IC News

The term “bootcamp” may conjure up thoughts of a grueling military-style workout, but Shannon L. Scott, assistant professor of occupational therapy at Ithaca College, has a different goal in mind: helping recovering stroke patients improve their quality of life.

That’s the goal of Scott’s upper-extremity modified Constraint-Induced Movement Therapy (CIMT) stroke bootcamp, a pilot program recently held at Longview, a senior living community in Ithaca.

CIMT is an intensive evidence-based treatment regimen for fostering upper extremity motor recovery for stroke survivors. Scott has an extensive clinical and research background in neurorehabilitation, particularly working with stroke patients. During her career as a neuro rehab consultant, she learned about the impact it had on patients and their rehab process.

“I got to see what was actually happening in clinics,” said Scott. “My sense was that there are really awesome things happening out there, but there's also, at times, less evidence-based practices.”

Scott, who has been teaching at Ithaca College since 2017, wanted to make those best-practices available to the local community. She applied for and received funding from the Center for Faculty Excellence’s instructional development fund and used those resources to launch the program.

During the two-day bootcamp held this past December, in collaboration with Longview’s Center for Life Skills program, 20 graduate students from IC’s advanced adult evidence-based practice course worked with six Longview community members who had suffered strokes. The course is co-taught by Scott and associate professor of occupational therapy Mindy Cozzolino, who also assisted in facilitating the program.

Because a typical CIMT treatment would take place over a series of weeks, the students implemented a modified Constraint-Induced Movement Therapy (mCIMT), where participants carried out a series of everyday tasks like making lunch and doing light household chores, with their unaffected arm restrained. This allowed them to fully rely on their affected arm, facilitating increased use and motor control in that limb.

Ithaca College has a longstanding relationship with Longview, and the bootcamp was a sterling example of the college’s strategic plan tenet to be a private college serving the public good. For the students who took part, it was more than an experiential learning opportunity, it also gave them a chance to give back to the local community.

“The professors within the OT department are fantastic,” said Rachel Valentino, B.S. ‘21, M.S. ’22. “They give us the opportunity to actually positively effect someone. It reminds me of why I chose this career path to begin with.”

Additionally, after COVID-19 constraints limited the ability of the cohort to do fieldwork, the ability to work in-person with a client and see them make progress was critical. Carley Teachout, B.S. ‘21, M.S. ‘22, said the bootcamp allowed them to step outside of their comfort zone and practice skills like pre- and post-assessment testing and customizing treatment after building a rapport with a patient.

“Being able to work in teams provided more resources and having our professors walking around helped improve our quality of care, it encouraged us to ask questions and fostered a greater learning environment,” said Teachout. “My main takeaway from the weekend is that progress looks different for each person and listening to the participant or client helps to better understand how to provide effective and meaningful treatment.”

The bootcamp was successful for the participants and students alike — some participants showed improvements in their baseline testing after just two days of treatment, and students indicated a significant increase in their confidence administering treatments like CIMT.