What occupational participation and adaptation mean for people experiencing illness or disability has been investigated for a long time in occupational therapy and occupational science. The term participation has become widely used in the field of health and welfare, including occupational ther- apy, in connection with the concepts of health and well-being since the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health(ICF)was published by the World Health Organization(WHO)in 2001. Meyer(1922), one of the founders of occupational therapy, pointed out that many diseases are problems of adaptation, and occupations can contribute greatly to adaptation to the problems of living. When I was 16 years old, a freshman in high school, I suffered a cervical spinal cord injury in a gymnastics accident and became disabled. After the injury, I was able to return to high school after six months of hospitalization, but was exposed to a very different experience from before the injury. This article aims to convey my own experiences using autoethnography and discuss about occupation, partici- pation, and adaptation.

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The keynote presentation at the 24th Japanese Society of Occupation Symposium explored how the knowing of occupational experiences provides a view into the complexity of occupation, which can become a gateway to well-being. In this paper, I argue how knowing occupational experiences, or exploring the subjective perspective of occupation can: 1)support occupational scientists' understanding of the relationship between occupation and well-being, and 2)assist occupational scientists to enable others to discover how occupation contributes to or influences one's well-being. I begin by defining and describing occupational experience and well-being and their intersection from my own research, experiences and other scholarly work. Next, I introduce the Occu- pational Experience Profile(OEP), a quantitative assessment of occupational experience. Then I illustrate its value to 1)assess what people do and experience in close temporal proximity and 2)promote users' awareness of the relationship between occupational experiences and well-being. The presentation concludes with several examples to illustrate how expansion of quantitative assessments of occupational experience may continue to enable occupational scientists to uncover the relationship between occupation and well-being of individuals and populations.

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Severe mental disorder is more likely to be accompanied by cognitive impairment, especially in schizo- phrenia, where general cognitive decline is often observed. Decline in cognitive functioning leads to difficulties in employment situations and daily life, and causes stress, which is indirectly related to the deterioration of the medical condition. In short, cognitive impairment has also been associated with clinical outcomes. Recently, cog- nitive rehabilitation programs such as NEAR(Neuropsychological Educational Approach to Cognitive Remedia- tion)and VCAT-J(Vocational Cognitive Ability Training by Jcores)have been implemented. Our group created a program called “Manabiba” based on them. In this program, patients completed VCAT-J training procedures using the software of the Japanese Cognitive Rehabilitation Program for Schizophrenia (Jcores). VCAT-J training consists of twice weekly, hour-long computerized training sessions using Jcores and weekly, hour-long group ses- sions over 12 weeks. In computerized training sessions, participants were presented with tasks related to the six domains of attention, working memory, motor speed, verbal memory, verbal fluency, and executive function. In group sessions, attention, concentration, and memory were mainly discussed, with reference to metacognition for generalization to daily life. At the beginning and end of the program, participants were assessed for cognitive functioning using the brief assessment of cognition in schizophrenia Japanese version(BACS-J)and other cogni- tive assessments, as well as the Assessment of motor and process skills(AMPS), and self-efficacy assessments. In this presentation, we will be discussing the usefulness of the program from multiple perspectives, focusing not only on the numerical changes in assessments but also on the qualitative changes in the participants.

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A review of the literature on 15 scales for assessing occupational balance revealed that 16 different scales have been developed. The measurement methods were mostly self-administered questionnaires, and cen- tered on a method of self-analysis by subjectively evaluating the occupational balance of the person concerned. In the definitions included in the instrument for evaluating occupational balance, similar descriptions were extracted as common elements and classified into four categories: [amount of occupation], [variation of occupation], [agreement with own values], and [results of occupational execution]. It is suggested that by adjusting the occupational balance from these four aspects, research can be developed to clarify the relationship between occupation and health. Clarification and visualization of the concept of occupational balance were identified as future issues.

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Abstract: Background: Due to the COVID-19, many people are forced to restraint from their activities. People who are restricted in their activities can be said to be in a state of occupational deprivation, but it is thought that they might be taking action to keep themselves healthy even in such a blocked situation. The purpose of this study is to determine the differences in coping behaviors between elderly and young in dealing with occupational deprivation, and to show the potential for new health promotion, especially for elderly based on the results. Methods: To explore the state of occupational deprivation among the elderly and the young and their coping behaviors, a questionnaire survey of 89 elderly and 264 young generation was conducted. In the questionnaire, basic attributes of the respondents, self-rated health, things they had stopped doing or reduced the number of times they did, and things they had started doing or increased the number of times due to the COVID-19 were asked. We analyzed the feature of coping behavior under occupational deprivation by the elderly and the young. Results: The coping behaviors were categorized into the following four groups: "loss or decrease of existing occupations," "enhancement of existing occupations," "continuation and maintenance of existing occupations," and "introduction of new occupations". There were no significant differences in self-rated health among the four groups, but there was a trend toward lower self-rated health when comparing "loss or decrease of existing occupations" and the other groups. The elderly tended to engage in outward-looking occupations such as creating social connections online, while the young tended to engage in inward-looking occupations such as familiar household chores and hobby. Conclusion: People had different coping behaviors that tended to vary by generation against occupational deprivation. Using online is already familiar among the elderly, and it is necessary to recognize for those potential they have and develop health promotion activities using ICT technology and other means.

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In recent years, there has been an increasing demand for men to actively participate in child rearing. The process of men becoming fathers is a transactional change that occurs through child rearing efforts, and understanding the process of fatherhood requires a careful look at individual experiences. Therefore, in this paper, we look back at the transactively expanded work experiences that accompany fatherhood. As a result, we found that men harmonically transformed into ideal fathers and activists through proactive doing. The work of child-rearing served as a starting point which organically intersected and harmonized with the situational ele- ments surrounding child-rearing, forming a process of continuous transaction as the work evolved. Furthermore, our study indicated that the actions which began with the efforts of individual parents can spread to a group level, leading to the creation of a more work-oriented and just society at the collective level.

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