Occupational Therapy in The United Kingdom - Why Are Occupational Therapists Interested in Occupation?

Why Are Occupational Therapists Interested in Occupation?

Occupational therapists work from an understanding that there is a relationship between the things that people do and their health and well-being This is a list of some of the characteristics of occupations, as discussed in literature in the last decade. • Occupations are activities both meaningful and purposeful to the individual performing them

• They also usually have sociocultural meaning

• Occupations fill and structure time

• They tend to be grouped according to purpose: self-care, leisure and productivity (or work)

• They support roles and participation in society

• Occupations contribute to the individual’s sense of identity

• Activities are not occupations if they are involuntary, or if they are aimed at a goal which does not involve individual meaning and participation

It has been suggested that occupation can be defined simply as ‘doing, being and becoming’, a simple definition which captures the notion of subjectively meaningful activity which results in some kind of transformation in the ‘doer’. The word ‘occupation’ has a relatively precise usage in the fields of occupational therapy and occupational science but other disciplines (such as anthropology, psychology, leisure studies) have an interest in the human activities. It can be argued that all activities are meaningful, given that they are socially situated, symbolic constructs, and so the understanding of an activity as an occupation rests, perhaps on personal meaningfulness.

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