Example occupational therapy dissertation topic 2:

A qualitative study into the psychological effects that accompany limb replacement, with specific reference to how it may affect returning to work.

Though there have been significant medical (and aesthetic) improvements in the fields of reconstructive surgery and prostheses in recent decades, along with a plethora of research undertaken on the psychological effects that accompany such surgery, less study has been focused on the psychological impact that such surgery may have on the desire and ability of persons so affected to return to work. Returning to a familiar work environment is the topic of this dissertation hypothesis, a process made even more daunting when there is knowledge that colleagues will be aware that the person returning has been fitted with artificial limbs. Focusing on those who return to clerical work with prosthetic legs, this is a dissertation that qualitatively investigates not only the psychological trauma felt by the amputee but also interviews professionals within HR in the hope of being able to provide ‘best practice’ guidance for individuals and institutions who face such scenarios in the future.

Suggested initial topic reading:

• Burger, H., & Marincek, C. (2007). Return to work after lower limb amputation. Disability & Rehabilitation, 29(17), pp. 1323-1329.
• MacKenzie, E.J., Bosse, M.J., Kellam, J.F., Pollak, A.N., Webb, L.X., Swiontkowski, M.F., Smith, D.G., Sanders, R.W, Jones, A.L., Starr, A.J., McAndrew, M.P., Petterson, B.M., Burgess, A.R., Travison, T. and Castillo, R.C. (2006). ‘Early predictors of long-term work disability after major limb trauma’. The Journal of Trauma vol. 61(33), pp. 688-694.
• Schoppen, T., Boonstra, A., Groothoff, J. W., van Sonderen, E., Goeken, L. N. and Eisma, W. H. (2001). Factors related to successful job reintegration of people with a lower limb amputation. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 82(10), pp. 1425-1431.