Introduction to an Occupational Perspective of Health

By shifting away from the bio-medical perspective, health is now widely recognised to relate to how people achieve a productive and fulfilling life regardless of their health conditions [1]. According to the WHO [2], health is created within the settings of people’s everyday lives. That is, being healthy requires participation in activities of daily living that are part of one’s sociocultural context. This indicates that health closely relates to having capacity in various types of daily activities which provide a sense of reality and achievement. The Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion supports this concept by identifying engagement in everyday activities as the prerequisites of health [3].