Stephen Hawking Case Study

As occupational therapy services diversified, serving a variety of clients in many different settings and with societal influences, the field began to evolve. During the 1990s occupational therapists began to shift away from reductionist medical model toward a more holistic client-centered approach. Services focused on enhancing individuals’ quality of life across the lifespan meaning before, during, and after therapeutic intervention. The profession began to better acknowledge the value of client education, injury and illness prevention, health screening, and health maintenance (Cole & Tufano, 2008). The field created more preventative initiatives, and focused services on improving quality of life and optimizing the independence of

A clinical situation that has taken place that has enabled me to incorporate the “Occupational Therapy Practice Framework Domain and Process (3rd Ed.)” (AOTA, 2014) into my approach was when an individual that has had a car accident during an ice storm. We will refer to this individual as Jane. She was a 55 year old housewife that was the primary caretaker of her husband who had suffered a stroke a few years ago. Jane took care of all the home management as well as transportation and health care needs for her husband. Jane was very active in her community as well as her family that lived several hours away.

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

The outcome of occupational therapy intervention is “supporting health and participation in life through engagement in occupation.’’ The types of occupational therapy interventions include occupation based intervention, purposeful activity and preparatory methods, consultation, education, and advocacy. Intervention approaches are the strategies that direct the process of intervention and these include create/promote, establish/restore, maintain, modify, and prevent disability.

Occupational therapy was founded on the principle that participation in meaningful activity is important to the health of individuals. Mental health is very important to the well-being of an individual and those around them. 450 million people experience mental and neurological disorders around the world. These disorders are the leading 5-10 causes of disability worldwide. As services for individuals with mental illness have shifted from the hospital to the community, there has also been a shift in the philosophy of service delivery. In the past, there was an adherence to the medical model; now the focus is on incorporating the recovery model. (2) Occupational therapy’s focus that taking part in engaging and meaningful activities benefits the mental well-being of the individual.

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

The Model of Human Occupation (MOHO) is a theoretical framework used by occupational therapists to help guide practice (Cotton, 2012). Moreover, the MOHO’s framework helps form a picture of the client by utilizing 4 concepts’ that include the clients’ motivation for occupation, the routine patterning of their occupations, the nature of their skilled performance, and the influence of the environment on their occupation (Forsyth et al., 2009). These 4 concepts’ influence the formation of an occupational Identity which is a key construct within the MOHO (Forsyth et al., 2009). Furthermore, an occupational identity is the cumulative sense of the clients’ identity based on the occupations they engage in, their personal experiences and who they want to become as an occupational being (Forsyth et al., 2009). The formation of clients’ occupational identity is based on a sustained pattern of occupational engagement, which is called occupational competence (Forsyth et al., 2009; Walder & Molineux, 2017a).

I am applying the Occupational Therapy Practice Framework: domain and process to my life to produce an occupational profile. Objective of this paper is to synthesize therapeutic potentials and transactional relationships between my occupations and contexts. The Occupational Therapy Practice Framework: Domain and Process, 3rd edition is an official document of American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA, 2014). It is intended for occupational therapy practitioners and students, other health care professionals, educators, researchers, payers, and consumers. The Framework presents a summary of interrelated constructs that describe occupational therapy practice. The Framework does not serve as a taxonomy, theory, or model of occupational therapy.

MOHO is an occupation-focused model which “provide an overarching context of occupation that emphasizes the occupational therapists unique perspective on a client’s ability to engage in activities and participate in life” and “attempt to explain the relationship of occupation, person and environment” (Cole & Tufano, 2008, p. 61). MOHO focus on the concept of volition, habituation and performance capacity is the key to understanding human occupation (Kielhofner, 2002). The volition includes person’s values, which an individual finds meaningful to do and important, and interests and personal causation which refers to a sense of competence and effectiveness. The habituation is the given context of physical, temporal and social which influence an individual to develop a certain behavioral pattern or make new actions and decisions. And Performance capacity is a mental and physical attribution and life experiences. As these three factors that influencing an individual to engage in the occupation, MOHO aims to explain how disability and illness hinder occupational performance and it focuses on supporting the individuals to successfully perform the occupation (Kielhofner,

For my career exploration assignment I have chosen the field of occupational therapy. Not only am I a certified occupational therapists assistant, but I also have a passion for this field. Occupational therapy wasn’t something that I have always wanted to pursue, but once I got into college and observed an occupational therapist I fell in love with the occupation. Occupational therapy is the unique focus on occupation and daily life activities and the application of an intervention process that facilitates engagement in occupation to support participation in everyday life (American Occupational Therapy Association [AOTA], 1994). As therapists we are here to help our patients return to the highest level of independent physical function. Patients come to us in their lowest time, and it is our job to help build them up, and teach them how to be more independent, and to live their life to the fullest. Occupational therapists assistants do everything from increasing a patient’s standing/sitting tolerance and balance, safety with transfer training, dressing, bathing, grooming, and bed mobility. A lot of people always ask, “Physical therapy and occupational therapy are the same thing right?” That is not true. Physical therapy helps with the bigger movements, such as walking and lower extremity muscles, where as occupational therapy focuses on smaller, more fine motor movements, such as clothing manipulation, and grooming tasks. Occupational therapy helps to regain independence

In accordance with Occupational Therapy Practice Framework (OTPF), “the efforts directed toward promoting occupational justice and empowering clients to seek and obtain resources to fully participate in their daily life occupations.” (Occupational Therapy Practice Framework, 3rd Ed., p. S41). I consider occupational therapy to be a compassionate career, practitioners try to grant their clients’ wants and needs to better suit the

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.

Few minds of this century have had an impact like that of Stephen Hawking. His discoveries and work have expanded the forefront of knowledge with a likeness to that of Einstein and Newton. Despite the clear adversity Hawking has faced, his achievements have been nothing shore of extraordinary. His work on the understanding of space, time, and the origins of the universe has set the golden standard for theories on the universes beginnings and mysteries, proving a staple teaching of modern education which we may take for granted.

Steven Hawking’s A Briefer History in Time tells a simplified story of the universe. Hawking’s starts out the book by going over the different type of cosmology that was held throughout history. He mentions the beliefs that Aristotle, Copernicus, Galileo and other notable individuals held about the universe. This discussion is used to segue into a brief description of the different theories, laws, and ideas concerning the universe held by people today. Newton’s laws of motion and gravity and Einstein’s theory of relativity are only some of the models that Hawking discusses. Thus, the main purpose of Hawking’s A Briefer History in Time is to inform the readers of the development in our understanding of how the universe works. In his conclusion, Hawking’s specifically includes the term “Mind of God” (142). I believe that for Hawking, to understand the mind of God is to understand the workings of the universe and our place in it. Hawking’s A Briefer History of Time also asserts that it is possible to know the mind of God. In essence, although, Hawking does not explicitly say that we can explain the world without God, he does use the theories of others to question the existence of God. Although, Hawking’s discussion of the theories concerning the universe can be seen as contradictory to the idea of an absolute God, the theories coincide and broaden my understanding of God.

In order to truly understand Steven Hawking and all his crazy theories and pure genius that makes anyone who tries or has tried to figure out what he is talking about, feel like someone who hasn't passed 1st grade. First a brief biography on his life and then I will, with the help of Mr. Hawking himself (actually his online website), try to explain some of his mind-boggling theories in my own words.