Occupational therapy

Mazyad Alotaibi

Occupational therapy1-definition of occupational therapy According to the World Federation of Occupational

Therapy, “occupational therapy is a profession concerned with promoting health and well being through engagement in occupation.

Occupational therapy (also abbreviated as OT) is a holistic health care profession that aims to promote health by enabling individuals to perform meaningful and purposeful activities across the lifespan

Occupational therapists are health professionals that use treatments to develop, recover, or maintain the daily living and work skills of their patients with a physical, mental or developmental condition.

The occupational therapy process includesan individualized evaluation during which the

client/family and occupational therapist determine the individual’s goals;

a customized intervention to improve the person’s ability to perform daily activities and reach his/her goals

an outcomes evaluation to monitor progression towards meeting the client’s goals

Occupational therapy interventions focus on:1) adapting the environment,

2) modifying the task,

3) teaching the skill,

4) and educating the client/family in order to increase participation in and performance of daily activities.

History of occupational therapy• The earliest evidence of using occupations as a method of therapy can

be found in ancient times. In c. 100 BCE, Greek physicians who initiated human treatment of patients with mental illness using therapeutic baths, massage, exercise and music.

• The emergence of occupational therapy challenged the views of mainstream scientific medicine. Instead of focusing on purely physical etiologies, 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 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.

• In a short 20-year span, they successfully convinced the public and medical world of the value of occupational therapy and established standards for the profession.

• 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,

• Then occupational therapy also established clinics, workshops, and training schools nationwide. Due to the overwhelming number of wartime injuries,

Occupational therapy process• An Occupational Therapist works systematically through a

sequence of actions known as the occupational therapy process.

• There are several versions of this process as described by numerous writers, all theses processes include the basic components of:

a) evaluation,

b) intervention,

c) and outcomes

Areas of practice in occupational therapy• The role of Occupational Therapy allows OT’s to work in many different

settings, work with many different populations and acquire many different specialties

1- Children & Youth• Occupational therapists work with infants, toddlers, children, and youth

and their families in a variety of settings including schools, clinics, and homes.

• Occupational therapists assist children and their caregivers to build skills that enable them to participate in meaningful occupations.

• Occupational therapy with Children and Youth may take a variety of forms:1. Promoting a wellness program in schools to prevent childhood obesity

2. Facilitating hand writing development in school-aged children

3. Promoting functional skills for living in children with developmental disabilities

4. Providing individualized treatment for sensory processing difficulties

5. Addressing psychosocial needs of a child and teaching effective coping strategies

2- Health & Wellness• The practice area of Health and Wellness is emerging steadily

due to the increasing need for wellness-related services in occupational therapy. A connection between wellness and physical health, as well as mental health, has been found; consequently, helping to improve the physical and mental health of clients can lead to a general increase in wellness.

• As a practice area, health and wellness can include a focus on the following:

1) Prevention of disease and injury

2) Prevention of secondary conditions

3) Promotion of the well-being of those with chronic illnesses

4) Reduction of health care disparities

5) Enhancement of factors that impact quality of life

6) Promotion of healthy living practices, social participation, and occupational justice

3- Mental Health• According to the World Health Association, mental illness is one of the fastest

growing forms of disability. There is a focus on prevention and treatment of mental illness in populations including children, youth, the aging, and those with severe and persistent mental health issues.

• Occupational therapists provide mental health services in a variety of settings including hospitals, day programs, and long-term-care facilities.

• Occupational therapists help individuals with mental illness acquire the skills to care for themselves or others including the following:

1- schedule maintenance

2- routine building

3- coping skills

4- medication management

5- employment

6- education

7- community access and participation

8- social skills development

9- leisure activities.

10- money management

11- childcare

4- Productive Aging• Occupational therapists work with older adults to maintain

independence, participate in meaningful activities, and live fulfilling lives. Some examples of areas that occupational therapists address with older adults are driving, continuing to live at home, low vision, and dementia or Alzheimer’s Disease (AD).

• When addressing driving, driver evaluations are administered to determine if drivers are safe behind the wheel.

• To enable independence of older adults at home, occupational therapists perform fall screens and evaluate older adults functioning in their homes and recommend specific home modifications

• When addressing low vision, occupational therapists modify tasks and the environment

5- Rehabilitation• Occupational therapists provide treatment for adults

with disabilities in a variety of settings including1) hospitals (acute rehabilitation, in-patient rehabilitation,

and out-patient rehabilitation),

2) home health,

3) skilled nursing facilities,

4) and day rehabilitation programs.

• When planning treatment, occupational therapists address the physical, cognitive, psychosocial, and environmental needs involved in adult populations across a variety of settings

• Occupational therapy with adult rehabilitation, disability, and participation may take a variety of forms:

1) Working with adults with autism at day rehabilitation programs to promote successful relationships and involvement in the community

2) Increasing the quality of life for a cancer survivor or individual with cancer by engaging them in occupations that are meaningful.

3) providing therapy for lymphedema management, implementing anxiety and stress reduction methods, and fatigue management

4) Training individuals with hand amputations how to put on and take off a myoelectrically controlled limb as well as training for functional use of the limb.

5) Providing services for those in the armed forces such as cognitive treatment for traumatic brain injury, training and education towards the use of prosthetic devices for amputations, and treatment for psychological distress as a result of post-traumatic stress disorder

6- Work & Industry• Occupational therapists may also work with clients who have

had an injury and are trying to get back to work. • Testing may be completed to simulate work tasks in order to

determine best matches for work, accommodations needed at work, or the level of disability.

• Work conditioning and hardening are approaches used to restore performance skills needed on the job that may have changed due to an illness or injury.

• Occupational therapists can also prevent work related injuries through ergonomics and on site work evaluations.