{"title":"Engaging with occupational reconstructions: A perspective from the Global South","authors":"M. Motimele","doi":"10.1080/14427591.2022.2110659","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14427591.2022.2110659","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The discipline of occupational science informs philosophy and theory in the profession of occupational therapy. It is therefore imperative that the discipline and profession develop a symbiotic relationship that is mutually responsive to the occupational engagement patterns of populations and groups within their respective contexts. Protest is a phenomenon with a long, violent history in South Africa. Protests that are characterised by violence and met with state-sanctioned violence have continued to occur across multiple sectors despite South Africa’s shift from an Apartheid to a Democratic state in 1994. It is of concern that both violence and protest are minimally explored within occupational science and occupational therapy, even though these two phenomena regularly co-occur, impacting the health and well-being of participating citizens. Occupational reconstruction is a concept developed in the Global North that offers an understanding of social activism from an occupational perspective. Decolonial theory reminds us to pay attention to geo-political relations of power and how these influence what is considered as knowledge, who is positioned as knowers, and how context is read. Guided by this framework, I situate myself as a thinker from the Global South and engage with the concept of occupational reconstructions from this position, identifying what this construct might offer research concerned with violence in protest. I consider the case of Rhodes Must Fall (RMF) at the University of Cape Town between 2015 and 2016, noting questions raised by the application of this construct to these protests, the need for context-driven research in occupational science, and implications for the role and scope of occupational therapy practice.","PeriodicalId":51542,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Occupational Science","volume":"29 1","pages":"478 - 481"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2022-09-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44050857","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Occupational science’s stalled revolution and a manifesto for reconstruction","authors":"Gelya Frank","doi":"10.1080/14427591.2022.2110658","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14427591.2022.2110658","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This publication develops a keynote presented at the 27th USC Chan Occupational Science Symposium, “Occupations disrupted: Pandemics and the reshaping of everyday life,” on November 5, 2021. I used the social theory of occupational reconstructions—shared problem-solving through narrative alignments and collective action—to reflect on occupational science’s progress since its founding 30 years ago. I argue that (1) the science of occupation has stalled in today’s neoliberal university; and that (2) ‘consequential questions’ must be formulated across the discipline to develop useful knowledge from different locations, positionalities, and contexts. A ‘consequential question,’ I propose, produces knowledge useful to solving problems of wide concern to the discipline, other disciplines, and the public; and sets up a scientific research program that progresses empirically and theoretically. I explain why the founders’ pragmatist framing of occupation as mind-body experience remains important to recent critiques of the discipline and its future advancement. Likewise, I explain how pragmatism can and must transact with various critical (Marxist, poststructuralist) philosophies and other (positivist, alternative) epistemologies regarding societal problems such as occupational justice, human rights, decolonization, political polarization, and the erosion of democracy. I suggest that federally funded biomedical research in the neoliberal university is not currently designed to advance a science of occupation, although it could if occupational scientists were to face the discipline’s contradictions under neoliberalism and reconstruct its common purpose.","PeriodicalId":51542,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Occupational Science","volume":"29 1","pages":"455 - 477"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2022-08-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46836667","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Exploring doing activism as a means for political action and social transformation in Germany","authors":"C. Müllenmeister, Jesper Larsen Maersk, L. Farias","doi":"10.1080/14427591.2022.2110146","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14427591.2022.2110146","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Activism is what people do to bring about social transformation. Yet, there is scarce research on activism and its shaping of everyday life in occupational science. Understanding activism as a product of collective doing in specific contexts can contribute to current debates about the political nature of occupation and processes of social transformation through occupation. Therefore, the aim of this study was explore the doing of activism by people in Germany who identify as activists and the ways it influences their everyday lives. An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was used to analyze data from semi-structured interviews with six individuals living in Germany who self-identify as activists. The analysis focussed on the doing, experiences, and tensions resulting from engagement in activism. The findings are presented through three themes: ‘Doing activism together’, ‘Doing activism versus personal/family obligations’, and ‘Doing activism around the clock’. Together, the findings present a more nuanced understanding of occupations oriented towards social transformation by illustrating how activism can raise awareness of important social issues but also take over participants’ everyday lives and create tensions with their family/work/study priorities and responsibilities. This study enriches current understandings of occupation for individual and society’s social transformation by illustrating how occupation can be used as political expression and action. The findings also contribute to debates about a tendency to focus on the positive nature of occupations, neglecting tensions and potential risks for participants and others.","PeriodicalId":51542,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Occupational Science","volume":"30 1","pages":"377 - 389"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2022-08-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47416917","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Chelsea Ramirez, Karen McCarthy, Ana Cabalquinto, Carmela Dizon, Mai Santiago
