Occupational therapy

Occupational therapy (OT), also known as ergotherapy, is a healthcare profession. Ergotherapy is derived from the Greek ergon which is allied to work, to act and to be active. Occupational therapy is based on the assumption that being active is a basic human need and that purposeful activity has a health-promoting and therapeutic effect. Occupational science the study of humans as 'doers' or 'occupational beings' was developed by inter-disciplinary scholars, including occupational therapists, in the 1980s.
The World Federation of Occupational Therapists (WFOT) defines occupational therapy as ‘a client-centred health profession concerned with promoting health and wellbeing through occupation. The primary goal of occupational therapy is to enable people to participate in the activities of everyday life. Occupational therapists achieve this outcome by working with people and communities to enhance their ability to engage in the occupations they want to, need to, or are expected to do, or by modifying the occupation or the environment to better support their occupational engagement'.
Many of the Member Organisations of WFOT have agreed a national definition of occupational therapy. In New Zealand occupational therapy is translated into Maori as 'whakaora ngangahau'. 'Whakaora' means ‘to restore to health' and 'ngangahau' is an adjective meaning 'active, spirited, zealous'.
Education programmes leading to entry to practice as an occupational therapist can be at diploma, baccalaureate, bachelors, masters or doctoral level. Information about entry level education programmes, currently or previously approved by WFOT, is available on the WFOT website
Occupational therapy is an allied health profession. In England, allied health professions (AHPs) are the third largest clinical workforce in health and care. Fifteen professions, with 352,593 registrants are regulated by the Health and Care Professions Council in the United Kingdom.
The earliest evidence of using occupations as a method of therapy can be found in ancient times. In c. 100 BCE, Greek physician Asclepiades treated patients with a mental illness humanely using therapeutic baths, massage, exercise, and music. Later, the Roman Celsus prescribed music, travel, conversation and exercise to his patients. However, by medieval times the use of these interventions with people with mental illness was rare, if not nonexistent.
In late 18th-century Europe, doctors such as Philippe Pinel and Johann Christian Reil reformed the mental asylum system. Their institutions used rigorous work and leisure activities. This became part of what was known as moral treatment. Although it was thriving in Europe, interest in the reform movement fluctuated in the United States throughout the 19th century.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the establishment of public health measures to control infectious diseases included the building of fever hospitals. Patients with tuberculosis were recommended to have a regime of prolonged bed rest followed by a gradual increase in exercise.
This was a time in which the rising incidence of disability related to industrial accidents, tuberculosis, and mental illness brought about an increasing social awareness of the issues involved.
The Arts and Crafts movement that took place between 1860 and 1910 also impacted occupational therapy. The movement emerged against the monotony and lost autonomy of factory work in the developed world. Arts and crafts were used to promote learning through doing, provided a creative outlet, and served as a way to avoid boredom during long hospital stays.
From the late 1870's, Scottish tuberculosis doctor Robert William Philip prescribed graded activity from complete rest through to gentle exercise and eventually to activities such as digging, sawing, carpentry and window cleaning. During this period a farm colony near Edinburgh and a village settlement near Papworth in England were established, both of which aimed to employ people in appropriate long-term work prior to their return to open employment.
In the United States, the health profession of occupational therapy was conceived in the early 1910s as a reflection of the Progressive Era. Early professionals merged highly valued ideals, such as having a strong work ethic and the importance of crafting with one's own hands with scientific and medical principles.
American social worker Eleanor Clarke Slagle (1870-1942) is considered to be the "mother" of occupational therapy. Slagle proposed habit training as a primary occupational therapy model of treatment. Based on the philosophy that engagement in meaningful routines shape a person's wellbeing, habit training focused on creating structure and balance between work, rest and leisure. In 1912, she became director of a department of occupational therapy at The Henry Phipps Psychiatric Clinic in Baltimore.
In 1915, Slagle worked at the first occupational therapy training program, the Henry B. Favill School of Occupations at Hull House in Chicago.
British-Canadian teacher and architect Thomas B. Kidner was appointed vocational secretary of the Canadian Military Hospitals Commission in January 1916. He was given the duty of preparing soldiers returning from World War I to return to their former vocational duties or retrain soldiers no longer able to perform their previous duties. He developed a program that engaged soldiers recovering from wartime injuries or tuberculosis in occupations even while they were still bedridden. Once the soldiers were sufficiently recovered they would work in a curative workshop and eventually progress to an industrial workshop before being placed in an appropriate work setting. He used occupations (daily activities) as a medium for manual training and helping injured individuals to return to productive duties such as work.
The entry of the United States into World War I in April 1917 was a crucial event in the history of the profession. Up until this time, occupational therapy was not formalised into a profession. U.S. involvement in the war led to an escalating number of injured and disabled soldiers, which presented a daunting challenge to those in command.
The inaugural meeting of the National Society for the Promotion of Occupational Therapy (NSPOT) was held in Clifton Springs, New York, 15-17 March 1917. The meeting was attended by six founders: George Edward Barton, William Rush Dunton, Eleanor Clarke Slagle, Thomas B Kidner, Susan Cox Johnson and Isabel Gladwin Newton Barton. Susan E. Tracy and Herbert James Hall, did not attend but are considered near founders of the Society.
