WHAT IS OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY 1

What Is Occupational Therapy

Walker OTH510
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Occupational therapy is a client centered profession that promotes and focuses on health

and wellbeing through active participation in occupational activities. (AOTA, 2017) Its purpose

enables people to achieve overall health and wellbeing by engaging in daily activities that they

want, need, and are expected to do at home and in the community. (AOTA, n.d) Occupational

Therapy practitioners apply knowledge of and expertise in therapeutic use of occupations

(Gillen, 2019; Gillen, et al., 2019) linearly with therapeutic use of self (Taylor, 2020). These

skills are meaningful, purposeful, and collaborative facilitations of client experiences to achieve

a therapeutic goal. (Nelson, 1996; Clouston, 2016). One notion for consideration is the

appreciation of every factor “outside” of an individual and how it shapes their characteristics and

what they can become. Practitioners use current evidence-based research to formulate

intervention approaches specific to the client based on cultural relevance for occupation centered

participation. Two approach areas for interventions are how an occupation can maintain health

and prevent health deficiencies, which provide support and education to promote health and

success for the person (Boyt Schell et al., 2019).

Occupations are daily activities that have meaningful value and bring purpose to

individuals, families, and communities. A daily occupation includes dressing oneself. This

activity includes the planning, selecting, dressing in a sequential pattern, and fastening of

clothing and accessories. (AOTA, 2020) The weather and time of day may influence how an

individual will dress as well as the social influences or status an individual wants to portray.

When an individual dresses appropriately for weather circumstances such as snow, it can protect

the body from cold temperatures or potential harm and sickness which affects physiological

health. The brand of clothing or socioeconomic status of what a person wears can create an

identity and further affect finances or the mental health of an individual. Occupational therapy
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encompasses health and wellbeing, through the human life domain. (Christensen & Baum, 1997)

Performance skills are observable goal-directed actions that include motor, social and processing

skills. Performance patterns are engaging in activities including habits, rituals, and routines.

Contexts are broad personal and environmental factors and client factors are more specific

characteristics of an individual that include values, beliefs, body functions and structures. These

patterns and skills create a domain of how, what and potentially why an individual performs

daily activities (AOTA OTPF-4, exhibit 1).

The OT can evaluate the clients’ values or interests and apply that to what occupations

the clients are interested in. Considering how the client views success and understanding the

barriers that can affect their success in occupations. By understanding the domain information,

practitioners can evaluate barriers or strengths of the individual and work with the client for

goal-oriented outcomes focusing on the occupation as an intervention. (AOTA, 2021) Two

clinical practice areas associated with dressing are acute care in hospital settings and

rehabilitative industrial work. Although there are overlapping qualities, these areas differ in the

application of occupations. Depending on the injury, in the acute care facility, an occupational

therapist will focus on adapting and restoring how an individual dresses. Modifying the articles

of clothing one puts on or how they put on clothes to reduce further injury and infection.

Understanding the clients’ priorities and the body movements will influence the intervention

process for the OT to promote health and wellbeing for this setting. Whereas in the rehabilitative

work industry, an OT may educate appropriate clothing for safety purposes such as boots and

hard hats that align with company policy. Focusing on promoting and preventing to control their

wellness through dress in work rehab setting. The client can learn how clothing can restrict

movement, which affects how efficiently a job can be accomplished. What an individual wears
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can affect mental attitudes and is linked to client personal factors. Educating the individual can

guide them in accomplishing goals to return to the working environment. Occupational therapy,

in simplified terms, are people or groups of people working together alongside an Occupational

Therapist for a common client goal. The individual brings all their experiences, characteristics,

strengths, weaknesses and knowledge to the therapist. The therapist then uses that information to

create, with the individual or group of people, goals using activities to increase health and

involvement in their lives and in the community.

Participation is involvement in life experiences and activities (WHO, 2006). This

concept displays the importance individuals can independently formulate their own choices and

experiences to not only give them control but shape their daily living. (Hammell, 2018) There

are occupations that an individual needs to do or is expected to do and whether they choose to or

lack resources to accomplish the activity has varying results. Quality of life correlates with

balancing occupations and involvement in those activities. As life changes, so do our patterns of

daily occupations. Daily routine without meaningful activities and with a lower level of activity

can lead to a decline in physical and cognitive functions. (NIH, 2021). If an individual

continually participates in activities they do not personally enjoy or have commonalities,

motivation decreases to expend energy for other activities. For example, if you clean your house

all day because it needs to be done and you do not balance that out with leisure or play, an

individual can have increased stress, decreased motivation, and changed behavior. But by

balancing what’s expected and what one wants to do, individuals create a harmonious quality of

life for health and well-being. (NIH, 2021). I’ve had the opportunity to work at a Residential

Habilitation facility for disabled individuals with a firsthand witness of positive and negative

health impact. There was a correlation of increased health with participation. As the individuals
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followed a routine they developed, there was an increase in purpose and participation in daily

living tasks. This also leaked into participation in group activities and community involvement.

Although the individuals may not have wanted to shower, as they set goals to accomplish

personal hygiene, they had positive interactions with others in the community to build

friendships. There also was a negative correlation to health with participation. An individual,

although introverted, did not want to follow a personal routine and just play video games. This

occupation, although one they enjoyed, showed to negatively affect the individual. Their diet was

affected, sleep patterns fluctuated, they were sedentary for many hours throughout the day. The

differences between the two individuals had many contextual factors, but there was a correlation

of increase in wellbeing by participating in a variety of occupations.

