Occupational Therapy Practice Framework

Occupational Therapy Model / Frame of Reference (FOR) There are several frames of references that occupational therapy utilizes. The frame of reference (FOR) gives the therapist guidelines to follow as interventions are conducted. Choosing a proper FOR is key for the best treatment approach for each unique patient.

Occupational therapy provides assistance for those who are in need of assistance with daily living and work skills. These specialists work with people of various demographics to handle normal life challenges in a safe and healthy manner.

Rehabilitation and Disability: A Practice Setting in Occupational Therapy “In support of the Centennial Vision, in accordance with AOTA, Rehabilitation, Disability, and Participation, has been identified as a key practice area in the 21st century” (AOTA n.d.). But what is a disability and what does it mean to rehabilitate? To rehabilitate means to bring something back to its original state. A disability is defined as “anyone who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activity. This includes people who have a record of such an impairment, even if they do not currently have a disability” (ADA 2015).

When I first started my fieldwork at Creative Gifts I was unsure of what to do as an occupational therapy assistant student (OTAS). Though I have worked with this population, adults with developmental disabilities and am very comfortable in this setting, I am there in another capacity, as an occupational therapy (OT) practitioner. Once I started to see the clients from a perspective of an OT practitioner I was able to incorporate teachings that I learned from the classroom to help me provide services and create interventions for the clients on my caseload.

Final Essay Strengths First of all, I feel as if I am a very dedicated person, whether it’s related to my educational goals, current job or career goals, or personal relationships. I take dedication seriously because I believe dedication shows you truly care about that goal you are trying to attain or that person of which you are trying to maintain a good, lasting relationship. Going along hand-in-hand with dedication, I feel as if self-motivation is also a personal strength of mine. I’m currently trying to juggle a schedule of a full-time student, part-time job, extracurricular clubs and activities, and maintain a social life and being self-motivated is the only way to succeed at handling all of those things at once.

Men did not pursue the profession viewing as a lack of power as it was still heavily tied to view of women and as submissive, and for young single women.

Occupational Therapy is a profession primarily centred around client-therapist interactions. The main objective of an occupational therapist (OT) is to empower and assist their clients in their return to everyday life and activities. Occupational therapists work with their clients for extended periods of time in order to ensure that they are able to participate in their normal daily routines with some degree of ease. OT's achieve this goal through building trust and rapport with their clients by representing themselves with the highest degree of professional identity and following the codes of conduct, to which ensures safety to all involved in the achievement of this goal. As occupational therapists work closely with a number of different

and intrigued by the mind-body connection as well as the importance of human activity and occupation in maintaining mental and physical well-being. At the same time, my desire to work directly with people and be able to make a positive and lasting change to their lives by empowering them and helping discover their strengths and confidence in themselves to achieve their goals, led me to a realization that a career in occupational therapy would be a perfect fit for me.

As an occupational therapy (OT) practitioner I would want to work with a company or organization that upholds the values and principles of my profession. According to the American Organization Therapy Association (AOTA) as professionals, we should not violate the principles of; Beneficence, Autonomy, Veracity, Nonmaleficence, Fidelity and Justice (AOTA, 2015).

Ralph Emerson once said, “The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful … to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.” I chose the profession of occupational therapy to embrace this rationale of life; to encourage others to help themselves and discover the resilience and strength they have to successfully re-integrate with their community. At Hunter College I majored in psychology and I wanted to continue to apply this knowledge through a health care career. Occupational Therapy effectively concentrates on the psychological, emotional, and physical well-being of the patient, while facilitating those individuals with illnesses or injuries to re-learn everyday tasks.

For the practice of Occupational Therapy it teaches meaningful, functional, and adaptive life skills; it is a profession that enhances activities of daily living (ADL), and instrumental activities of daily living (IADL). IADL’s including community mobility, is a critical area for the United States citizens. Driving is an instrumental activity that needs addressed with each client for safety and testing motor movements. Between 2002 and 2012, more than 1.5 million U.S. soldiers returned to the United States after an active duty Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraq Freedom (OIF; U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs [VA], 2012a). Soldiers are trained specifically to what branch of service they’re going into. Going through strict training their units,

1.Describe, in your own words, how occupational therapy helps people. Occupational therapy allows a patient to work towards the goal of being able to perform basic everyday functional tasks. Therapy will differ for each patient, providing purposeful tasks that will allow the most growth for the specific individual needs. Being able to be an independent individual that can perform functional tasks is something that most people strive for, and if something happened that altered this way of life, it can be very stressful and even feel dehumanizing to the patient. Striving for independence and working with the therapists is something that will positively affect the patient's quality of life.

Occupational therapy saved my family. Growing up with a sister with severe spastic cerebral palsy to include both cognitive and functional deficits, life existed on a day to day, hour by hour basis, as we were unsure of challenges each moment would bring. This all changed the moment occupational therapy brought quality of life back to me and my family. My very personal experience defined my purpose to become an occupational therapist, to pay the gift given my family forward.

You ever get that good feeling from helping someone that 's in need. Its many people that needs help or healing in their life. Some need spiritually healing and some need healing physically. He people that help them are amazing people. That 's why I want to become a therapy assistant. I want to help people get back on their feet mentally and physically. This a great occupation to have.

Multiple drivers surviving a serious car crash generally require some form of occupational therapy for recovery. The Occupational Therapist, conducts comprehensive driving evaluations by developing plans for the individual to continue driving, or assist the person in transitioning from driver to passenger. These decisions are based upon clinical assessments of the individual’s vision, cognition, motor performance, reaction time, and knowledge of traffic rules, as well as provide a behind-the wheel assessment of one’s driving skills.