{"title":"Batok: The exploration of Indigenous Filipino tattooing as a resistive collective occupation","authors":"Chelsea Ramirez, Karen McCarthy, Ana Cabalquinto, Carmela Dizon, Mai Santiago","doi":"10.1080/14427591.2022.2110145","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14427591.2022.2110145","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Batok (also known as Fatek/Burik/Tatak/Batek/Patik) is an Indigenous Filipino tattooing practice where the practitioner marks the skin by hand-tapping the ink using bone/wood implements. Previous research on tattooing from an occupational science perspective has considered European tattooing and its engagement and implication on the individual. This qualitative research explores how batok is experienced by the person and their identified community. Three Filipino participants with batok, and four family or community members were interviewed. Thematic analysis highlighted three themes recognized as Kapwa, Revealing One’s Batok, and Decolonization and Reclamation as a Cultural Practice. These themes are situated in the lens of a collective occupation and encapsulate the experience of the batok process among individuals with batok and their family/community members. Findings support the conceptualization of batok as a resistive collective occupation. This research provides deeper insight into the collective occupation of Indigenous cultural practice, with the potential to expand occupational science’s understanding of decolonizing occupations.","PeriodicalId":51542,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Occupational Science","volume":"30 1","pages":"363 - 376"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2022-08-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48635951","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Inaugural World Occupational Science Conference. Occupation and Society: Global to Local Perspectives for the Future","authors":"","doi":"10.1080/14427591.2022.2111001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14427591.2022.2111001","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":51542,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Occupational Science","volume":"29 1","pages":"S1 - S116"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2022-08-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45627880","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Social transformation on the neoliberal university: Reconstructing an academic commitment","authors":"V. Santos","doi":"10.1080/14427591.2022.2110660","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14427591.2022.2110660","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Gelya Frank’s (2022) keynote at the 27th USC Occupational Science Symposium invites the occupational science community to face the contradictions between its aspiration to create a ‘science of occupation’ and its actual practices under neoliberalism. Frank’s scholarship offers a path for the stalled science to reconstruct itself. Her theory of occupational reconstructions calls for discipline-wide conversations to formulate empirically answerable ‘consequential questions.’ The global relevance of Frank’s argument makes it important to consider Ong’s (2007) nuanced view of neoliberalism as a technology of governance that migrates and shows up differently in different contexts. Her theory of Occupational Reconstruction emphasizes social experimentation, solidarity through embodied engagement in shared occupations, relationships between shared narratives and collective actions, and non-coercive participation by people hoping to ameliorate a shared problem. Because such categories are open to local communities’ histories, languages and desires, the theory lends itself to research and practice in diverse situations, wherever people are struggling for social and occupational justice. Frank’s critical perspectives also apply to occupational therapy professional education. I offer the example of neoliberalism’s differential effects in Brazil, focusing on the candangos, an underclass of migrant workers recruited in the 1950s to build the modernist city of Brasilia, and their children and grandchildren in a recent course on occupational reconstructions at the University of Brasília, Faculdade de Ceilândia. Continuing global dialogue is necessary as Frank invites us to reengage with our academic and activist commitments.","PeriodicalId":51542,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Occupational Science","volume":"29 1","pages":"482 - 486"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2022-08-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48080574","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Karen McCarthy, Shasta Rice, Amanda Flores, Jack C Miklos, Alex Nold
{"title":"Exploring the meaningful qualities of transactions in virtual environments for massively multiplayer online role-playing gamers","authors":"Karen McCarthy, Shasta Rice, Amanda Flores, Jack C Miklos, Alex Nold","doi":"10.1080/14427591.2022.2108884","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14427591.2022.2108884","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT To date, most research on massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) has focused on the effects playing MMORPGs have on players’ health and wellness. The virtual environment of MMORPGs has yet to be explored as a space where meaningful occupations occur. This qualitative descriptive study examined the virtual environment using a transactional perspective to describe the qualities of gaming to which MMORPG players ascribe meaning. Participants included six MMORPG players with experience playing World of Warcraft, Runescape, or Guild Wars 2. Data were gathered using interviews, participant observation, and a focus group, and analyzed using thematic analysis. Three themes were generated: Creating collective occupational experiences, Facilitating personally transformative occupational experiences, and Unlocking immersive virtual environments. Participants described collective occupational experiences of gaming as creating a sense of community and belonging. Transactions in the virtual environment facilitated a transformative occupational experience to foster identity development and personal growth. The virtual environment was described as meaningful by unlocking an immersive experience through the aesthetics of the environment and engagement with in-game occupations. These findings provide occupational scientists with an increased understanding of the qualities of transactions within games that are meaningful for MMORPG players.","PeriodicalId":51542,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Occupational Science","volume":"30 1","pages":"81 - 