Performance is measured as a personal accomplishment of a task, skill or idea. Other

measurements entail habits, routines, roles, and rituals that can hinder or support occupational

performance. (AOTA, 2020) Occupational performance is the dynamic transaction between

client experiences, context, and activities. (Baum, 1997) More specifically how the motor,

process and social skills work in combination of an individual in carrying out an activity.

(AOTA, 2020) These two concepts work linearly in performance usage, by accomplishing tasks

through skills that the individual already possesses and adds the occupation of experience and

interest in an activity to improve and engage in the desired activity. To illustrate this concept, the

occupational performance of changing oil on a vehicle. The individual may have basic or expert

level of skills in performance. This activity involves patterns, motor skills, process skills and

social skills. An individual could go to a mechanic and have them change their oil, but applying

these concepts can support an individual’s experience. The individual uses patterns such as roles

for identifying purpose. Motor skills such as reaching or bending to accomplish this task. Making
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a plan or process skills to increase efficiency and social skills when interacting with another

individual while changing oil.

Health and wellness are the active process of individuals making choices to improve or

maintain their positive state of physical, mental, and social aspects of life. When an individual

chooses an occupation, they enjoy this can promote the process of positive health and wellness.

(Hocking, 2019). The occupation of playing billiards can promote health and wellbeing for

individuals, especially those who like pool. At the Harman center in Yakima, there are elderly

and disabled people who travel this hub to play billiards. Positive promotions of health through

billiards are social, integrating into the community and joining clubs or groups for increased

involvement. Physical activities such as bending, reaching, pulling, pushing, walking, and

participating in billiards for exercise. Wellbeing includes satisfaction with participation in

activities. (AJOT, 2020) Participating in occupations reduces sedentary lifestyles which increase

physical movement and community involvement. Creating opportunities for individuals to

participate in whether that be veterans with mental health concerns, to advocate awareness for

suicide and preventative measures or hospitals that educate and create life enrichment groups to

promote involvement in exercise activities to prevent and maintain cardiovascular health. Using

occupations as preventative measures to increase health and wellness. Purposeful involvement in

occupations assists in prevention of disease, in particular non-communicable diseases. By giving

priority to preventative activities, we may be able to reduce the incidence and severity of disease,

thus also reducing the cost of treatment (Jaffe, 1986). Walking around the park is an occupation

to assist in preventing disease. People with animals utilize this occupation to reduces stress,

increases physical activity not only for themselves but for their pet which are both associated

with preventing cardiovascular disease.

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My understanding of occupational therapy has become more refined and improved

already. From my application into PNWU, I stated that occupations are about experiences that

“give rise to fuel our passions” and activities. And that occupational therapy was skills used to

perform occupations therapeutically, mostly gained information by my shadow and work

opportunities alongside OT’s. My understanding was considerably basic and consists of a small

part of what actually defines occupational therapy. I have now learned that there are domains,

contextual, environmental, personal factors, and movement that are included in practice.

Occupational therapy starts when you walk into a room, not just with a patient but in all settings

of your life. Therapeutic use of self, using your strengths, experiences, knowledge gained and

continued learning to shape decisions and critical thinking. How one can use occupational

therapy to advocate for yourself, clients, families and communities. I learned the concepts to

define occupation and how everything we do is and can be used effectively in different

approaches. I learned that “it depends” on many circumstances but by having a client centered

focus and following guidelines, frameworks, and ethics we can have a good base for continued

education to further define these problems. Most of what I want to learn applies in a clinical

setting, which I know experiences come in time. More specifically implementing and

understanding how observation and reasoning are key applications as an OT. Learning how to do

these two effectively and using that to inform interventions on the fly. Another aspect I still

struggle with and would like to learn more effectively are how subcategories of the domain and

the appropriate location to identify for organization of the factors of my clients. The code of

ethics and framework are of great worth to me currently. They give me a base of information to

start where I can make choices and learn further for installments into who I want to be as a

practitioner. Understanding that core values are important, and that advocating is a bigger aspect
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to the profession and its significance. One aspect that I still struggle with is the definitions to use

not only when explaining the ideology of the profession but using the correct terminology.

The ambiguity and autonomy I find fascinating, but I also struggle because there is no

finite answer. My knowledge expanded when studying about the scope of practice. There are so

many things that are occupations. Sleep as an occupation was surprising because I never

considered it something you do. I understood it as a necessity but never thought about the

correlation with promoting health and wellness and the aspects of sleep. Occupational therapy

looks at all aspects of everything. The process and planning, the execution, feedback, review,

metacognition are all aspect that I did not expect that not only furthered my understanding of

what the profession is and what it can accomplish but also gave me deeper solidity in why I

chose this profession. I feel confident in explaining what occupational therapy is in basic

concepts, as stated above. The use of examples to assist in that explanation has been beneficial in

some personal instances. I look forward to furthering my understanding and refinement to

promote health and wellness for myself, others, and occupational therapy profession now and in

the future.
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References

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American Occupational Therapy Association. (2017). Philosophical base of occupational

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NIH., (2021). Effects of occupational balance and subjective health, quality of life and health

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