The military enlisted the assistance of NSPOT to recruit and train over 1,200 "reconstruction aides" to help with the rehabilitation of those wounded in the war.
Dunton's 1918 article "The Principles of Occupational Therapy" appeared in the journal Public Health, and laid the foundation for the textbook he published in 1919 entitled Reconstruction Therapy.
Dunton struggled with "the cumbersomeness of the term occupational therapy", as he thought it lacked the "exactness of meaning which is possessed by scientific terms". Other titles such as "work-cure", "ergo therapy" (ergo being the Greek root for "work"), and "creative occupations" were discussed as substitutes, but ultimately, none possessed the broad meaning that the practice of occupational therapy demanded in order to capture the many forms of treatment that existed from the beginning. NSPOT formally adopted the name "occupational therapy" for the field in 1921.
There was a struggle to keep people in the profession during the post-war years. Emphasis shifted from the altruistic war-time mentality to the financial, professional, and personal satisfaction that comes with being a therapist. To make the profession more appealing, practice was standardized, as was the curriculum. Entry and exit criteria were established, and the American Occupational Therapy Association advocated for steady employment, decent wages, and fair working conditions. Via these methods, occupational therapy sought and obtained medical legitimacy in the 1920s.
The emergence of occupational therapy challenged the views of mainstream scientific medicine. Instead of focusing purely on the medical model, occupational therapists argued that a complex combination of social, economic, and biological reasons cause dysfunction. Principles and techniques were borrowed from many disciplines—including but not limited to physical therapy, nursing, psychiatry, rehabilitation, self-help, orthopedics, and social work—to enrich the profession's scope.
The 1920s and 1930s were a time of establishing standards of education and laying the foundation of the profession and its organization. Eleanor Clarke Slagle proposed a 12-month course of training in 1922, and these standards were adopted in 1923. In 1928, William Denton published another textbook, Prescribing Occupational Therapy. Educational standards were expanded to a total training time of 18 months in 1930 to place the requirements for professional entry on par with those of other professions. By the early 1930s, AOTA had established educational guidelines and accreditation procedures.
Margaret Barr Fulton became the first US qualified occupational therapist to work in the United Kingdom in 1925. She qualified at the Philadelphia School in the United States and was appointed to the Aberdeen Royal Hospital for mental patients where she worked until her retirement in 1963. US-style OT was introduced into England by Dr Elizabeth Casson who had visited similar establishments in America. (Casson had also earlier worked under the transformative English social reformer Octavia Hill.) In 1929 she established her own residential clinic in Bristol, Dorset House, for "women with mental disorders", and worked as its medical director. It was here in 1930 that she founded the first school of occupational therapy in the UK.
The Scottish Association of Occupational Therapists was founded in 1932. The profession was served in the rest of the UK by the Association of Occupational Therapists from 1936. (The two later merged to form what is today the Royal College of Occupational Therapists in 1974.)
With the US entry into World War II and the ensuing skyrocketing demand for occupational therapists to treat those injured in the war, the field of occupational therapy underwent dramatic growth and change. Occupational therapists needed to be skilled not only in the use of constructive activities such as crafts, but also increasingly in the use of activities of daily living.
The body that is now Occupational Therapy Australia began in 1944.
Another textbook was published in the United States for occupational therapy in 1947, edited by Helen S. Willard and Clare S. Spackman. The profession continued to grow and redefine itself in the 1950s. In 1954, AOTA created the Eleanor Clarke Slagle Lectureship Award in its namesake's honor. Each year, this award recognizes a member of AOTA "who has creatively contributed to the development of the body of knowledge of the profession through research, education, or clinical practice." The profession also began to assess the potential for the use of trained assistants in the attempt to address the ongoing shortage of qualified therapists, and educational standards for occupational therapy assistants were implemented in 1960.
The 1960s and 1970s were a time of ongoing change and growth for the profession as it struggled to incorporate new knowledge and cope with the recent and rapid growth of the profession in the previous decades. New developments in the areas of neurobehavioral research led to new conceptualizations and new treatment approaches, possibly the most groundbreaking being the sensory integrative approach developed by A. Jean Ayres.
The profession has continued to grow and expand its scope and settings of practice. Occupational science, the study of occupation, was founded in 1989 by Elizabeth Yerxa at the University of Southern California as an academic discipline to provide foundational research on occupation to support and advance the practice of occupation-based occupational therapy, as well as offer a basic science to study topics surrounding "occupation".
In addition, occupational therapy practitioner's roles have expanded to include political advocacy (from a grassroots base to higher legislation); for example, in 2010 PL 111-148 titled the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act had a habilitation clause that was passed in large part due to AOTA's political efforts. Furthermore, occupational therapy practitioners have been striving personally and professionally toward concepts of occupational justice and other human rights issues that have both local and global impacts. The World Federation of Occupational Therapist's Resource Centre has many position statements on occupational therapy's roles regarding their participation in human rights issues.
In 2021, U.S. News & World Report ranked occupational therapy as #19 of their list of '100 Best Jobs'.
