If you were to ask random people how they would define occupation a vast majority of the responses would be job or employment. While that is one definition of occupation, occupational therapists use another definition. Introduction to Occupational Therapy by Jane Clifford O'Brien defines occupation as "Activity in which one engages that is meaningful and central to one's identity." Today in class, we learned about decades from the 30's to modern day. We learned about the society, politics, big events, education, healthcare, occupational therapy, work, and leisure. With each presentation it was interesting to see how each topic of the presentation changed, specifically occupations, the OT definition. One occupation that changed throughout the time periods was the role of women. With the start of World War II, women went from keeping the house and children together to working and keeping the house and children together. After soldiers returned home from war, women were forced to return to the home. The Civil Rights Movement sparked the call for equality for all and gave women an opportunity to voice their opinions about wanting role outside of the home. Fast forward to present day and we have women who are the CEO's of major companies, such as IBM, Pepsi, General Motors and many more. Some women found that an activity that they engaged in, found meaningful, and was central to their identity, after having a job outside of the home, had changed. In other words, their occupation had changed and so had their view of where they fit into society.
Today in class we had a guest lecturer who is a driving rehabilitation specialist. He talked to us about the various diagnoses he sees, interventions and adaptations. It was a really cool class! We broke down just a few of the many components of driving and talked about how each diagnosis can alter/impair a persons driving capability. After the lecture we tried various assessments like the MoCA and SIMARD-MD on each other and went to look at the adaptive van he brought. Listening to this guest speaker today made me realize that OT's can be very beneficial when helping to determine if someone is safe to drive. One intervention you could do would be getting a larger rear view mirror to help someone who had limited range of motion in their neck to be able to see in their blind spots. Another intervention could be going to a muscular dystrophy clinic or primary care office and offering an inservice so the staff could be more informed and know who to refer to. Overall today was a ve
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