Skip to main content

Model of Human Occupation

   Throughout the presentations given in class today regarding the history of occupational therapy, one character that stood out to me was Dr. Gary Kielhofner. He is responsible for creating the Model of Human Occupation, first published in 1980, which is the most widely used theory in OT research and practice today. This model aimed to explain how human occupation is motivated, patterned, and performed. It emphasizes that humans are complex and many factors contribute to human occupation, including the context or environment in which it takes place.
   While Dr. Kielhofner is responsible for the foundation of this theory through his master thesis, it has been built upon my numerous others throughout the past few decades, evolving into what it is today. Just as OTs can work in a variety of settings and with many diagnoses, the Model of Human Occupation can be used for traumatic brain injury, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and dementia as well as in hospitals, outpatients clinics, and nursing homes, just to name a few. The strong foundation laid by Dr. Kielhofner, volume of input and collaboration by other experts into this model, and years of refinement have helped to make the Theory of Human Occupation a current leading theory in the field of occupational therapy.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why Universal Design?

In his TED talk, Michael Nesmith explains, via a translator, why we need universal design. The term "universal design" was coined by Ron Mace, and is defined as "the design of products and environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design." Clearly, as a man with hearing issues, Michael has a unique perspective on the topic of universal design. A helpful illustration given during his talk has to do with a doorknob. Maybe you haven't ever given doorknobs much thought (I sure hadn't before this TED talk), but that's usually how it goes for people who have no issues using a one on a daily basis. What about people using wheelchairs, or a mother pushing a stroller? Doorknobs become a bigger issue to those who do not have complete accessibility to them. However, a simple solution was created to fix this issue: the automatic sliding door. Michael explains, "This is such a univer...
3 comments
Read more

Children's Hand Skills Framework (CHSF)- OT Theory

The Children's Hand Skills Framework is a conceptual tool used to describe and analyze children's hand skills during assessment and intervention. The CHSF divides hand skills into 6 categories, based on the extent to which their hands are in contact with objects or parts of the body or not. These categories include manual gesture and body contact; these two categories do not involve contact with a specific object. The next categories are object-related hand skills, adaptive skilled hand use, bimanual use. The final category is general quality of hand use skills, such as accuracy or pace of children's hand skills. The population targeted with this theory, as indicated by the title, is children, and involves any diagnosis. Hand skills adequate enough to enable children to participate in daily occupations are considered functional in this framework. Object-related hand skills include actions such as reaching, turning/rotating, throwing, or catching an object. Adaptive skilled ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Level II Fieldwork

As I am starting to prepare for my level II fieldwork rotations, the biggest thing I am trying to keep in mind is that I am not expected to come into these new settings/situations as an expert. As a student, I am not going to be expected to be perfect, as I am still learning and growing. While it is important to prepare and do my best, I know that my fieldwork educators are going to teach me and push me along during my three months in each setting. One quality that fieldwork educators like to see in their students is confidence. While I might not be confident in all of my skills yet, I should be confident in my ability to learn and improve. Another positive quality in a fieldwork student is being responsible and taking advantage of your own learning. This includes being on time, being alert, and doing work at home (researching diagnoses, interventions, familiarizing yourself with assessments/precautions, etc). I think that the ideal fieldwork student is motivated, ask...
Post a Comment
Read more