An occupational therapist works systematically with a client through a sequence of actions called an "occupational therapy process." There are several versions of this process. All practice frameworks include the components of evaluation (or assessment), intervention, and outcomes. This process provides a framework through which occupational therapists assist and contribute to promoting health and ensures structure and consistency among therapists.
The Occupational Therapy Practice Framework (OTPF) is the core competency of occupational therapy in the United States. The OTPF is divided into two sections: domain and process. The domain includes environment, client factors, such as the individual's motivation, health status, and status of performing occupational tasks. The domain looks at the contextual picture to help the occupational therapist understand how to diagnose and treat the patient. The process is the actions taken by the therapist to implement a plan and strategy to treat the patient.
The Canadian Model of Client Centered Enablement (CMCE) embraces occupational enablement as the core competency of occupational therapy and the Canadian Practice Process Framework (CPPF) as the core process of occupational enablement in Canada. The Canadian Practice Process Framework (CPPF) has eight action points and three contextual element which are: set the stage, evaluate, agree on objective plan, implement plan, monitor/modify, and evaluate outcome. A central element of this process model is the focus on identifying both client and therapists strengths and resources prior to developing the outcomes and action plan.
The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) is the World Health Organisation's framework to measure health and ability by illustrating how these components impact one's function. This relates very closely to the Occupational Therapy Practice Framework, as it is stated that "the profession's core beliefs are in the positive relationship between occupation and health and its view of people as occupational beings". The ICF is built into the 2nd edition of the practice framework. Activities and participation examples from the ICF overlap Areas of Occupation, Performance Skills, and Performance Patterns in the framework. The ICF also includes contextual factors (environmental and personal factors) that relate to the framework's context. In addition, body functions and structures classified within the ICF help describe the client factors described in the Occupational Therapy Practice Framework. Further exploration of the relationship between occupational therapy and the components of the ICIDH-2 (revision of the original International Classification of Impairments, Disabilities, and Handicaps (ICIDH), which later became the ICF) was conducted by McLaughlin Gray.
It is noted in the literature that occupational therapists should use specific occupational therapy vocabulary along with the ICF in order to ensure correct communication about specific concepts. The ICF might lack certain categories to describe what occupational therapists need to communicate to clients and colleagues. It also may not be possible to exactly match the connotations of the ICF categories to occupational therapy terms. The ICF is not an assessment and specialized occupational therapy terminology should not be replaced with ICF terminology. The ICF is an overarching framework for current therapy practices.
According to the American Occupational Therapy Association's (AOTA) Occupational Therapy Practice Framework: Domain and Process, 4th Edition (OTPF-4), occupations are defined as "everyday activities that people do as individuals, and families, and with communities to occupy time and bring meaning and purpose to life. Occupations include things people need to, want to and are expected to do". Occupations are central to a client's (person's, group's, or population's) health, identity, and sense of competence and have particular meaning and value to that client. Occupations include activities of daily living (ADLs), instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs), education, work, play, leisure, social participation, rest and sleep.
According to the 2019 Salary and Workforce Survey by the American Occupational Therapy Association, occupational therapists work in a wide-variety of practice settings including: hospitals (28.6%), schools (18.8%), long-term care facilities/skilled nursing facilities (14.5%), free-standing outpatient (13.3%), home health (7.3%), academia (6.9%), early intervention (4.4%), mental health (2.2%), community (2.4%), and other (1.6%). According to the AOTA, the most common primary work setting for occupational therapists is in hospitals. Also according to the survey, 46% of occupational therapists work in urban areas, 39% work in suburban areas and the remaining 15% work in rural areas.
The Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) found that as of 2020 nearly half (46.1%) of occupational therapists worked in hospitals, 43.2% worked in community health, 3.6% work in long-term care (LTC) and 7.1% work in "other", including government, industry, manufacturing, and commercial settings. The CIHI also found that 68% of occupational therapists in Canada work in urban settings and only 3.7% work in rural settings.
Occupational therapists work with infants, toddlers, children, youth, and their families in a variety of settings, including schools, clinics, homes, hospitals, and the community. Evaluation assesses the child's ability to engage in daily, meaningful occupations, the underlying skills (or performance components) which may be physical, cognitive, or emotional in nature, and the fit between the client's skills and the environments and contexts in which the client functions. OT intervention and involves evaluating a young person's occupational performance in areas of feeding, playing, socializing which aligns with their neurodiversity, daily living skills, or attending school. In planning treatment, occupational therapists work in collaboration with the children and teens themselves, parents, caregivers, and teachers in order to develop functional goals within a variety of occupations meaningful to the young client.
Early intervention addresses daily functioning of a child between the ages of birth to three years old. OTs who practice in early intervention support a family's ability to care for their child with special needs and promote his or her function and participation in the most natural environment. Each child is required to have an Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) that focuses on the family's goals for the child. It's possible for an OT to serve as the family's service coordinator and facilitate the team process for creating an IFSP for each eligible child.
Objectives that an occupational therapist addresses with children and youth may take a variety of forms. Examples are as follows:
In the United States, pediatric occupational therapists work in the school setting as a "related service" for children with an Individual Education Plan (IEP). Every student who receives special education and related services in the public school system is required by law to have an IEP, which is a very individualized plan designed for each specific student (U.S. Department of Education, 2007). Related services are "developmental, corrective, and other supportive services as are required to assist a child with a disability to benefit from special education," and include a variety of professions such as speech–language pathology and audiology services, interpreting services, psychological services, and physical and occupational therapy.
As a related service, occupational therapists work with children with varying disabilities to address those skills needed to access the special education program and support academic achievement and social participation throughout the school day (AOTA, n.d.-b). In doing so, occupational therapists help children fulfill their role as students and prepare them to transition to post-secondary education, career and community integration (AOTA, n.d.-b).
Occupational therapists have specific knowledge to increase participation in school routines throughout the day, including:
Other settings, such as homes, hospitals, and the community are important environments where occupational therapists work with children and teens to promote their independence in meaningful, daily activities. Outpatient clinics offer a growing OT intervention referred to as "Sensory Integration Treatment". This therapy, provided by experienced and knowledgeable pediatric occupational therapists, was originally developed by A. Jean Ayres, an occupational therapist. Sensory integration therapy is an evidence-based practice which enables children to better process and integrate sensory input from the child's body and from the environment, thus improving his or her emotional regulation, ability to learn, behavior, and functional participation in meaningful daily activities.
Recognition of occupational therapy programs and services for children and youth is increasing worldwide. Occupational therapy for both children and adults is now recognized by the United Nations as a human right which is linked to the social determinants of health. As of 2018, there are over 500,000 occupational therapists working worldwide (many of whom work with children) and 778 academic institutions providing occupational therapy instruction.
According to the American Occupational Therapy Association's (AOTA) Occupational Therapy Practice Framework, 3rd Edition, the domain of occupational therapy is described as "Achieving health, well-being, and participation in life through engagement in occupation". Occupational therapy practitioners have a distinct value in their ability to utilize daily occupations to achieve optimal health and well-being. By examining an individual's roles, routines, environment, and occupations, occupational therapists can identify the barriers in achieving overall health, well-being and participation.
Occupational therapy practitioners can intervene at primary, secondary and tertiary levels of intervention to promote health and wellness. It can be addressed in all practice settings to prevent disease and injuries, and adapt healthy lifestyle practices for those with chronic diseases. Two of the occupational therapy programs that have emerged targeting health and wellness are the Lifestyle Redesign Program and the REAL Diabetes Program.
Occupational therapy interventions for health and wellness vary in each setting:
Occupational therapy practitioners target school-wide advocacy for health and wellness including: bullying prevention, backpack awareness, recess promotion, school lunches, and PE inclusion. They also heavily work with students with learning disabilities such as those on the autism spectrum.
A study conducted in Switzerland showed that a large majority of occupational therapists collaborate with schools, half of them providing direct services within mainstream school settings. The results also show that services were mainly provided to children with medical diagnoses, focusing on the school environment rather than the child's disability.
Occupational therapy practitioners conduct 1:1 treatment sessions and group interventions to address: leisure, health literacy and education, modified physical activity, stress/anger management, healthy meal preparation, and medication management.
Occupational therapy practitioners in acute care assess whether a patient has the cognitive, emotional and physical ability as well as the social supports needed to live independently and care for themselves after discharge from the hospital. Occupational therapists are uniquely positioned to support patients in acute care as they focus on both clinical and social determinants of health.
Services delivered by occupational therapists in acute care include:
Occupational therapists use a variety of models, including the Model of Human Occupation, Person, Environment and Occupation, and Canadian Occupational Performance Model to adopt a client centered approach used for discharge planning. Hospital spending on occupational therapy services in acute care was found to be the single most significant spending category in reducing the risk of readmission to the hospital for heart failure, pneumonia, and acute myocardial infarction.
Occupational therapy practitioners develop and implement community wide programs to assist in prevention of diseases and encourage healthy lifestyles by: conducting education classes for prevention, facilitating gardening, offering ergonomic assessments, and offering pleasurable leisure and physical activity programs.
Mental Health Occupational therapy's foundation in mental health is deeply rooted in the moral treatment movement, which sought to replace the harsh treatment of mental disorders with the establishment of healthy routines and engagement in meaningful activities. This movement significantly influenced the development of occupational therapy, particularly through the contributions of early 20th-century practitioners and theorists like Adolph Meyer, who emphasized a holistic approach to mental health care (Christiansen & Haertl, 2014). According to the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA), occupational therapy is based on the principle that "active engagement in occupation promotes, facilitates, supports, and maintains health and participation" (AOTA, 2017). Occupations refer to individuals' activities to structure their time and provide meaning. The primary goals of occupational therapy include promoting physical and mental health and well-being and establishing, restoring, maintaining, and improving function and quality of life for individuals at risk of or affected by physical or mental health disorders (AOTA, 2017).
Education and Professional Qualifications
Occupational therapists require a master's degree or clinical doctorate, while occupational therapy assistants need at least an associate's degree. Their education encompasses extensive mental health-related topics, including biological, physical, social, and behavioral sciences, and supervised clinical experiences culminating in full-time internships. Both must pass national examinations and meet state licensure requirements. Occupational therapists apply mental and physical health knowledge, focusing on participation and occupation, using performance-based assessments to understand the relationship between occupational participation and well-being. Their education covers various aspects of mental health, including neurophysiological changes, human development, historical and contemporary perspectives on mental health, and current diagnostic criteria. This comprehensive training prepares occupational therapy practitioners to address the complex interplay of client variables, activity demands, and environmental factors in promoting health and managing health challenges (Bazyk & Downing, 2017). Occupational therapy role in mental health practice
Occupational therapy practitioners play a critical role in mental health by using therapeutic activities to promote mental health and support full participation in life for individuals at risk of or experiencing psychiatric, behavioral, and substance use disorders. They work across the lifespan and in various settings, including homes, schools, workplaces, community environments, hospitals, outpatient clinics, and residential facilities (AOTA,2017). Occupational therapists and occupational therapy assistants assume diverse roles, such as case managers, care coordinators, group facilitators, community mental health providers, consultants, program developers, and advocates. Their interventions aim to facilitate engagement in meaningful occupations, enhance role performance, and improve overall well-being. This involves analyzing, adapting, and modifying tasks and environments to support clients' goals and optimal engagement in daily activities (AOTA, 2017). Occupational therapy practitioners utilize clinical reasoning, informed by various theoretical perspectives and evidence-based approaches, to guide evaluation and intervention. They are skilled in analyzing the complex interplay among client variables, activity demands, and the environments where participation occurs. For individuals experiencing any mental health issues, his or her ability to participate in occupations actively may be hindered. For example, an individual diagnosed with depression or anxiety may experience interruptions in sleep, difficulty completing self-care tasks, decreased motivation to participate in leisure activities, decreased concentration for school or job-related work, and avoidance of social interactions.
Occupational therapy utilizes the public health approach to mental health (WHO, 2001) which emphasizes the promotion of mental health as well as the prevention of, and intervention for, mental illness. This model highlights the distinct value of occupational therapists in mental health promotion, prevention, and intensive interventions across the lifespan (Miles et al., 2010). Below are the three major levels of service:
Intensive interventions are provided for individuals with identified mental, emotional, or behavioral disorders that limit daily functioning, interpersonal relationships, feelings of emotional well-being, and the ability to cope with challenges in daily life. Occupational therapy practitioners are committed to the recovery model which focuses on enabling persons with mental health challenges through a client-centered process to live a meaningful life in the community and reach their potential (Champagne & Gray, 2011).
The focus of intensive interventions (direct–individual or group, consultation) is engagement in occupation to foster recovery or "reclaiming mental health" resulting in optimal levels of community participation, daily functioning, and quality of life; functional assessment and intervention (skills training, accommodations, compensatory strategies) (Brown, 2012); identification and implementation of healthy habits, rituals, and routines to support wellness.
Targeted services are designed to prevent mental health problems in persons who are at risk of developing mental health challenges, such as those who have emotional experiences (e.g., trauma, abuse), situational stressors (e.g., physical disability, bullying, social isolation, obesity) or genetic factors (e.g., family history of mental illness). Occupational therapy practitioners are committed to early identification of and intervention for mental health challenges in all settings.
The focus of targeted services (small groups, consultation, accommodations, education) is engagement in occupations to promote mental health and diminish early symptoms; small, therapeutic groups (Olson, 2011); environmental modifications to enhance participation (e.g., create Sensory friendly classrooms, home, or work environments)
Universal services are provided to all individuals with or without mental health or behavioral problems, including those with disabilities and illnesses (Barry & Jenkins, 2007). Occupational therapy services focus on mental health promotion and prevention for all: encouraging participation in health-promoting occupations (e.g., enjoyable activities, healthy eating, exercise, adequate sleep); fostering self-regulation and coping strategies (e.g., mindfulness, yoga); promoting mental health literacy (e.g., knowing how to take care of one's mental health and what to do when experiencing symptoms associated with ill mental health). Occupational therapy practitioners develop universal programs and embed strategies to promote mental health and well-being in a variety of settings, from schools to the workplace.
The focus of universal services (individual, group, school-wide, employee/organizational level) is universal programs to help all individuals successfully participate in occupations that promote positive mental health (Bazyk, 2011); educational and coaching strategies with a wide range of relevant stakeholders focusing on mental health promotion and prevention; the development of coping strategies and resilience; environmental modifications and supports to foster participation in health-promoting occupations.
Occupational therapists work with older adults to maintain independence, participate in meaningful activities, and live fulfilling lives. Some examples of areas that occupational therapists address with older adults are driving, aging in place, low vision, and dementia or Alzheimer's disease (AD). When addressing driving, driver evaluations are administered to determine if drivers are safe behind the wheel. To enable independence of older adults at home, occupational therapists perform falls risk assessments, assess clients functioning in their homes, and recommend specific home modifications. When addressing low vision, occupational therapists modify tasks and the environment. While working with individuals with AD, occupational therapists focus on maintaining quality of life, ensuring safety, and promoting independence.
