Jennifer S. Pitonyak, MS, OTR/L, SCFES, CIMI
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Jennifer S. Pitonyak, MS, OTR/L, SCFES, CIMI
Assistant Professor, Occupational Therapy
(215) 596-8694
Email: j.pitonyak@usciences.edu
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Occupational Roles
Mother, Wife, Doctoral Student, Occupational Therapist, Educator, Traveler, and Outdoor Enthusiast
Occupational History
Jenny joined the faculty at USciences in 2007 and teaches courses in Evaluation and Assessment, Developmental and Psychosocial Interventions, Therapeutic Groups, Evidence Based Practice, and Applied Research. She has been on the Roster of Accreditation Evaluators for the American Council of Occupational Therapy Education since 2004 and has served as an officer for POTA District V.
Outside of the classroom, she is busy pursuing a PhD in Health Policy and balancing her work and family roles. Jenny and her husband, Lou, who is also an Occupational Therapist, love to travel and spend time outdoors with their children. Jenny especially loves traveling, hiking, and camping in the Pacific Northwest.
Education
Jenny received a Bachelor of Art in Psychology from Allegheny College in Meadville, PA and a Master of Science in Occupational Therapy from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. She is in the dissertation phase of her PhD in Health Policy at University of the Sciences. Her dissertation work is a secondary analysis of data from the Infant Feeding and Practices Study 2 and is analyzing the relationships between breastfeeding behaviors, indicators of maternal depression, and child care characteristics in a group of mothers who returned to work.
Clinical Practice
Jenny has worked as an occupational therapist in a variety of pediatric and community-based practice settings, including Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore and the feeding program at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. She recently mentored a group of graduate occupational therapy students in a project developing a parent support group for mothers in Philadelphia’s Healthy Start Program. She holds specialty certification in feeding, eating, and swallowing and is a certified infant massage instructor.
Research Interests
Jenny is interested in maternal and infant health policy, family mental health, breastfeeding promotion, nutrition and preventative health-care, sensory processing and self-regulation, evidence based practice, and clinical reasoning in occupational therapy. She has conducted projects on the scholarship of teaching and learning, and was the lead investigator on the pilot study, The Occupation of Mothering: Mother-Infant Social Engagement using Infant Massage, a collaborative project with The Philadelphia Department of Health, Division of Maternal Child Health.
Recent Scholarship
Juried Presentations
Juried Presentations
Pitonyak, J. (November 2, 2011). Infant massage classes in a Healthy Start Program: a pilot study of mothers’ satisfaction and knowledge. Poster presentation at American Public Health Association Annual Conference. Washington, DC.
Pitonyak, J. (October 28, 2011). The occupation of mothering. Poster presentation at Pennsylvania Occupational Therapy Association Annual Conference. Erie, PA.
Pugh, E., Haas-Mahoney, M, Snyder, J., and Pitonyak, J. (October 29, 2011). Post-partum depression: supporting families in co-occupations. Poster presentation at Pennsylvania Occupational Therapy Association Annual Conference. Erie, PA.
Pitonyak, J. (September 27, 2011). Infant massage classes in a Healthy Start Program: a pilot study of mothers’ satisfaction and knowledge. Poster presentation at Pennsylvania Public Health Association Annual Fall Conference. Philadelphia, PA.
Pitonyak, J. (September 16, 2011). Infant massage classes in a Healthy Start Program: a pilot study of mothers’ satisfaction and knowledge. Poster presentation at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Fourth Annual Pediatric Global Health Symposium. Philadelphia, PA.
Pitonyak, J. (2011). Developing community partnerships for family wellness. Presentation at the Annual American Occupational Therapy Association Conference. Philadelphia, PA.
Kearney, P., Pitonyak, J. , Blumberg, P., and Schroeder, S. (2011). Effective teaching for student learning in classroom environments: Strategies for clinicians in guest lecturer, adjunct or new faculty roles. Presentation at the Annual American Occupational Therapy Association Conference. Philadelphia, PA.
Dimayuga, K., Graff, K., Patel, M., Pitonyak, J. , and Schroeder, S. (2010). Is there really a developmental frame of reference? Presentation at the 33rd Annual Pennsylvania Occupational Therapy Association Conference. Scranton, PA.
Pitonyak, J. (May 10, 2010). Problem-based learning using popular media. Poster at the Innovations in Teaching Poster Session at University of the Sciences.
Pitonyak, J. (May 8, 2009). Developing case studies for problem-based learning. Poster at the Innovations in Teaching Poster Session at University of the Sciences.
Pitonyak, J. and Willock, C. (2009). Community health programs for family wellness: A health policy initiative. Poster at the Annual American Occupational Therapy Association Conference. Fort Worth, TX.
Pitonyak, J. (2008). Innovations in practice: Community health programs for expectant parents. Presentation at the 31st Annual Pennsylvania Occupational Therapy Association Conference. King of Prussia, PA.
Kramer, P., Ideishi, R., and Pitonyak, J. (2008). Client and family centered service: Step by step. Presentation at the 31st Annual Pennsylvania Occupational Therapy Association Conference. King of Prussia, PA.
Pitonyak, J. (2006). Supporting mothers in the co-occupation of breastfeeding. Presentation at the 29th Annual Pennsylvania Occupational Therapy Association Conference. Pittsburgh, PA.
Pitonyak, J. (2004). Creating sensory diet programs in early intervention. Presentation at the 27th Annual Pennsylvania Occupational Therapy Association Conference. Harrisburg, PA.
Non-juried Publications
Pitonyak, J. (2010). Problem based learning using popular media. EDSIS Toolkit. American Occupational Therapy Association Education Special Interest Section.
Pitonyak, J. (2009). Problem based learning using popular media. Document of Teaching Innovations. Teaching and Learning Center of University of the Sciences. Philadelphia, PA. http://www.usciences.edu/teaching/innovations/2009 Innovations.pdf