Occupational Therapy Theory

Theory In Occupational Therapy
Theory In General Although vital in the practice of occupational therapy, theory can be a difficult concept to fully understand. In the simplest terms theory is the foundation for fully understanding certain behavior or health problems through observations and predictions. Through watching the client, the therapist can develop questions or assumptions that lead them to create a best guess as to why the client behaved or acted in a certain way. Afterwards, the therapist will create experiments with their guess to try and find evidence to support their assumptions. If their guess is supported, the therapist can then use their findings to better treat those who suffered
from the behavior or health problem that was observed. On another note, there are three building blocks of theory; concepts, constructs, and relational statements. A concept is what you picture in your mind when a noun is mentioned to you. For example, when someone says pumpkin, most people picture a round orange object with a green or brown stem. When someone says horse, most people picture a tall four legged animal with a long tail and mane.
Constructs are what you infer from seeing something happen. For example, when you look at someone eating a meal, you do not know if the food is good. You can infer that the food tastes good by noticing the individual’s body language or facial expressions. If the food tastes bad, the person may crinkle their nose or frown. If the food tastes good, the person may look content. Relational statements explain how concepts and constructs relate to each other. There are two kinds of relational statements; explanatory and predictive. Explanatory statements explain the behavior or health problem. Predictive statements tell the therapist what could happen later on. In conclusion, theory is important to occupational therapy because it allows the therapist to be more knowledgeable about different physical or mental conditions and learn how to treat those conditions effectively.

Theory For The New Generation In order to perform efficient occupational therapy, theory should be used. Unfortunately, many occupational therapists are intimidated by the idea, thinking that is is overly complex and removed from reality. As a result, many occupational therapy professionals do not utilize theory in their practice. Though theory is difficult to fully understand at first, it is necessary to use in order to provide the best therapy possible as well as becoming the best therapist they can be. If a therapist uses theory, they will become more flexible and know how to find a way to treat just about any client they come across. So what is theory? Theory is the foundational framework for organizing knowledge to explain, predict, and solve problems about a certain phenomenon. It is comprised of concepts, constructs, and propositions/postulations. Concepts are objects that one mentally sees when talked about. For example, mentally picturing a small four-legged, furry animal with a long tail and pointy ears when someone says cat.
Constructs are assumptions that one can infer through an observation of a person or situation. For example, assuming a student is frustrated completing their math homework by observing them scowl and sigh. Propositions or postulations tie the concepts and constructs together by specifying any relationships between them. All of these pieces of theory help the therapist to effectively evaluate clients and create intervention plans. Through theory, the therapist is constantly learning new aspects of different phenomena. Thus, allowing them to treat each client based on what is best for them versus staying with the same knowledge and intervention plans they used in the past. In conclusion, theory is important for therapists to use because it truly allows them to see how each client “ticks” and what they could do to give them efficient therapy, as well as discover any new information about a phenomenon to better treat those in the future.

Theory Versus Frames Of Reference
Using theory in occupational practice is a little complex.
The therapist will observe a patient to determine if there is anything affecting their participation in an activity, such as loud noises being distracting. The occupational therapist will then work to find evidence to prove this theory is correct. The occupational therapist will assess and observe the patient's participation in different scenarios, doing different activities, to determine whether or not there is something, such as noise, affecting their participation and quality of work during an activity. The occupational therapist will take this evidence and use it to help the patient become more productive and participate at a higher level than they had before. The occupational therapist uses the evidence they find to change and improve the intervention plan they have with this patient. The goal of the occupational therapist is to provide the best intervention plan for their patient as they can. By using theory, the occupational therapist can improve this plan in many ways to benefit the
patient.
Frames of reference are a little different from theory when in the occupational therapy viewpoint.
While the occupational therapist still observes their patient and may find something, such as a problem participating in activities when there is a lot of noise around them, they go about the rest of it in a different way. The occupational therapist will use what they find as guidelines when creating an intervention plan. Through frames of reference the occupational therapist will still find evidence, that noise affects the participation of a patient, as well as evidence from other occupational therapy practices. The occupational therapist will use this information to support the intervention plan they produce for their current patient. The occupational therapist will also use this information while creating the intervention plan to assure that the results will benefit the patient as much as
possible.

The Influences Of Occupational Therapy Literature
By reading occupational therapy literature I will gain a better understanding of the profession. It will allow me to learn more about the profession in many different perspectives as well as educate me about the multitude of aspects in occupational therapy. Not only will reading occupational therapy literature teach me about the theory of occupational therapy, it will also explain the ethics involved, the proper techniques of muscle testing and will show me cases other occupational therapists have experienced, so I can be as prepared as possible when I enter the field. Through reading people learn a plethora of information, and by reading literature based around occupational therapy, I can learn much of the material I will need for when I become a practitioner of occupational therapy. Reading such literature will also keep me up to date on the latest medical information related to occupational therapy. This is important because as an occupational therapy practitioner, we should always know the best way to help our patients. And by reading up on the newest information about intervention plans or even some medicines, occupational therapists can evolve their practice to become even more beneficial to the clients they are seeing.
Reading stories about what other occupational therapists have experienced in the past can encourage young students, such as myself, and other occupational therapists that have just started to continue in their practice. These stories can enlighten and educate others about occupational therapy and about what we, as practitioners, do to help others. The book “Occupational Therapy Stories” written by Cavenaugh Kelly, is a collection of stories from Kelly’s past experience as an occupational therapist. The stories told in this book are changed to keep the patient's confidentiality. However, Kelly still portrays many different cases occupational therapists deal with throughout their career. Reading literature focused around occupational therapy is beneficial to both students and current practitioners of the field.