Summary Of Population Health And Occupational Therapy

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

Studies indicated that occupational therapists have a remarkable opportunity to be involved in health promotion (Gronski et al., 2013, Metzler, Hartmann & Lowenthal, 2012; Frenchman, 2014). They can make a distinct contribution by recognising and addressing the impact of habits and routines on managing chronic conditions and developing healthy lifestyles (Roberts, Farmer, Lamb, Muir & Siebert, 2014). The aim and scope of this essay are to define health promotion and explore its implication on occupational therapy practice.

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

This link between occupation, health and well-being (i.e. the fact that people are occupational by nature and that engagement in meaningful occupation is essential to health) forms part of the core beliefs and values – the philosophy – of the occupational therapy (OT) profession (Kramer et al, 2003). OT has its foundations in both philosophy and science, but unlike other medical professions, it was the philosophy that came first

Occupational therapists work with clients to restore independence that has been lost or disrupted due to illness, injury, or disease. Occupational therapy practice involves assessing and determining an appropriate treatment approach based on the client’s disability and individual needs. There are various occupation-based models, each client-centered and grounded in theory, that guide the clinical treatment process. In addition, the Occupational Therapy Practice Framework: Domain and Process (3rd ed.; AOTA, 2014) denotes various frames of reference to guide therapists when choosing specific intervention strategies based on the client’s needs (Cole & Tufano, 2018). This paper focuses on the application of the Occupation Adaption model,

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.

“What if there was a job that allowed someone to have endless flexibility and creativity; a profession that is respected and is in overwhelming demand... Most importantly, wouldn’t it be nice to find a job in which you could make an impact, big or small, on the lives of each individual person you worked with? I found this job and that is why I decided to pursue a degree in occupational therapy" (Springer, J., 2015). This testimonial comes from a practicing occupational therapist who has found value in his life's work. Occupational therapy is not a job where "one size fits all"; there are many different demographics of people who need occupational therapy in different environments. Although, all occupational therapists have the same skills

The concepts and principles in the Founding Vision of 1917 and the Centennial Vision of 2007 establish a connection between our past and present. Comparing the two Visions shows that many of our modern day values were first outlined by occupational therapy’s founders a century ago. The Founding Vision reads, “The particular objects for which the corporation is formed are as follows: The advancement of occupation as a therapeutic measure; for the study of the effect of occupation upon the human being; and for the scientific dispensation of this knowledge” (National Society for the Promotion of Occupational Therapy [NSPOT], 1917). Where the Centennial Vision reads, “We envision that occupational therapy is a powerful, widely recognized, science-driven,

Through the almost 100 years of occupational therapy as a profession, occupational therapy have gone from a profession focused only on the mentally ill patient to a profession that is targeting a broad range of population ranging from the special needs population, to veterans, and people with different diseases and physical disabilities or injuries. It is inspirational to know that this profession started based on the ideology that “even the most challenged are entitled to consideration and human compassion” (O'Brien, 2012). Likewise, it is fascinating that occupational therapy played such an important role in both of the world war as reconstruction aides focusing on rehabbing the soldiers and helping veterans recover during post-war period

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,

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.

Occupational Therapy, along with many other professions, have models that guide the profession. These models, known as the Occupational-based Models of Practice, guide Occupational Therapists in the care of clients (Cole & Tufano, 2008, p. 87). Although there are many models, each model has its own distinct features and focuses. Similar in many forms, they also have unique characteristics, and each have a different emphasis. These models have the guiding principles of occupation defined as, “a basic human need, an essential component of human life, organizes behavior, gives meaning to life, enables a healthy lifestyle, and improves an individual’s quality of life” (Cole & Tufano, 2008, p. 127). So while all of the models are similar in some aspects in terms of occupation, each model is unique in some aspects as well. The Person-Environment-Occupation-Performance Model (PEOP) is one of the five models, incorporating a client-centered approach to a person’s occupations (Cole & Tufano, 2008, p. 8).

Throughout their research study, Ward, Mitchell, and Price (2007) address a major area of concern within the field of OT, the emphasis of occupation based practice in individual treatment sessions. They researched data dating back to the sixties in order to discover when in history the profession has strayed away from its foundational views In order to keep up with the traditional medical model, the OT profession lost sight of its core values and lost its unique contribution to the field as a holistic field (Kielhofner, 2004). Since this time, there has been more of a concern with the holistic approach, and an increase in studies on the topic has occurred. (Jackson, 1998; Kielhofner, 2004). Ward, Mitchell, and Price (2007) directly address the importance of occupation-based practice and its relationship to social and occupational participation (American Occupational Therapy Association, 2014). Their research redirects the profession to it’s core values and puts an emphasis on the importance to keep OT client-centered and occupation-based moving forward in our profession to ensure clients are engaging in meaningful occupations. (World Federation of Occupational Therapists, 2010).

Due to the limited time, we had to complete this project my options on a target audience were scarce, and I experienced a great deal of back and forth communication with the professionals I contacted. Since I had a lack of available free time to only Thursdays and some Fridays this made it very difficult to find a time that could work with my schedule and the teachers I contacted due to their class schedule and lesson plans. The first teacher (from the Mentor Program) I contacted initially expressed that she would not have enough time to fit me in because they only have classes on Thursdays for one hour. However, weeks later she got a hold of me and said she would like to have me talk to the 11th-grade students about occupational therapy