WFOT BULLETIN

Sustainability Special IssueApril 2020 Vol 76 issue 1

www.wfot.org

Occupational therapy practitioners have always recognised the importance

of the environmental context on occupational performance and subsequently

on human health and well-being. The pressing recognition of the effects of

climate change on life in the next few decades has recently thrust the issue

of sustainability to the forefront of primary human concerns, see:

www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals

Lack of sustainability threatens the environmental context within which

meaningful occupational participation occurs. It is the result of human

activity. Factors such as pollution, weather events, desertification and

environmental change are significant factors in public health, life expectancy

and life quality.

Unsustainable lifestyles contributing to climate change and resulting threat

to health and well-being means that sustainability has to be part of the

occupational therapy scope of practice (UCL-Lancet Commission, 2009;

Stancliffe, 2014; Wilcock, 2006). Concern about the environmental influence

on occupational performance, health, and well-being makes sustainability a

core topic for occupational therapy practitioners.

In this special edition of the WFOT Bulletin, authors are invited to submit

manuscripts exploring how they incorporate sustainability and/or how it

can be incorporated into practice, scholarship, and education. Theoretical,

research, or case report manuscripts covering the following content are

invited:

Promotion of “the idea of sustainability as relevant to human occupational

performance, making it part of the occupational therapy scope of practice

and scholarship” (World Federation of Occupational Therapists [WFOT] et al.,

2018);

WFOT BULLETIN

Sustainability Special IssueApril 2020 Vol 76 issue 1

“issues of ecosystem sustainability as it impacts ability to pursue chosen

meaningful occupations and subsequently human health and well-being” (p.

19);

demonstration of how to “work with interested service users and

communities to help them explore ways of participating in healthy,

meaningful occupations” and mitigate “environmental damage due to

unsustainable lifestyles” (p. 21).

Evaluation of collaborations “with service users to help them adapt to

deleterious and health-impacting effects of environmental degradation

due to unsustainable lifestyles so that they can continue to participate in

meaningful occupations in a sustainable manner” (p. 23).

Establishment of “competences for empowering communities to find ways

of facilitating meaningful occupations in a sustainable manner among

community members, taking into account the need to maintain equitability

and occupational justice” (pp. 25-26).

Evidence of practical effectiveness of “occupation-based interventions

to help interested service users and communities address ecosystem

sustainability issues” (p. 27).

References:

Stancliffe, R. (2014). Progress and reflections on sustainable healthcare in UK. Presented at the 3rd Annual UKSweden Sustainable Healthcare Summit. Embassy of Sweden, London, 24th April 2014. Retrieved from: http://www.sbhub.se/dokumentation/seminariepresentationer/sustainable-healthcare-london-3rd-annual

UCL-Lancet Commission. (2009). Managing the health effects of climate change. The Lancet, 373(9676), 1693-1733.

Wilcock, A. A. (2006). An occupational perceptive of health (2nd ed.). NJ: Slack.

World Federation of Occupational therapists. (2018). Sustainability matters: Guiding principles for sustainability in occupational therapy practice, education and scholarship. Retrieved from https://www.wfot.org/resources

Submit articles online at: www.wfot.link/bulletinsubmissionDeadline for submission: 1 October 2019