3. Transitions of the Concept of Health in Occupational Therapy

Abstract

  In 1917, occupational therapy was founded, and practitioners began to be educated in the United States in a health profession that supports people with illness or disability or both to return to society through being engaged in an occupation. Occupational therapy’s founders based the profession on a holistic view of human health shaped by daily occupations, and, in response, education of practitioners was broadly focused. Since its inception, the profession of occupational therapy has had 2 major transitions in its concept of health which have affected the education of practitioners. In the first transition, occupational therapy gained professional protection by its close association with rehabilitation medicine but was heavily influenced by the conventional medical model and developed practice methods based on the patient’s medical diagnosis. In its second transition, the occupational therapy profession moved again to a broader concept of health, a participatory model. Anthropology has supported and continues to assist occupational therapy in this transition. This article discusses the contribution of anthropology from the viewpoint of an occupational therapy researcher and educator.