School (HSS) students are having in this particular network has many forms .The students are not only provided with occupational information through career seminars and publications but are also involved in the process of gaining practical exposure of different professions through internships and field visits. Moreover students' financial need in pursuit of higher education is being addressed through scholarships. In this study report, a detailed account of strategies through which network is able to provide CGC support to Higher Secondary (HSS) School students has been presented. The benefits of CGC services to students towards their career development, and challenging and supportive factors towards implementation of CGC services in the Education Network has also been highlighted in this study. Qualitative case study method was employed in conducting this study. The phenomenon was studied in depth, using multiple sources of data generation tools, like semi-structured interviews, observations and documents analysis. Findings of the study identified challenges students are facing in making career-related decision like National education system, family/community traditions, lack of occupational information, and lack of parental support are found to be some of the major challenges. These challenges are very much contextual in nature. The Education Network services found to be helpful in addressing needs of the students contextually, which is one of the key findings of the study. The reason for services art of most of the school systems in many of the developing countries, including Pakistan, is due to their costly nature. CGC services are expensive with regard to time, money and resources. Lack of human resources in the field is also a hindrance. However the Education Network is