Theories Of Occupational Therapy

Growing up, I have been an individual who has pushed myself beyond the minimum requirements in order to succeed. In high school I excelled in both academics and athletics. I graduated in the top 10% of my class and lettered in hockey and tennis my sophomore, junior, and senior year. I worked hard and put in extra time in order to set myself apart from others. Succeeding in both school and athletics made me a responsible, reliable, and an organized individual. These experiences made me a versatile individual and have given me a work ethic that has benefited me with my academics in college and with my work and volunteer experiences.

Without occupational therapists, millions of people would struggle to live their everyday lives. Occupational therapists give specialized assistance to people with physical, developmental, social or emotional problems. This assistance is used to live productive and independent or semi independent lives. Occupational therapists can be used, and is effective for people of all ages. Many people have not heard of occupational therapy and are not aware of the positive impact it has on members of our society. With this paper I want to spread the knowledge that I have on occupational therapy. Many people that could benefit from occupational therapy do not even know that it exists. This career is difficult for everyone involved, but the impact it has

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 Therapist enables people to engage and participate in everyday activities trough occupation. The latter role is not only applicable for individuals but also groups or populations. Eventually, with the increase of the aging population, expensive health care services, occupational therapists will have to incorporate health promotion practices into their actual roles.To cope with this phenomenon and to better meet older adult’s needs, the occupational therapist 's role would benefit from being enlarged.Expanding their knowledge and their practices in promoting health will facilitate their work in other domains.This will help them to shift from an individual to a population approach. To achieve that transition, therapists should be more involved in decisions taken by politicians regarding health and to develop services and programs that promote well-being, health, and quality of life. Also, collaboration with other fields such as schools, workplaces, industries, deputies and organizations will help them spread strategies that promote awareness and enable the population to control and maintain an independent healthy lifestyle. Also, therapists understand that the environment can be a crucial factor on health population. Therefore ,they can put pressure on the government to make public places more accessible to disabled people such as providing the subway of a wheelchair ramp and adapt crosswalks to the blind by adding pedestrian signals that include speakers at

Occupational Therapy has played a role in helping those with Mental and physical disabilities in the United States since 1917. Before that time, Occupational Therapy was used solely in mental institutions to help people that were "more normal" and able to function in a social status. These patients enjoyed things like arts and crafts. It seemed that those who engaged in such activities where perceived as "more healthy". These findings lead Drs. to encourage patients to engage is such activity to improve there overall health. (http://quoccupationaltherapy.weebly.com/history-of-occupational-therapy.htmlhistory-of-occupational-therapy.html)

A faith-based education can help me expand my worldview. Working towards an advanced education at Loma Linda University will further expand both my personal and professional worldview. For example, if I am admitted to the MSOT program, I will be placed in the occupational therapy cohort that may be composed of people from different parts of the world. Together, we will work towards achieving a common goal. As a result, both my personal and professional perspective will cultivate through experience and learning from staff, faculty, and peers. Nevertheless, I am confident, I will understand how occupational therapy functions through a spiritual view.

Purpose: Each biennium and upon initial licensure clinicians are required to take a course related to the Laws and Rules of Practice for Occupational therapy. Through this course clinicians will increase awareness and understanding of the laws and rules that direct licensure as a provider of occupational therapy services.

Afflicted by left-side Hemiplegia and bound to a wheelchair, my grandmother’s life was not one of ease. By the time I was born she had been living with her barriers for thirty years and had learned to compensate due to her astounding will and surrounding subpar medical practices. As a child I thought nothing of the fact that my grandmother was stricken with paralysis until I witnessed her take a turn for the worse and suffer another hemorrhagic stroke. Her recovery was long and arduous yet, it was a blessing that brought us closer together and nudged me down the path of Occupational Therapy.

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.

Therapy can help many aspects of a persons life. There are different injuries or birth defects that need to be treated to perform everyday activities. A variety of different therapy methods and treatments, depending on the personal weakness, can help improve someone’s everyday life.

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.

Related knowledge isn’t unique to occupational therapy practice. It serves as a complementary to the field’s paradigm ad conceptual practice models. There are two types of related knowledge and they are foundational knowledge and applied knowledge. Foundation knowledge is general knowledge of basic sciences such as anatomy and physiology as well as sensory integration. These skills are required by all allied health practitioners. For example when occupational therapists are working with a client after an injury, the therapist explains the post-surgical healing processes and prognoses, as well as expected side effects of medication. In these instances related knowledge is being drawn from medical practitioners in general. Applied knowledge is

The therapeutic relationship is the interaction between an occupational therapist and a client. Therapeutic relationship differs from the other type of relationship because the main goal of it is the client benefit. Therapeutic characteristics are numbers of personal qualities that can impact a therapist performance. Those characteristics can enhance the therapy sessions and can also influence the clients’ personality and performance. Some of the therapeutic characteristics allow the therapist to connect with the clients, while others mainly influence the quality of service delivered by the therapist. Below is an overview of my therapeutic characteristics.

It is very significant that occupational therapist go outside of the professional literature to learn more about their clients in their everyday routine. In the readings, there are a few ways occupational therapist can make meaning in the context of everyday life. In the appraisal “the Genesis of Community”, focused on creating a sense of community from the means of a crisis. For instance, the article talked about the earthquake that caused buildings in Mexico City to crush, killing thousands of citizens. After this traumatic event, several people were working together to rescue the injured and care for the homeless. It did not matter if they were rich or poor or black or white; they all interconnected to help care for the survivors of the

Occupational therapy is grounded in seven core values (AOTA, 2008). Altruism, equality, dignity, and prudence are four of the values that coincide directly to my beliefs and philosophy related to obesity. Altruism encompasses indicating concern for the well-being of others (AOTA, 2015). As an occupational therapist, I need to have concern for every client I have no matter what they look like. Equality means treating everyone fairly and not showing bias. The purpose of taking the IAT test was to display my biases and help me critically think how I can remain unbiased in practice. Similarly, I can show dignity to my clients by always treating them with respect. Lastly, as an occupational therapist I will use my clinical and ethical reasoning skills to help make proper decisions for clients. This is referred to as prudence (AOTA, 2015).