This essay will be focusing on three major but not limited fields in occupational therapy and the important roles they play in one’s life. Occupational therapy is so important, occupational therapy is to help increase functional independence in daily lives and minimize the fact of mental, physical, and emotional disabilities. The word occupation is known for referring to the performance of an activity, and the pre-existing format that guides that performance. The occupational performance takes place within a variety of environments and settings that influence how a person performs. Concepts in Occupational therapy allow one to communicate and think and describe what one see’s and what one is doing and explains why certain situations or actions lead to change in one direction or another. Rehabilitation focuses on people recovering from illnesses, injuries, and disabilities which promotes self-care. Pediatrics focuses on helping children develop skills that are needed to grow into being independent with aging. Geriatric focuses on therapy for old people in a unique way focusing on what they can do.
One great field of occupational therapy is rehabilitation affiliated with damage to the upper body such as the shoulder, elbow, forearm, wrist, and hand. Pediatric occupational therapy is another type of Occupational therapy, which allows the therapist to help children achieve daily activities that they might find challenging, and these therapists also address sensory, social, behavioral motor, and environmental issues. Geriatrics is also a type of therapy, that focuses on the care of elderly adults.
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Adults that are older have more medical needs including chronic diseases that need a more complex approach to care. Occupational Therapy is a form of therapy that is provided to encourage rehabilitation. There are many types of occupational therapy; however, physical rehabilitation therapy, pediatric occupational therapy, and geriatric occupational therapy will be the focus of this essay. Occupational therapists help people engage individually using self-support in activities that’ll lead to their health and well-being.
“Occupational therapist thinks more broadly about lifestyle as being the configuration of an individual’s activities that links with both personal needs and the expectations of society.” (Creek, 2008). Occupational therapists are healthcare specialists that specialize in the prevention, lifestyle modification, and physical and psychosocial rehabilitation. They focus on giving help to patients by engaging them to participate in beneficial and effective activities of everyday life. This is an important approach for individuals that need to manage chronic diseases. “Health promotion comprises efforts to enhance ways of acting and believing based on conservative political values and to prevent disease and illnesses, through a coordinated plan to influence individual behavior in specific ways (health education), providing and strongly promoting the uptake of medical surveillance (disease prevention), and by legislating to guarantee or firmly enforce some behaviors in order to reduce some morbidities (health protection)”. (Creek, 2008). Occupational therapist approaches teaching strategies that are used to incorporate energy conservation and activity modification techniques into daily activities to cope with many chronic conditions. “Many factors have been found to influence the mental health of individuals and communities including both individual coping and social support”. (Creek, 2008). “Factors that inhibit positive mental health are called risk factors. (Creek, 2008). “Individual risk factors include prenatal brain damage or birth injury, prematurity, low birth weight, poor health infancy, physical disability, low intelligence, a difficult temperament, impulsivity, poor social skills, and low self-esteem”. (Creek, 2008). “Family and social risk factors include having a single parent, large family size, absence of a father in childhood, family violence, poor monitoring of the child, etc.” (Creek, 2008). “Community risk factors include social economic disadvantage, social isolation, neighborhood crime and violence, poor housing and lack of community facilities such as transport, shops, and recreation centers.” (Creek, 2008). The significance of occupational therapy is Rehabilitation, and it addresses the needs of the person with an injury or illness in performances due to other causes.
Pediatric occupational therapy helps children gain independence while also strengthening the development of fine motor skills, sensory-motor skills, and visual motor skills that children need to function and socialize. (Mulligan, 2013). “Visual Motor integration refers to how the eyes and hands work together, and this function supports skills such as tracing, writing, using the hands for construction tasks like building with blocks, sewing, doing up buttons, etc.” (Mulligan, 2013). “Motor planning skills, involve being able to formulate a plan or idea on how to do something, sequencing and executing the goal-directed action.” (Mulligan, 2013). The longer a child goes without learning these skills, the more the problem intensifies as the child gets older which causes the skills of a pediatric occupational therapists critical to their patients. When working with children, pediatric occupational therapists are to play and leisure into practice as a way of motivating the children and lowering any chances of anxiety or any worries they might feel because of the therapy. “Play refers to activities that are carried out for pleasure or entertainment, while leisure refers to activities that are non-obligatory and mostly intrinsically motivating.” (Mulligan, 2013). “Since most of a child’s leisure time is spent playing, infants and young children learn and practice new skills and refine others, experiment with social roles, experience emotions, and develop friendships.” (Mulligan, 2013). “Children are intrinsically motivated to play, and they spend most of their time “playing”. (Mulligan, 2013). They are naturally inclined to explore their environments and to create play situations.” (Mulligan, 2013). Pediatric occupational therapy is not only to help children progress but to challenge them well enough, helping to build self-esteem and confidence when it comes to their capabilities and aptitude. Pediatrics in Occupational therapists work with kids who have sensory issues to improve focus and social skills and teach kids with physical disabilities the strategy skills needed to do everyday life things such as feeding themselves, using a computer, or increasing the speed and clearness of their handwriting. Occupational therapists help children develop these important physical, cognitive, and sensory skills so they can perform daily tasks more independently.
Geriatric care management is another type of Occupational therapy, where Occupational therapists play a big role in working with the elderly. While in geriatric care Occupational therapist takes on the big picture of someone who is elderly’s life. Occupational therapists are familiar with a great number of procedures and issues concerning elderly health-care and helping the patient deal with daily issues and even considering making plans for end-of-life care. The occupational therapist develops an individual plan of care based on physical and environmental valuation. Consider a patient who has had a stroke, they may need to learn how to transfer from a wheelchair to a shower chair in order to bathe themselves or to learn how to eat when they are only able to use one hand. Occupational therapists can also teach new ways to participate in leisure activities. Some of these activities may need equipment such as grab bars, raised toilets, and modified eating utensils. Others may need environmental changes such as different lighting to prevent glare or shadows that can cause the risk of one falling. When working with an older person, occupational therapists try to expand the patient’s independence and quality of life. Try considering someone who has suffered from a stroke. Before the stroke, an individual will most likely have had no problem walking or talking clearly and making use of basic motor skills that are needed in life. When one has a stroke, many basic functions that are taken for granted may be jeopardized. Here are five types of activities that Occupation Therapists focus on concerning elderly people, Relaxation techniques: tensing and releasing muscle groups, Physical exercises: range of movement, medicine ball training, and squatting, Personal activities: personal care, dressing and undressing, and household tasks, Cognitive exercises: loud reading, dual-task activity, and neurotic exercise, Recreational activities: playing indoor games, storytelling, and social events. Occupational Therapy is a form of therapy that is provided to encourage rehabilitation. There are many types of occupational therapy; however, the focus of this essay touched bases on physical rehabilitation therapy, pediatric occupational therapy, and geriatric occupational therapy.
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