Occupational Therapy History

To be able to know where we are as Occupational Therapy practitioners today, you have to know where we started and how we’ve developed over the years. According to Hussey and O’Brien, (2012), “the history of Occupational therapy can be traced with two threads intertwined.” (P. 14) One of the threads relates to social, political and cultural events that have influenced the delivery of healthcare in general and occupational therapy in particular. The other part of occupational therapy history is made up of occupational therapy professionals and their directional influence on occupational therapy. In the Eighteenth and Nineteenth centuries, there was an awakening. This awakening brought awareness to how the mentally disabled were mistreated

By using occupation, they were able to improve personal skills and focus on the tasks at hand opposed to their disorders. In the Twentieth century, expansion in science and technology called for a contingency of proponents of the arts and crafts development. Hussey and O’Brien, (2012) state that the Arts and Crafts movement was founded on a belief that “using one’s hands to make items, connected people physically and mentally, and thus was healthier.” (p. 15) During this movement, people with disabilities who could be productive and functional, could have quality of life. In 1917, the formal “birth” of Occupational therapy finally came about. Occupational therapy is a holistic, personalized, occupational based profession. World War I helped further occupational therapy as a profession as it called for the

There is a limit as to how much the government will pay for in accordance to income. Should a client or whomever is financially responsible for a client, make more than what they are funded for, the patient will lose therapy until they are in financial need once again. Thus, causing delays in much needed therapy. According to Fisher and Friesema (2013), occupational therapists have the opportunity to lead in things such as fall prevention; however, if other professions “position themselves as the most qualified to address these key domains, occupational therapy practitioners will be left out.” Again, that is why practitioners must stay on top of evidence based research and continue advocating for occupational