Crux of Occupational Therapy Practice:

Blog Entry five:

Crux of occupational therapy practice:

The ‘Domain of Concern’ is what all occupational therapist have in common with one another. We all take a unique occupational perspective on life and by having an occupational lens enables us to understand what people are doing and perhaps what they want, need to do for their survival and therefore to be healthy, live well and experience well-being.

The World Health Organization (1986) from the Ottawa Charter states that “Health promotion is the process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve, their health. To reach a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, an individual or group must be able to identify and to realize aspirations, to satisfy needs, and to change or cope with the environment” (WHO, 1986).

As occupational therapists we are concerned with the question, ‘Why is this person having difficulties in their daily activities/occupations and what can we adapt to make it possible for the individual to better manage their health and well-being?’ To practice using an ‘active ageing’ perspective does not require needing to understand another model or approach to practice by, instead it requires that we as occupational therapists are true to the concept that occupation promotes health and well-being.

References:

The World Health Organization (1986) retrieved 30/07/2012
from http://www.nzaot.com/resources/primary-health-care-toolkit/health-promotion.php.