Award Date

5-15-2026

Degree Type

Doctoral Project

Degree Name

Occupational Therapy Doctorate

Department

Brain Health

First Committee Member

Sharon Jalene

Number of Pages

61

Abstract

Adolescents face growing emotional, behavioral, and social challenges, especially in community recreation settings with high energy, peer interaction, and sensory demands. These environments often expose difficulties in emotional regulation, communication, and conflict management, highlighting the need for structured social-emotional learning (SEL). This capstone project aimed to develop and implement an occupation-centered SEL program integrating the Zones of Regulation (ZOR), CASEL competencies, and Developmental, Individual Differences, Relationship-Based (DIR) Floortime principles within the Clark County Hollywood Parks and Recreation after-school program. Guided by the Person–Environment–Occupation (PEO) model, the project sought to help adolescents practice emotional awareness, self-management, and interpersonal skills in their natural environment.

The eight-week program consisted of weekly 30-minute SEL sessions that incorporated emotion-identification activities, coping strategies, and relational co-regulation practices embedded in meaningful group occupations. To understand how students respond to the program, recreation staff completed a survey adapted from the DESSA-mini forms and the Regulation Self-Reflection Assessment at the end of the program to capture general impressions of students’ social-emotional growth. The feedback demonstrated that students who participated in the group sessions regularly showed improvements in SEL. Especially with CASEL competencies of social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making.

Controlled Subject

Adolescent psychology; Mental health; School environment

Disciplines

Medicine and Health Sciences | Occupational Therapy | Rehabilitation and Therapy

File Format

PDF

File Size

730 KB

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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