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Occupational Therapy

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Occupational Therapy

Occupational therapy (OT) is the use of assessment and intervention to develop, recover, or maintain the meaningful activities, or occupations, of individuals, groups, or communities. It is an allied health profession performed by occupational therapists. OTs often work with people with mental health problems, disabilities, injuries, or impairments.

The American Occupational Therapy Association defines an occupational therapist as someone who "helps people across the lifespan participate in the things they want and need to do through the therapeutic use of everyday activities (occupations). Common occupational therapy interventions include helping children with disabilities to participate fully in school and social situations, injury rehabilitation, and providing supports for older adults experiencing physical and cognitive changes."

Typically, occupational therapists are university-educated professionals and must pass a licensing exam to practice. Occupational therapists often work closely with professionals in physical therapy, speech therapy, audiology, nursing, social work, clinical psychology, and medicine.

Early history

The earliest evidence of using occupations as a method of therapy can be found in ancient times. In c. 100 BCE, Greek physician Asclepiades treated patients with a mental illness humanely using therapeutic baths, massage, exercise, and music. Later, the Roman Celsus prescribed music, travel, conversation and exercise to his patients. However, by medieval times the use of these interventions with people with mental illness was rare, if not nonexistent.

In 18th-century Europe, revolutionaries such as Philippe Pinel and Johann Christian Reil reformed the hospital system. Instead of the use of metal chains and restraints, their institutions used rigorous work and leisure activities in the late 18th century. This was the Moral Treatment era, developed in Europe during the Age of Enlightenment, where the roots of occupational therapy lie. Although it was thriving in Europe, interest in the reform movement fluctuated in the United States throughout the 19th century. It re-emerged in the early decades of the 20th century as Occupational Therapy.

The Arts and Crafts movement that took place between 1860 and 1910 also impacted occupational therapy. In the US, a recently industrialized country, the arts and crafts societies emerged against the monotony and lost autonomy of factory work. Arts and crafts were used as a way of promoting learning through doing, provided a creative outlet, and served as a way to avoid boredom during long hospital stays.

Development into a health profession

The health profession of occupational therapy was conceived in the early 1910s as a reflection of the Progressive Era. Early professionals merged highly valued ideals, such as having a strong work ethic and the importance of crafting with one's own hands with scientific and medical principles. The National Society for the Promotion of Occupational Therapy, now called the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA), was founded in 1917 and the profession of Occupational Therapy was officially named in 1920.

The emergence of occupational therapy challenged the views of mainstream scientific medicine. Instead of focusing purely on the medical model, occupational therapists argued that a complex combination of social, economic, and biological reasons cause dysfunction. Principles and techniques were borrowed from many disciplines—including but not limited to physical therapy, nursing, psychiatry, rehabilitation, self-help, orthopedics, and social work—to enrich the profession's scope. Between 1900 and 1930, the founders defined the realm of practice and developed supporting theories. By the early 1930s, AOTA had established educational guidelines and accreditation procedures.

World War I forced the new profession to clarify its role in the medical domain and to standardize training and practice. In addition to clarifying its public image, occupational therapy also established clinics, workshops, and training schools nationwide. Due to the overwhelming number of wartime injuries, "reconstruction aides" (an umbrella term for occupational therapy aides and physiotherapy aides) were recruited by the Surgeon General. Between 1917 and 1920, nearly 148,000 wounded men were placed in hospitals upon their return to the states. The success of the reconstruction aides, largely made up of women trying to "do their bit" to help with the war effort, was a great accomplishment.

There was a struggle to keep people in the profession during the post-war years. Emphasis shifted from the altruistic war-time mentality to the financial, professional, and personal satisfaction that comes with being a therapist. To make the profession more appealing, practice was standardized, as was the curriculum. Entry and exit criteria were established, and the American Occupational Therapy Association advocated for steady employment, decent wages, and fair working conditions. Via these methods, occupational therapy sought and obtained medical legitimacy in the 1920s.

The profession has continued to grow and expand its scope and settings of practice. Occupational science, the study of occupation, was created in 1989 as a tool for providing evidence-based research to support and advance the practice of occupational therapy, as well as offer a basic science to study topics surrounding "occupation".

Author - CYBERMED LIFE NEWS
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