Development Of Ot; Arts And Crafts Of Today

594 Words3 Pages
What does this article tell you about the development of the Occupational Therapy profession? Thinking about a particular activity that you enjoy and/or is important to you, how much do you agree or disagree with the writer’s comments about “traditional arts and crafts” and the “arts of today”. Please justify your arguments. The Occupational Therapy profession has changed and evolved significantly from the early days to the present time. In this essay I will explain what the article “Computer Games and Karate: the Arts and Crafts of Today” by Gill Chard has told me about the development of the Occupational Therapy profession. I will then look at an activity that I enjoy and attempt to justify if I agree or disagree with the comments made in the article about the “traditional arts and crafts” and the “arts of today”. In the early days, the focus of Occupational Therapy and the use of occupation as a therapeutic tool of rehabilitation were based mainly on the activities of art and craft such as basket weaving and cord knotting. However, this began to change as the context of occupation changed from the doing of an activity to the occupation of the mind as a meaningful and worthwhile tool to promote health and well being. “Occupational Therapy in the 1930’s meant making something (Hocking 2007); Occupational Therapy today means making something of our time” (Chard 2007) A more holistic approach to patient centred care has evolved with meaningful occupation representing different things to different people. Activities of daily living also became thought of as useful tools of rehabilitation, joining the arts and crafts of the time. Evidence based practice evolved as a way of determining the success or failure of an intervention. “The difference now is the emphasis on the theory and knowledge base of occupation rather than on the individual occupations themselves”
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