What is Occupation?
Within the confines of this newsletter, it is possible to only discuss some of occupation's most salient points. Hopefully, however, this will not discourage readers to seek further understanding. While some readers may question the need to even discuss occupation, I believe that defining and understanding occupation should be important to all of us because:
- Occupation should be our preferred language
- As a therapy profession, we "own" occupation
- As occupation's legitimate owners, we should be experts
Definitions
I have learned that defining occupation can be simple or complex. Simply put, occupation simply is:
While this definition is indeed simple, it greatly undervalues the deeper and more complex meanings of occupation. There are many definitions of occupation striving to capture these deeper meaning. For example, Kielhofner's Model of Human Occupation defines occupation as:
Common threads running through other definitions of occupation include themes such as:
- Occupation is the fabric of our lives
- Occupation is a measure of our health
- Occupation is a basic tenet of our happiness and quality of life
Many definitions of occupation say similar things but do so in a unique and different language. Perhaps, the key to understanding occupation's deeper meaning is to find the language which speaks to you.
What it isn't
Being able to adequately and correctly define occupation includes not only knowing what it is, but also knowing what it isn't. Often, occupation is used synonymously with activity, task, activities of daily living (ADL) and function. However, occupation is not the same as these often-confused terms because they do not encompass occupation's deeper meanings. For example, one component of Activities of Daily Living (ADL) considers how a person dresses. However, dressing from an ADL perspective, typically does not addressed why or why not a person dresses or what the meaning of dressing might hold for a person. It is because of this lost meaning that ADL is not the same as occupation. This concept also holds true for function. Function is not the same as occupation and next month's OTnews will address why.
What it does
Having briefly discussed what occupation is and isn't, I would like to mention what can occur as we successful engage in occupation. By being able to engage in occupation, we are able to have autonomy, give our lives meaning and fulfill desired or assigned roles. In addition, it is through occupation that we are able to find flow. According to Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, activities producing flow allow us to grow and develop as human beings. Thus, in the absence of occupation, society might cease to exist, humans might discontinue growing and developing and life, as we know, might end.
Various models of occupation
If you are interested, there are many models of occupation. The breadth of different theories, while challenging to the reader, is indicative of the diversity and broadness of the topic. I encourage readers to learn more about human occupation by reading from the following selection:
- Enabling Occuliation: An Occuliational Theraliy liersliective (Canadian Model of Occupational Peformance)
- Occupational Competence Across the Life-Span
- Person-Environment Occupational Performance: A Conceptual Model for Practice
- Model of Human Occupation
- Lifestyle Performance: A Model For Engaging the Power of Occupation
These models are located in several sources and a basic search should easily locate any number of sources.
In Closing
I hope this newsletter provides usable information on occupation's basic tenets. As stated in the beginning, it is impossible to cover anything other than the basics but I hope that I have provided impetus for readers to learn more about our profession's namesake.
Next month's newsletter tackles the issue of occupation and function and why OT's may not want to consider themselves experts in function.
References
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1997). Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement With Everyday Life. New York: Basic Books.
Kielhofner, G. (1995). A Model of Human Occupation: Theory and Application, (2nd ed). Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins.
Random House Living Dictionary (1995). New York: Random House.