Diane Powers Dirette

Diane Powers Dirette is a professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy at Western Michigan University, mainly teaching Perception and Cognition, Research, and Theory. She earned her bachelor’s degree at Eastern Michigan University and her master’s and doctorate degrees at New York University, studying occupational therapy at all levels. She has published in national and international journals and has presented at local, regional, national, and international conferences. Dr. Dirette’s main research interests are focused on treatments for people with acquired brain injuries, for whom she developed a frame of reference titled Self-awareness Enhancement through Learning and Function (SELF). Other areas of research include evidence-based practice, the use of compensatory strategies for cognitive deficits, Tai Chi for people with mental illness, and the use of grasp tests to detect malingering.

She has served on the editorial boards of numerous journals in the health professions and is the coeditor of the textbook, Conditions in Occupational Therapy: Effect on Occupational Performance. She is the cofounder and Editor-in-Chief of The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy.