Occupational Therapy Benefits

The occupational therapy profession shares many objectives across the communities, clients, and families they serve. Some of these aims include: “Developing the field of occupational therapy and enhance the professions capabilities to meet the needs of the entire population, providing evidence on the efficacy of occupational therapy. This includes working with organizations and local communities, incorporating education, research, and practices as a complete whole. In addition, developing a team of professionals that innovates and adapts to the developing health needs of the population” (AOTA, 2013). This includes advocacy efforts with policymakers to ensure continued funding to provide care to individuals (AOTA, 2013). Occupational therapy is a distinctive profession that helps

To be able to participate in one 's own life, to do the things we want to do, and to competently perform the activities that form part of our daily, weekly or monthly routines, is a common goal for most people.  This not only includes taking part in the basic activities of self-care, such as grooming and dressing, but also extends to our work and leisure activities.  It is through doing things that we learn and develop as human beings.  The occupational therapy profession believes that being prevented or hindered in some way from participating in the activities that are important to us could adversely affect our health and wellbeing.

Occupational therapy is much more than enhancing activities of daily living to me. I see occupational therapy as helping people achieve daily freedom and making attainable goals to improve their physical and mental health while providing a professional relationship to encourage trust and reliability throughout treatment. Something as simple as tying shoes or being able to grab a fork to eat can make all the difference in the world to the patients an occupational therapist will treat. I have been working at a hand clinic since September and have seen that the small achievements like the tying of the shoes of the ability to bend the finger 10 more degrees puts a big smile on the faces of the patients and improves their outlook and demeanor towards their injury. Encouraging home exercise, helping with self cares, teaching writing skills and helping provide custom splints are all aspects that I have seen with my job and observation of occupational therapy as a whole. When I started my job at the hand clinic a therapist told me that the most basic occupational therapy explanation she could provide me is that occupational therapy is a way of helping others achieve a better level of daily living for things that they want and or need to do in life than when they sought help from therapy.

Occupational Therapy is a health, wellness, and rehabilitation profession devoted to the development of performance and function across their lifetime so that individuals can live their life to the fullest. The holistic approach taken by occupational therapy practitioners is particularly effective in the areas of wellness, health promotion, and prevention. The practice of occupational therapy can take place in health care and education settings, and in community based agencies and organizations. The timing is excellent for occupational therapy in the area of wellness and prevention. Occupational Therapy practitioners administer habilitation and rehabilitation services, which are among the fundamentals health benefits of the

The occupational therapy field is frequently being left behind in the health care field because most of the public is uneducated or unaware of the Occupational Therapy practice and the research that is involved. The public also has a few concerns of OT which include the time commitment to the program, the availability of services, the impact of the therapy on other family members, and the cost involved in continued care. While there are drawbacks to Occupational Therapy, the benefits of the practice outweigh them. The value and purpose of occupational therapy is to support the health and participation of clients by engaging them in their desired occupations. Occupations are activities that reflect cultural values, provide structure to living and meaning to individuals. These activities meet human needs for self-care, enjoyment, and participation in society. There are many different types of therapy used for people with disabilities such as autism, people with limitations from strokes, sicknesses such as cancer, and they can even help prevent childhood obesity. The different types of therapy can range from interventions all the way to dolphin assisted therapy, whatever the therapist finds appropriate. The similarity is that the Occupational Therapist will research and pick the most beneficial type of therapy to proceed with for that certain type of disability or problem that person is having. I believe

Occupational therapists help people of all ages recovering from physical or mental illnesses participate and perform what they want or need to accomplish through works of therapeutic rehabilitation with use of everyday activities in daily life; hence, giving it the name Occupational Therapy. An occupational therapist must look at their patients holistically, not just the part that is causing them problems. Occupational therapists are important as they help people regain their independence in daily activities. This field is projected to be the fastest in growth in upcoming years.

Occupational therapists help all ages improve their daily activities. This specific therapy helps rehabilitate people who need “specialized assistance to lead independent, productive, and satisfying lives due to physical, developmental, social, or emotional problems” (Ithaca College). The therapists create different exercises for each individual patient to help them develop their skills or learn how to decrease future injury.

Occupational therapists work with family, relatives, friends and colleagues in order to make the transition less painful and more helpful for the recovering patient. Physical therapist works soon after the injury in the initial recovery course after primary injury while the services of occupational therapists are generally needed in the rehabilitation course when the patient has fully recovered from the initial injury. Provision of physical therapy may improve the situation and mobility of individuals. Physical therapists perform interventive therapies like massage, acupuncture, exercises and manual therapies to improve the functioning of the body. Occupational therapy is performed when the patient has fully recovered and the sole purpose is to improve the quality of life by not letting the disability to affect the life of individuals.

The impaired occupation could hinder various body, mental and social function and decreases the individual’s quality of living (QOL) and life satisfaction; having a QOL and full ADL participation are absolutely imperative for optimal well-being. Therefore, Occupational therapist (OT)s ,who is specially trained to maintain or enhance an active daily

Occupational therapist help patients to develop, recover, or improve their skills needed for daily life (What They Do). This shows that occupational therapy is important to a person’s health because some patients need help in order to learn

Seeing and feeling like you have cured or helped someone is a very rewarding feeling. Occupational therapists fall under the health science career cluster. OT’s help troubled patients with their fine motor skills through therapeutic activities.

The goals of Occupational therapy are promoting physical, mental health and well-being of individuals with disability (ref). Occupational therapists have a strong supporting role in the mental health sector, by using daily activities to help individual mental disabilities transition from institution to community living ( Burson, Fette, Orentlicher, Precin, Roush & Kannenberg, 2017). However, as medical model became the primary focus in healthcare, Occupational therapists had turn away working in the mental health sectors (ref). With the increase need of mental health care providers, the AOTA has been advocating Occupational Therapists to return to the root of psychiatry (Ikiugu, Nissen, Bellar, Maassen, & Peursem, 2017). Recommending future

Through experience, I learned how to interact with patients and family members as an occupational therapist in sub acute setting, espeicailly how to deliver message to family member professionally. I Also, I witness the necessity of cooperation in PT/OT/SLP and other health professionals to make optimal outcome of patients. I have learnd how restorative FOR, biomechanical FOR, rehabilitative FOR, PNF are being utilized into therapy sessions to patients with orthopedic, neurological conditions.

Ever since I was a child, my mother always put a huge importance on what it meant by taking care of people, whether that would be my family, friends, or those in need of help. At a young age, I never really understood why she made such a big deal out of the idea of having to take care of people. However, as time went on, I came to a realization that I find most satisfaction in my life when I am able to help those in need of help.

Occupational therapy has been in the process of continued development since the 1900’s. With several contributors helping to build the groundwork for creating the awareness needed to bring occupational therapy into the field of health care. Continued research is contributing to the ongoing significance of how occupational therapy is a vital aspect in promoting increased independences in all aspects of healthcare. (Willard, Schell, 2014) With the incorporation of “Occupational Therapy Practice Framework Domain and Process (3rd ed.)” helps creates the foundation for occupational therapy clinicians as well as other health care providers in facilitating the core believe of occupational and the relationship of health and occupation. (AOTA 2014) Therefore, providing a uniform outline of the various aspects of each individual and how they are interconnected to create the foundation of each individual. With a greater understanding of the foundations of that induvial, the clinician can then facilitate the best therapeutic treatment plan for that individual to achieve their personal goals with unified foundations of care.