Sunday, February 9, 2014


The roles of OT practitioners in the community
 
This weekend I have had a little bit of time to think and to read up about what our role will be as OT students going into the community! According to Loukas, OT’s do not have a set plan with regards to treatment once they enter the community neither will be provided with treatment plans to follow up (Loukas, 2000)...that leaves us with pretty much with little preparation which creates anxiety within us as we thrive on being prepared and ready for therapy!
In every community, there is work to be done. In every nation, there are wounds to heal. In every heart, there is the power to do it.       - Marianne  Williamson
In my previous blogs I have written that community consists of individuals that engaged in occupation on a small and big scale. Through doing so, interaction amongst the individuals arises which in return results in the establishment of the augmentation of an unique community ‘spirit’ which lays down the groundwork of a community. (Wilcock, 2006) The other important factor is the organisation of the community. (AOTA, 2008) The OT’s should have a good understanding of how the community is structured, organized and which process is followed in order to ‘run’ it. We can almost call it ‘assessing’ a communityJ Only once we totally understand how a community fully functions, will we be able to ‘treat’ the problematic facets with an OT ‘client centred’ scope. (Brownson, 1998)

 What we can gather from literature, is that there is no specific treatment for a community BUT that does not mean that we should not apply our acquired OT principles in a community milieu. Whilst reading up on this topic, I came across some general characteristics that ‘pave’ our role in the community.

 1.       Advocacy
- Educating the community about relevant health topics.
- Serving the underserved through health-related programmes.
- Promoting the inclusion of a diverse number of people.
- The importance of politics.

 2.       Assessment skills
Assessment is a vital step in individual as well as group OT intervention. The communities occupational engagement as well as performance are two components that need to be closely focused on. Assessment in form of research can be conducted which involves adequate analysis. Ongoing assessment and evaluation must be done to prove the validity and reliability of the research.

 3.       Building community capacity
- Exploring and understanding the potential a community possesses.
- Examining the goals of the community members.
- Making use of the community’s strengths when drawing up a programme.

 4.      Apply OT in community context
Health and well being is affected by the engagement in occupation. When applying treatment to a community the occupations of the individuals as well as that of the community as a whole should be considered by the OT.

 Lastly, let’s have a look at what kind of skills the OT needs for community practice.
  • Consultancy
  • Education
  • Autonomy
  • Client centred practice
  • Clinical reasoning
  • Health promotion
  • Networking
  • Managerial skills
  • Evaluation skills
  • Cultural Awareness
  • Team skills

 
Take a listen to what this professor has to say about her experience... 

References
American Occupational Therapy Association. (2008). Occupational therapy practice framework: Domain and process, 2nd ed. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 62(6), 626-683
 
Brownson, C.A.(1998). Funding community practice: Stage 1. Americna Journal of Occupational Therapy, 52, 60-64
 Jones & Barlett Publications, Community Practice in OT: What is it?, viewed 26 January 2014, from http://samples.jbpub.com/9780763760656/60656_ch01_Doll.pdf
 
Loukas, K.M. (2000). Emerging models of innovative community - based occupational therapy practice: The Vision continues OT Practice. Retrieved Septemeber 30, 2008, from http://www.aota.org/Pubs/OTP/1997-2007/features/2000/f-071700.aspx
 
Wilcock,A.(2006).An occupational perspective on health (2nd.ed.). Thorofare, NJ:Slack 
 
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1 comment:

  1. HelgaFebruary 25, 2014 at 12:25 PM

    Well done on your tutorial with the group and the insight that you are showing with the reading you have been doing, so early on in the block.

    That is fantastic!

    ReplyDelete

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