Thinking beyond impairment: Recommendations from contemporary models of care for working with children and disability.

BACKGROUND: The National Disability Insurance Scheme emphasises the use of models that move beyond an impairment focus to a holistic and individualised approach to disability. Application of specific biopsychosocial models supports general practitioners (GPs) to advance best practice in disability care within these schemes by meeting the complex care needs of their clients. OBJECTIVE: The aims of this article are to: 1) review current biopsychosocial models that underpin the health and functioning of children living with a disability in order to identify common elements of relevance to the paediatric sector, and 2) provide considerations for applying a biopsychosocial approach to paediatric care in practice. DISCUSSION: A succinct summary of common concepts within biopsychosocial models used in the paediatric setting, and recommendations for how these models can be best applied in practice, are presented in this article. The GP plays a crucial part in initiating and supporting children and adolescents who have complex care needs. Understanding these key concepts is fundamental to this process.

Exploring the Praxis of Occupational Therapy-Community Development Practitioners.

Background. A growing body of occupational therapy knowledge and practice focuses not on health but on social transformation, and couples occupational therapy with community development. A tension in both these fields is the disconnect between what practitioners espouse and what they do, limiting the potential of practice. To address this, practitioners are encouraged to engage in praxis-the critical synthesis of theory and practice. Purpose. To explore whether and how Australian occupational therapy-community development practitioners engage in critical praxis. Method. A critical dialogical method was employed to complete multiple in-depth interviews with four occupational therapy-community development practitioners. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed using thematic analysis. Findings. Practitioners appeared capable of praxis but were not consistently employing it. Findings were grouped into themes: disjointed praxis, authentic praxis, supporting praxis, and praxis challenges and solutions. Implications. Occupational therapists need to be supported to develop, use, and maintain skills in critical praxis.

Re-engaging in our role with communities: The coupling of occupational therapy and community development.

INTRODUCTION: A growing number of occupational therapists are re-engaging in work with communities and populations to advance a social justice agenda. To assist in this endeavour, many are coupling occupational therapy and community development theory, as reflected in the social occupational therapy field. Social occupational therapy practitioners work with groups of people who do not necessarily have a health diagnosis or illness but who nonetheless experience occupational issues due to structural barriers within society. Practitioners work across micro- and macro-levels to not only alleviate symptoms of these issues but also to transform their root causes. Although community development is a logical partner to assist such practice, there are inherent tensions in the coupling of these disciplines. This study aimed to explore what theory occupational therapists were using from occupational therapy and community development to guide them in their social occupational therapy practice. METHODS: This study employed a collaborative and participatory qualitative research method. Four occupational therapy community development practitioners each participated in two one-on-one dialogical interviews with the first author. These were transcribed and analysed using Braun and Clarke's method of thematic analysis. FINDINGS: Findings were grouped into two themes: (a) Occupational therapy and community development - synergies and tensions, and (b) Of the profession but not in it. Findings highlighted the theoretical shortcomings of occupational therapy for community development practice, theoretical tensions between the two disciplines, and the 'underground' nature of occupational therapy community development practice. CONCLUSION: Practitioners should be supported by the occupational therapy profession to be effective community development practitioners, capable of advancing the profession's vision of social justice. Future research should explore methods to support practitioners to navigate tensions between occupational therapy and community development, and bring this practice 'above ground'.

Experiences of occupational therapy education: contexts, communities and social occupational therapy / Experiências de formação em terapia ocupacional: contextos, comunidades e terapia ocupacional social

Abstract Over the past decades, the profession of occupational therapy has increased its focus on the wellbeing of society as a whole in response to growing inequality. In addition, guidelines for occupational therapy student education have also been revised to ensure that occupational therapists graduate with an appreciation of and ability to work with diverse populations of people in multiple contexts, beyond a biomedical focus on health and impairment. As a result, occupational therapy educators have been challenged to create curricula that meet the profession's social responsibility by preparing students to practice with communities and populations in a contextualised way. To contribute to this discussion and foster dialogue about what this may look like in occupational therapy programs, we present examples of curricula from three courses in two undergraduate occupational therapy programs in Australia and Brazil: "Understanding the Context of Occupation" and "Occupation, Health and Participation - Communities and Populations", at Griffith University, Australia; and the course "Social Occupational Therapy", at the Federal University of Sao Carlos, Brazil. The courses include topics such as: working in micro to macro contexts, working with communities and populations, collective occupation, politics and advocacy, social justice, occupational justice, social security and others. With differences across the programs, based on their geographical and institutional contexts, as well as their socio-historical and cultural contexts, the examples provide some ideas for educators about preparing students to work in a contextualised way with communities and populations.

Resumo Nas últimas décadas, a área de terapia ocupacional ampliou seu enfoque em dimensões sociais em resposta ao crescente patamar de desigualdade. Além disso, as diretrizes para a formação de terapeutas ocupacionais também foram revisadas para garantir que os profissionais se graduem com uma sensibilidade e capacidade de trabalhar com populações diversas e em múltiplos contextos, para além de um foco biomédico em saúde e deficiência. Como resultado, os educadores em terapia ocupacional têm sido desafiados a criar currículos que abordem a responsabilidade social, preparando os alunos para atuarem com comunidades e populações de forma contextualizada. Para contribuir com essa discussão e dialogar sobre como poderiam ser programas em terapia ocupacional, apresentamos exemplos de currículos de três cursos em dois programas de terapia ocupacional, um na Austrália e um no Brasil, são eles: "Entendendo o contexto da ocupação" e "Ocupação, saúde e participação - comunidades e populações", na Griffith University, Austrália; e o curso "Terapia Ocupacional Social", da Universidade Federal de São Carlos, Brasil. Os cursos incluem tópicos como: trabalhar do micro ao macro contextos, trabalhar com comunidades e populações, ocupação coletiva, política e defesa de direitos, justiça social, justiça ocupacional, seguridade social e outros. Com diferenças entre o programas, com base em seus contextos geográficos e institucionais, bem como em seus contextos sócio-históricos e culturais, os exemplos fornecem algumas ideias para educadores sobre como preparar os alunos para trabalhar de maneira contextualizada com comunidades e populações.