How do the Domain and Process differ? …work together?
The domain would be the areas that OT and client have identified to be an occupation, (ADL, IADL, Education, Leisure, Social Participation, Play, Work, Rest/Sleep) something that is important and adds meaning to the client’s life. The domain supports a client’s participation in a healthy life style which means their ability to participate in their chosen occupation.
The process includes evaluation, intervention and outcomes. The evaluation would include the profile, a client’s strengths, weaknesses and motivation along with the client’s concerns about why they are seeking service and what they hope will be the outcome. Also part of the evaluation would include observation of the client as he/she participated in their occupation. At this time the OT could determine if more assessments were needed or if they had enough information to create an intervention.
The intervention would include what services were needed and how those services should be delivered and what the outcome should be, during the intervention there would also be a review process where the outcome could be revised along with the services being delivered.
The final part of the process would be the outcome; “engagement in occupation to support participation” The outcome could include if the client was able to do their occupation easier/better, if the client was satisfied, if the client obtained health and wellness, or learned prevention or improved the quality of their life.
Without the Domain a person could create a Process for a client (at assisted living with a meal plan/or at home with a meals on wheel program) which could mean being able to cook/bake hot meals for themselves, but if the client didn’t want to learn to cook/bake and were content eating meals already prepared – the client might learn new skills but the skills would not transfer to their occupation. And without the process just identifying occupations a client wants help with but not having a plan or a way to determine if they are successful would be like giving every client in OT a library card and telling them all the answers are just through the door. Yes, the client would have the information but no way to apply the information to their own life.
• In your own words, what is the “occupational profile”?
The occupational profile is kind of like the 5 W’s the fundamental questions of journalism. (Who, What, When, Where, Why) The occupational profile will include (Who, Why, What, What, What…) Who is the client? Why is the client seeking services? What occupations have they been successful/unsuccessful at? What is the desired outcome? What concerns does the client have? What areas of their environment, culture, social, physical, personal or spiritual will help and what areas will hinder in obtaining the desired outcome. When would the client like to be able to achieve their desired outcome?
Occupational therapy is using meaningful, graded activities to help a person reclaim something they feel is missing or lacking in their lives. Occupational therapy helps a person reclaim independence through daily living skills, social interaction and meaningful occupation--making them feel whole once again.
Occupational therapy is allowing people to have their cake, make their cake and eat it too!
“Occupational therapy helps people return to doing activities that make up their life. Occupational therapists are experts at breaking down tasks and understanding how to change the task in order to allow a person to complete that task with the skills and abilities they have.”
Bridget Fyle, OTS from St. Catherine’s University
According to renowned psychiatrist Adolph Meyer, 3 characteristics distinguish man from all other organisms?
Meyer stated the three characteristics are: sense of time, capacity for imagination, and need for occupation.
OT’s have the capacity to learn from the past—if I sit to long reading my neck and back will get stiff and store. If I get up every 30 minutes and move around, I can continue to read and study and not be in pain.
With imagination we have the ability to look at possibilities of what if--what if I only had the use of one hand and needed to floss my teeth, I could buy a waterpik to floss my teeth.
Being human we are not content to just lie on the floor in a sun beam and wait until someone gets home to put food into our bowl. We want to engage in activities that bring us a sense of fulfillment. We want to fill our own bowls.
What is the tie between human existence and occupation?
Human beings exist because we have sought out occupations which provide us with shelter, food and warmth. We have created occupations that challenge us mentally. We have sought answers to questions and when we know the answer to the questions, we create more difficult questions to answer. Human beings exist because we have engaged in occupations that allow us to socialize.
