Occupational therapy aims to promote health and well-being through engagement in meaningful activities. It began as a way to occupy patients and has expanded to treat a variety of physical and mental impairments. Occupational therapists use purposeful activities to evaluate and treat individuals with conditions that interfere with daily living. They help increase independence by training activities of daily living, restoring functional abilities, and modifying environments. Occupational therapy employs various approaches including biomechanical, neurodevelopmental, sensory integration, and cognitive behavioral. It is practiced in hospitals, rehabilitation centers, special schools, homes, and workshops to serve a wide scope of clients.

1. BASICS OF
OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY
Presented by : P. DHEENATHAYALAN. B.O.T Final year

2. CONTENTS
• History of OT
• What is occupation ?
• Definition of occupational therapy WHO
• Definition of occupational therapy AIOTA
• Functions of occupational therapy / Therapist
• Approaches in occupational therapy
• Scope of OT

3. History of occupational therapy
• In the early years, OT was taken as means to keep patients with chronic illness
occupied, hence the name was derived as Occupational therapy. Its contribution
was limited to the field of chronic illness like- mental illness, TB, leprosy etc.
• During intermediate years OT was also practiced as a means to provide mental
diversion to patients suffering from physical and/or psychological trauma. Thus its
contribution expanded to the fields of psychiatry and physical illness.
• Since the world wars, it became an important means for restoring physical and
mental functioning of patients specially war veterans.
• In present times, OT has become a method of treating the effects of various
impairments including those which affect the development of individual as in
Mental Retardation, Cerebral Palsy, Learning Disability etc. Now the term
'Occupational' represents the concept of 'pursuit, participation or being engaged'
in an activity.

4. • Eleanor Clark Slagle is known as the "mother of Occupational Therapy." With a degree in social
work, she went to Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD in 1912 and began directing the
department of occupational therapy. She opened the first professional school for occupational
therapy.
• Dr. William Rush Denton Jr. is know as the "father of OT." He was a psychiatrist and educator who
published the first account of the Occupational Therapy profession.
• American Occupational Therapy Association was founded on March 17, 1917 as the National
Society for the Promotion of Occupational Therapy. It was renamed AOTA in 1923. It is a nonprofit
organization that is dedicated to expanding and refining the knowledge base of Occupational
Therapy. It provides support to research and education through grants and scholarships.
• The first department of occupational therapy (OT) was established at the King Edward Memorial
(KEM) Hospital in Mumbai, India in 1950. The founder of the 'OT profession in India' as well as the
'first school of OT in India/Asia' was Mrs. KamlaV. Nimbkar [Elizabeth Lundy].
• All India Occupational Therapists' Association (AIOTA) was founded by Mrs. Kamala V. Nimbkar in
the year 1952."

5. Occupation
• Occupation is "groups of activities and tasks of everyday life, named,
organized and given value and meaning by individuals and a culture.
Occupation is everything people do to occupy themselves, including
looking after themselves (self-care), enjoying life (leisure), and
contributing to the social and economic fabric of their communities
(productivity)" (CAOT,1998).
• "the activities that comprise our life experience and can be named in
the culture" (Larson, Wood and Clark, 2003).

6. Occupational therapy Definition WHO
• WFOT defines occupational therapy as "a client- centered health
profession concerned with promoting health and well-being through
occupation.
• OT practice means the therapeutic use of purposeful and meaningful
occupations (goal-directed activities)to evaluate and treat individuals
who have a disease or disorder, impairment, activity limitation, or
participation restriction that interferes with their ability to function
independently in daily life roles and to promote health and wellness.

7. Occupational therapy definition AIOTA
• OT can be described as the art and science of directing Man's
participation in selected activities to restore, reinforce and enhance
performance, facilitate learning of skills and functions essential for
adaptation and productivity, to diminish or correct pathology, and to
promote and maintain health (AOTA, 1972).

8. Functions
• Increase Independence.
• ADL / IADL training.
• Restore functional abilities.
• Increase hand functions.
• Increase fine and gross motor skills.
• Increase cognitive components.
• Increase muscle power, muscle strength
• Increase ROM.
• Maintain the Reflexes.
• Maintain Sensory needed.

9. • Modify environment towards the patient ability.
• Add supportive devices and adaptive environment.
• Improve Physical abilities.
• Energy conservation.
• Work modifications.
• Positioning.
• Endurance training.
• Increase balance and co-ordination.
• Play and leisure activities.
• Stress management.
• Improve patient motivation.

11. Occupational therapy Approaches
• Biomechanical approach.
• Neuro Developmental Treatment (NDT) approach (Adults & Paediatrics).
• Roods approach (Adults & Paediatrics).
• Brunnstrom approach.
• Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation (PNF) approach.
• Affolter’s approach.
• Motor Relearning Programme.
• Task Oriented Approach.
• Sensory Integrative Therapy (Paediatrics & Psychiatry).
• Behavioural frame of reference.

12. • Peto’s Conductive Education.
• Rehabilitative approach.
• Cognitive Behavioural approach.
• Psychoanalytical- Include expressive media used in OT.
• Occupational Behaviour and Model of Human Occupation.
• Developmental groups and developmental approach.
• Cognitive Disability FOR.
• Acquisitional FOR.

13. Scope of OT
• Occupational therapy can be a major contributors in:
• a. Hospitals: general, psychiatric, orthopaedic, neurology, paediatrics.
• b. Centres: early interventions, rehabilitation centers.
• c. Special schools: school for children with intellectual impairment.
• d. Homes: geriatric homes, home for person with multiple disability.
• e. Workshops: sheltered workshop, industrial set ups.