Pushing back against a 'Fourth Paradigm' in the occupational therapy profession

Occupational therapists have a century long tradition of identity confusion and that has been complicated by incrementalism in how the profession defines its scope of practice.  A significant victory against incrementalism was realized in the 2014 Fall Representative Assembly Meeting when the Philosophy of Education document that was proposed was not supported, but an amended document passed that removed references to the 'occupational needs of institutions.'  The amended document now reads: "Occupational therapy (OT) education prepares occupational therapy practitioners to address the occupational needs of individuals, groups, communities, and populations"The motion was to replace the word "institutions" with the word "groups" as individuals, groups, communities and populations have human occupational needs as OTs know and understand them, and it makes the language of the new document consistent with the Occupational Therapy Performance Framework (3rd edition).  This motion passed the RA on a vote of  38 Aye, 11 Nay, and 1 Abstention.Concern expressed by delegates was that occupational therapists worked in the contexts of institutions but not directly on or with institutions.  That may seem like parsing words but there is a critical distinction.  Arguments focused on the fact that occupational therapists work with people who have occupational needs, and that stating we worked with institutions was potentially confusing to external stakeho...
Source: ABC Therapeutics Occupational Therapy Weblog - Category: Occupational Health Tags: OT Education OT practice philosophy Source Type: blogs