93"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2022-08-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41369561","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Occupation and society: Global to local perspectives for the future","authors":"","doi":"10.1080/14427591.2022.2108538","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14427591.2022.2108538","url":null,"abstract":"August 25-28, 2021 Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre Occupation and Society: Global to Local Perspectives for the Future The theme of this conference recognizes that all occupation occurs within context. Whether people engage in occupations individually or as part of collectives (e.g., families, neighbourhoods, communities), our societies inform our understandings of what people need, want, and are expected to do. This conference aims to enable dialogue regarding the complex relations between human occupation and society. Society is understood as a social group characterized by people involved in regular social interactions and occupations, sharing a physical or social space, and/or organized by common political and cultural expectations. This conference gives voice to ‘Glocal perspectives,’ and invites submissions ranging from local to global considerations of the relationship between occupation and society, as well as for the future of occupational science. As such, this conference invites a range of topics of interest to the international occupational science community.","PeriodicalId":51542,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Occupational Science","volume":"29 1","pages":"454 - 454"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2022-08-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48161271","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Embroidering as a transformative occupation","authors":"Heidi von Kürthy, K. Aranda, G. Sadlo, G. Stew","doi":"10.1080/14427591.2022.2104349","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14427591.2022.2104349","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The influence of arts on health has long been researched but often in general terms or related to a patient population. Specific practice within everyday life remains under investigated. In this paper I argue that embroidering is an occupation where limited knowledge exists about how engagement might influence health. This qualitative narrative inquiry-based study was situated in the United Kingdom and gathered discursive data over 6 months with five women who embroidered. The research question aimed to establish how embroidering influences meaningful change within the context of a person’s everyday life. Interpreted through narrative analysis, the findings suggest that embroidering can promote meaningful change through an intimate companionship of body, mind, and materials. This companionship is situated, reciprocal, develops over time, and is proposed as the means for health potential. Once established, this companionship provides resources that can be used to manage everyday life and thus promote health and well-being. Considered as active agents in the embroidering process, materials can incite a combination of mental and physical responses, which become meaningful experiences associated with embroidering. These experiences may explain the recent fervour of crafting in everyday western societies and supports research that shows that the arts are a crucial component of health and well-being. In line with global health initiatives, consideration of the therapeutic companionship of body, mind, and materials is needed to further explore the transformative potential of engagement in specific crafts as media for improving and sustaining health and well-being.","PeriodicalId":51542,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Occupational Science","volume":"30 1","pages":"647 - 660"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2022-08-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45057497","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Valerie Tapia, Elizabeth B. Isralowitz, Kelly Deng, Nikki T. Nguyen, M. Young, Dominique H. Como, Melissa Martinez, Thomas Valente, S. Cermak
{"title":"Exploratory analysis of college students’ occupational engagement during COVID-19","authors":"Valerie Tapia, Elizabeth B. Isralowitz, Kelly Deng, Nikki T. Nguyen, M. Young, Dominique H. Como, Melissa Martinez, Thomas Valente, S. Cermak","doi":"10.1080/14427591.2022.2101021","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14427591.2022.2101021","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Introduction: During the COVID-19 pandemic, college students experienced occupational disruptions to their daily routines and alarming mental health outcomes. This paper seeks to examine associations between college students’ occupational engagement and psychological well-being; identify potential protective and risk factors for gender, race, and ethnic identities; and explore the impacts of occupational disruptions during COVID-19. Method: Undergraduate students (n = 152) were recruited through social media and ResearchMatch and completed an online survey. Associations and differential impacts on identity were analyzed for occupational balance, satisfaction with participation in discretionary activities, depression, fatigue, general anxiety, stress, loneliness, and COVID-19 behaviors, beliefs, and experiences (CBBE). Results: Occupational engagement had significant negative correlations with the five mental health measures. Females reported more fatigue, anxiety, and stress than males. Hispanic/Latinx participants reported greater occupational engagement. Black/African American participants reported greater occupational balance than their multiracial peers. Occupational Impairment subscale was positively associated with depression, anxiety, and stress. Participants who lost their job were more depressed. Males reported a greater increase in alcohol, cigarette, and recreational drug consumption than females. The COVID-19 Preventative Action subscale was positively correlated with COVID-19 Worry. Females both engaged in more preventive actions and worried more than males. Conclusion: Overall, this study reveals that increasing occupational engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic could be beneficial for mental health and well-being, that COVID-19 had differential impacts on occupational engagement and mental health outcomes based on identity, and that behaviors, beliefs, and experiences shifted with the global occupational disruption.","PeriodicalId":51542,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Occupational Science","volume":"29 1","pages":"545 - 561"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2022-07-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48354700","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}