A heritage of activity: development of theory

An integrative review combined with a semantic review to explore the meaning of Swedish terms compatible with occupation, activity, doing and task

The aims of this study were to explore the intended meaning of the terms "occupation", "activity", "doing", and "task" used in international occupational therapy literature and from this perspective explore which Swedish terms best capture these meanings. A literature review of occupational therapy-related journals was performed to gain a basic understanding of the term occupation and related terms. In addition, a semantic review was used: English and Swedish dictionaries were reviewed to explore the semantic meaning of the English terms "occupation", "activity", "doing", and "task", and the Swedish terms "aktivitet", "syssla/sysselsättning", "görande", and "uppgift". A comparison was also performed by searching for parallels between the results of the literature review, the semantic definitions of the English and Swedish terms and the comprehensive meaning of the Swedish terms aktivitet and syssla/sysselsättning. An overarching idea of the concept of occupation was found in the literature review and for the purposes of this study we have identified this as Occupation for survival. From this overarching idea, three themes were identified: The feature of occupation, Impact of occupation and Occupation an occupational therapy concept. Each theme could be subdivided into sub-themes. The Swedish term aktivitet was found to have more power, strength, and spirit connected to the synonyms found in the semantic analysis than to those connected with the Swedish term syssla/sysselsättning. According to the findings in this study we found that the term "aktivitet" is the best comparable term in Swedish to the English term "occupation".

The demise of diffidence: an agenda for occupational therapy

Professionalization of occupational therapy will require a number of activities which have previously not been incorporated systematically into occupational therapists' view of themselves and their professional obligations. This paper presents a conceptualization of professional activities as three layers of necessary labor which include, but go well beyond, clinical practice. The implications of this conceptualization of occupational therapy's necessary activities and related agenda to effect professionalization are discussed. These implications include a need for clarification of the nature of the occupational therapy service, increased clinical and basic research, identification and support for the basic values of the profession, and organization of the knowledge-base of the field around a single unifying concept of occupation.