Occupational therapists address all aspects of aging from health promotion to treatment of various disease processes. The goal of occupational therapy for older adults is to ensure that older adults can maintain independence and reduce health care costs associated with hospitalization and institutionalization. In the community, occupational therapists can assess an older adults ability to drive and if they are safe to do so. If it is found that an individual is not safe to drive the occupational therapist can assist with finding alternate transit options. Occupational therapists also work with older adults in their home as part of home care. In the home, an occupational therapist can work on such things as fall prevention, maximizing independence with activities of daily living, ensuring safety and being able to stay in the home for as long as the person wants. An occupational therapist can also recommend home modifications to ensure safety in the home. Many older adults have chronic conditions such as diabetes, arthritis, and cardiopulmonary conditions. Occupational therapists can help manage these conditions by offering education on energy conservation strategies or coping strategies. Not only do occupational therapists work with older adults in their homes, they also work with older adults in hospitals, nursing homes and post-acute rehabilitation. In nursing homes, the role of the occupational therapist is to work with clients and caregivers on education for safe care, modifying the environment, positioning needs and enhancing IADL skills to name a few. In post-acute rehabilitation, occupational therapists work with clients to get them back home and to their prior level of function after a hospitalization for an illness or accident. Occupational therapists also play a unique role for those with dementia. The therapist may assist with modifying the environment to ensure safety as the disease progresses along with caregiver education to prevent burnout. Occupational therapists also play a role in palliative and hospice care. The goal at this stage of life is to ensure that the roles and occupations that the individual finds meaningful continue to be meaningful. If the person is no longer able to perform these activities, the occupational therapist can offer new ways to complete these tasks while taking into consideration the environment along with psychosocial and physical needs. Not only do occupational therapists work with older adults in traditional settings, they also work in senior centre's and ALFs.
Visual impairment is one of the top 10 disabilities among American adults. Occupational therapists work with other professions, such as optometrists, ophthalmologists, and certified low vision therapists, to maximize the independence of persons with a visual impairment by using their remaining vision as efficiently as possible. AOTA's promotional goal of "Living Life to Its Fullest" speaks to who people are and learning about what they want to do, particularly when promoting the participation in meaningful activities, regardless of a visual impairment. Populations that may benefit from occupational therapy includes older adults, persons with traumatic brain injury, adults with potential to return to driving, and children with visual impairments. Visual impairments addressed by occupational therapists may be characterized into two types including low vision or a neurological visual impairment. An example of a neurological impairment is a cortical visual impairment (CVI) which is defined as "...abnormal or inefficient vision resulting from a problem or disorder affecting the parts of brain that provide sight". The following section will discuss the role of occupational therapy when working with the visually impaired.
Occupational therapy for older adults with low vision includes task analysis, environmental evaluation, and modification of tasks or the environment as needed. Many occupational therapy practitioners work closely with optometrists and ophthalmologists to address visual deficits in acuity, visual field, and eye movement in people with traumatic brain injury, including providing education on compensatory strategies to complete daily tasks safely and efficiently. Adults with a stable visual impairment may benefit from occupational therapy for the provision of a driving assessment and an evaluation of the potential to return to driving. Lastly, occupational therapy practitioners enable children with visual impairments to complete self care tasks and participate in classroom activities using compensatory strategies.
Occupational therapists address the need for rehabilitation following an injury or impairment. When planning treatment, occupational therapists address the physical, cognitive, psychosocial, and environmental needs involved in adult populations across a variety of settings.
Occupational therapy in adult rehabilitation may take a variety of forms:
Occupational therapy practitioners, or occupational therapists (OTs), are uniquely poised to educate, recommend, and promote the use of assistive technology to improve the quality of life for their clients. OTs are able to understand the unique needs of the individual in regards to occupational performance and have a strong background in activity analysis to focus on helping clients achieve goals. Thus, the use of varied and diverse assistive technology is strongly supported within occupational therapy practice models.
Because of the rising need for occupational therapy practitioners in the U.S., many facilities are opting for travel occupational therapy practitioners—who are willing to travel, often out of state, to work temporarily in a facility. Assignments can range from 8 weeks to 9 months, but typically last 13–26 weeks in length. Travel therapists work in many different settings, but the highest need for therapists are in home health and skilled nursing facility settings. There are no further educational requirements needed to be a travel occupational therapy practitioner; however, there may be different state licensure guidelines and practice acts that must be followed. According to Zip Recruiter, as of July 2019, the national average salary for a full-time travel therapist is $86,475 with a range between $62,500 to $100,000 across the United States. Most commonly (43%), travel occupational therapists enter the industry between the ages of 21–30.
The practice area of occupational justice relates to the "benefits, privileges and harms associated with participation in occupations" and the effects related to access or denial of opportunities to participate in occupations. This theory brings attention to the relationship between occupations, health, well-being, and quality of life. Occupational justice can be approached individually and collectively. The individual path includes disease, disability, and functional restrictions. The collective way consists of public health, gender and sexual identity, social inclusion, migration, and environment. The skills of occupational therapy practitioners enable them to serve as advocates for systemic change, impacting institutions, policy, individuals, communities, and entire populations. Examples of populations that experience occupational injustice include refugees, prisoners, homeless persons, survivors of natural disasters, individuals at the end of their life, people with disabilities, elderly living in residential homes, individuals experiencing poverty, children, immigrants, and LGBTQI+ individuals.
