Joan Delahunt

Joan Ziegler Delahunt, OTD, is a tenured associate professor of occupational therapy education, teaching graduate-level students about foundational concepts of occupational therapy and principles of assessment and intervention for clients with neurological conditions in the Entry-Level Doctorate of Occupational Therapy program.

Delahunt works in clinical practice, serving adults in acute care and inpatient rehabilitation settings. She teaches and researches in pediatric areas including looking at variables related to childhood obesity, as well as professional development and performance evaluation within school-based practice. Specifically, Delahunt works with examining relationships of body mass index, including sensory processing patterns, physical activity, readiness for change, sleep duration and screen time intensity, in order to gain insight on ways occupational therapy can effectively address health promotion for children with obesity and their families. 

She provides educational in-services to school-based occupational therapists for their professional development, covering the areas of assessment and intervention, specifically focusing on sensory processing as well as mental health.

Delahunt published a peer-reviewed journal article in the Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy (CJOT) on Relationships of Adolescent Body Mass Index, Physical Activity and Sensory Processing in August 2017. She also co-authored a chapter on Cerebrovascular Accident with Mylene Schriner, Ph.D, associate dean of the College of Health at Human Services, for a core occupational therapy textbook. She has co-authored two chapters in an interprofessional pediatric lab manual published in 2018.

Delahunt served the occupational therapy profession as Kansas Representative for the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) Representative Assembly in 2008-2015 and as an inaugural member of the AOTA Volunteer Leadership Development Committee from 2015 to 2018.