Centralizing occupation in occupational therapy curricula: imperative of the new millennium

✍ Scribed by Gail Elizabeth Whiteford; Ann Allart Wilcock

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2001
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 20 KB
• Volume: 8
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0966-7903
• DOI: 10.1002/oti.134

✦ Synopsis

A new millennium provides an ideal opportunity to consider the future in the light of the past. The beginnings of the profession of occupational therapy were characterized by powerful voices articulating a message about the need to use occupation as a therapeutic tool in treating people with poor health and handicap. Rapid acceptance and growth of that idea occurred at a time when women enthusiastically engaged in paid employment, which allowed them to express humanitarian principles previously restricted to the domestic sphere. Courses were developed to build on existing knowledge and skills, focusing either on the medical dimensions of treatment or, for those already trained in medical know-how, skills in appropriate occupations. For many years there was little change to the underlying characteristics of such prototypic curricula. However, as time elapsed, each specialty in the profession demanded more and more content to support it, leading ultimately to a diminution of occupation-based subjects as others grew apace with scientific inquiry.

For our profession, the final decade of the last century was characterized by the historic renaissance of occupation in occupational therapy (Whiteford et al., 2000). Research that has focused on understanding the complex and multifaceted phenomenon of humans as occupational beings has contributed to a revitalized knowledge base that informs practice globally. The consolidation of occupationally focused practice models and approaches such as enabling occupation (CAOT, 1997) have, arguably, influenced how occupational therapists conceptualize and deliver services. In the light of these developments it is timely to consider to what extent occupational therapy curricula reflect these changes and are truly the hallmark of 'a self-defining profession' (Yerxa, 1998). However, ensuring that occupation is centralized in our curricula is more than