For example, the role of an occupational therapist working to promote occupational justice may include:
Occupational therapy practitioners' role in occupational justice is not only to align with perceptions of procedural and social justice but to advocate for the inherent need of meaningful occupation and how it promotes a just society, well-being, and quality of life among people relevant to their context. It is recommended to the clinicians to consider occupational justice in their everyday practice to promote the intention of helping people participate in tasks that they want and need to do.
In contrast, occupational injustice relates to conditions wherein people are deprived, excluded or denied of opportunities that are meaningful to them. Types of occupational injustices and examples within the OT practice include:
Occupational deprivation: The exclusion from meaningful occupations due to external factors that are beyond the person's control. For example, a person with difficulties with functional mobility may find it challenging to reintegrate into the community due to transportation barriers.
Occupational apartheid: The exclusion of a person in chosen occupations due to personal characteristics such as age, gender, race, nationality, or socioeconomic status. An example can be seen in children with developmental disabilities from low socioeconomic backgrounds whose families would opt out of therapy due to financial constraints.
Occupational marginalization: Relates to how implicit norms of behavior or societal expectations prevent a person from engaging in a chosen occupation. As an example, a child with physical impairments may only be offered table-top leisure activities instead of sports as an extracurricular activity due to the functional limitations caused by his physical impairments.
Occupational imbalance: The limited participation in a meaningful occupation brought about by another role in a different occupation. This can be seen in the situation of a caregiver of a person with a disability who also has to fulfill other roles such as being a parent to other children, a student, or a worker.
Occupational alienation: The imposition of an occupation that does not hold meaning for that person. In the OT profession, this manifests in the provision of rote activities that do not really relate to the goals or the client's interests.
Within occupational therapy practice, injustice may ensue in situations wherein professional dominance, standardized treatments, laws and political conditions create a negative impact on the occupational engagement of our clients. Awareness of these injustices will enable the therapist to reflect on his own practice and think of ways in approaching their client's problems while promoting occupational justice.
As occupational therapy (OT) has grown and developed, community-based practice has blossomed from an emerging area of practice to a fundamental part of occupational therapy practice (Scaffa & Reitz, 2013). Community-based practice allows for OTs to work with clients and other stakeholders such as families, schools, employers, agencies, service providers, stores, day treatment and day care and others who may influence the degree of success the client will have in participating. It also allows the therapist to see what is actually happening in the context and design interventions relevant to what might support the client in participating and what is impeding her or him from participating. Community-based practice crosses all of the categories within which OTs practice from physical to cognitive, mental health to spiritual, all types of clients may be seen in community-based settings. The role of the OT also may vary, from advocate to consultant, direct care provider to program designer, adjunctive services to therapeutic leader.
Nature-based interventions and outdoor activities may be incorporated into occupational therapy practice as they can provide therapeutic benefits in various ways. Examples include therapeutic gardening, animal-assisted therapy (AAT), and adventure therapy.
For instance, parents reported improvement in the emotional regulation and social engagement of their children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in a study of parental perceptions regarding the outcomes of AAT conducted with trained dogs. They also observed reductions in problematic behaviors. A source cited in the study found similar results with AAT employing horses and llamas.
Gardening in a group setting may serve as a complementary intervention in stroke rehabilitation; in addition to being mentally restful and conducive to social connection, it helps patients master skills and can remind them of experiences from their past. Royal Rehab's Productive Garden Project in Australia, managed by a horticultural therapist, allows patients and practitioners to participate in meaningful activity outside the usual healthcare settings. Thus, tending a garden helps facilitate experiential activities, perhaps attaining a better balance between clinical and real-life pursuits during rehabilitation, in lieu of mainly relying on clinical interventions.
For adults with acquired brain injury, nature-based therapy has been found to improve motor abilities, cognitive function, and general quality of life. Contributing to a theoretical understanding of such successes in nature-based approaches are: nature's positive impact on problem solving and the refocusing of attention; an innate human connection with, and positive response to, the natural world; an increased sense of well-being when in contact with nature; and the emotional, nonverbal, and cognitive aspects of human-environment interaction.
Worldwide, there is a range of qualifications required to practice as an occupational therapist or occupational therapy assistant. Depending on the country and expected level of practice, degree options include associate degree, Bachelor's degree, entry-level master's degree, post-professional master's degree, entry-level Doctorate (OTD), post-professional Doctorate (DrOT or OTD), Doctor of Clinical Science in OT (CScD), Doctor of Philosophy in Occupational Therapy (PhD), and combined OTD/PhD degrees.
Both occupational therapist and occupational therapy assistant roles exist internationally. Currently in the United States, dual points of entry exist for both OT and OTA programs. For OT, that is entry-level Master's or entry-level Doctorate. For OTA, that is associate degree or bachelor's degree.
