Contemporary Issues in Occupational Therapy

This book is a collection of essays on occupational therapy theory and its application in practice. They represent the reflections, on aspects of occupational therapy, of experts in their own fields who are at the cutting edge of theory development. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, occupational therapists are beginning to conceptualise occupational therapy as a complex intervention. This book provides the level of detail to support such an understanding. Two chapters discuss the profession of occupational therapy: how it has developed and what is involved in being an occupational therapist. Other chapters explore the idea of occupation from different perspectives, providing detailed analyses of the concept that is central to the profession of occupational therapy. The third type of chapter describes how theory is used in occupational therapy practice, for example, in making decisions or implementing research findings.

About the Editors vii Contributors ix Foreword by Elizabeth White xi Preface xiii Acknowledgements xv Introduction xvii Jennifer Creek and Anne Lawson-Porter 1 The thinking therapist 1 Jennifer Creek 2 The romance of occupational therapy 23 Clare Hocking 3 Occupation for occupational therapists: how far will we go? 41 Clare Hocking and Ellen Nicholson 4 A psychoanalytic discourse in occupational therapy 55 Lindsey Nicholls 5 What’s going on? Finding an explanation for what we do 87 Rosemary Caulton and Rayna Dickson 6 When service users’ views vary from those of their carers 115 Elizabeth White 7 Engaging the reluctant client 127 Jennifer Creek 8 Exploring the facets of clinical reasoning 143 Kit Sinclair 9 Knowing more than we can say 161 Priscilla Harries 10 Making sense of research utilisation 189 Katrina Bannigan Index 217