The World Federation of Occupational Therapists (WFOT) has minimum standards for the education of OTs, which was revised in 2016. All of the educational programs around the world need to meet these minimum standards. These standards are subsumed by and can be supplemented with academic standards set by a country's national accreditation organization. As part of the minimum standards, all programs must have a curriculum that includes practice placements (fieldwork). Examples of fieldwork settings include: acute care, inpatient hospital, outpatient hospital, skilled nursing facilities, schools, group homes, early intervention, home health, and community settings.
The profession of occupational therapy is based on a wide theoretical and evidence based background. The OT curriculum focuses on the theoretical basis of occupation through multiple facets of science, including occupational science, anatomy, physiology, biomechanics, and neurology. In addition, this scientific foundation is integrated with knowledge from psychology, sociology and more.
In the United States, Canada, and other countries around the world, there is a licensure requirement. In order to obtain an OT or OTA license, one must graduate from an accredited program, complete fieldwork requirements, and pass a national certification examination.
The philosophy of occupational therapy has evolved over the history of the profession. The philosophy articulated by the founders owed much to the ideals of romanticism, pragmatism and humanism, which are collectively considered the fundamental ideologies of the past century.
One of the most widely cited early papers about the philosophy of occupational therapy was presented by Adolf Meyer, a psychiatrist who had emigrated to the United States from Switzerland in the late 19th century and who was invited to present his views to a gathering of the new Occupational Therapy Society in 1922. At the time, Dr. Meyer was one of the leading psychiatrists in the United States and head of the new psychiatry department and Phipps Clinic at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.
William Rush Dunton, a supporter of the National Society for the Promotion of Occupational Therapy, now the American Occupational Therapy Association, sought to promote the ideas that occupation is a basic human need, and that occupation is therapeutic. From his statements came some of the basic assumptions of occupational therapy, which include:
These assumptions have been developed over time and are the basis of the values that underpin the Codes of Ethics issued by the national associations. The relevance of occupation to health and well-being remains the central theme.
In the 1950s, criticism from medicine and the multitude of disabled World War II veterans resulted in the emergence of a more reductionistic philosophy. While this approach led to developments in technical knowledge about occupational performance, clinicians became increasingly disillusioned and re-considered these beliefs. As a result, client centeredness and occupation have re-emerged as dominant themes in the profession. Over the past century, the underlying philosophy of occupational therapy has evolved from being a diversion from illness, to treatment, to enablement through meaningful occupation.
Three commonly mentioned philosophical precepts of occupational therapy are that occupation is necessary for health, that its theories are based on holism and that its central components are people, their occupations (activities), and the environments in which those activities take place. However, there have been some dissenting voices. Mocellin, in particular, advocated abandoning the notion of health through occupation as he proclaimed it obsolete in the modern world. As well, he questioned the appropriateness of advocating holism when practice rarely supports it. Some values formulated by the American Occupational Therapy Association have been critiqued as being therapist-centric and do not reflect the modern reality of multicultural practice.
In recent times occupational therapy practitioners have challenged themselves to think more broadly about the potential scope of the profession, and expanded it to include working with groups experiencing occupational injustice stemming from sources other than disability. Examples of new and emerging practice areas would include therapists working with refugees, children experiencing obesity, and people experiencing homelessness.
A distinguishing facet of occupational therapy is that therapists often espouse the use theoretical frameworks to frame their practice. Many have argued that the use of theory complicates everyday clinical care and is not necessary to provide patient-driven care.
Note that terminology differs between scholars. An incomplete list of theoretical bases for framing a human and their occupations include the following:
Generic models are the overarching title given to a collation of compatible knowledge, research and theories that form conceptual practice. More generally they are defined as "those aspects which influence our perceptions, decisions and practice".
Occupation-focused practice models
This framework was originated in 1997 by the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists (CAOT) as the Canadian Model of Occupational Performance (CMOP). It was expanded in 2007 by Palatjko, Townsend and Craik to add engagement. This framework upholds the view that three components—the person, environment and occupation- are related. Engagement was added to encompass occupational performance. A visual model is depicted with the person located at the center of the model as a triangle. The triangles three points represent cognitive, affective, and physical components with a spiritual center. The person triangle is surrounded by an outer ring symbolizing the context of environment with an inner ring symbolizing the context of occupation.
Frames of reference are an additional knowledge base for the occupational therapist to develop their treatment or assessment of a patient or client group. Though there are conceptual models (listed above) that allow the therapist to conceptualise the occupational roles of the patient, it is often important to use further reference to embed clinical reasoning. Therefore, many occupational therapists will use additional frames of reference to both assess and then develop therapy goals for their patients or service users.
American Occupational Therapy Association (2014c). Occupational therapy practice framework: Domain and process (3rd ed.). American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 68(Suppl. 1), S1–S48. https://doi.org/10.5014/ajot.2014.682006 American Occupational Therapy Association (2017). Mental Health Promotion, Prevention, and Intervention in Occupational Therapy Practice. The American Journal of Occupational Therapy. 71(Suppl. 2). https://doi.org/10.5014/ajot.2017.716S03 Christiansen, C. H., & Haertl, K. (2014). A contextual history of occupational therapy. In B. A. B. Schell, G. Gillen, & M. E. Scaffa (Eds.), Willard and Spackman's occupational therapy (12th ed., pp. 9–34).Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.