Occupational Therapy News OTnews January 2019 | Page 33

PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY FEATURE
Walsh WE (2018) Investigating public perception of occupational therapy: an environmental scan of three media outlets.
American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 72(3), 1–10.
Occupational therapists support
people to participate in activities which
matter to them. We are skilled at assessing
the barriers to participation, and through the
use of specific interventions, we can improve a
person’s health and wellbeing. I have an interest
in rehabilitation for palliative care clients. I am
the end of life care champion for the team,
and a RESPECT advocate.
Occupational therapists
enable people to carry out
activities they value in their own
environment and support them to
improve their own health and wellbeing
through specific interventions. I am the
clinical lead for occupational therapists within
the service and support all staff with their
professional development. I contribute to the
professional development of occupational
therapists within the trust. I carry a
clinical caseload and lead on
moving and handling.
Walsh (2018) investigated visibility and public perception of the occupational therapy profession through content
analysis of three media outlets. An academic database (LexisNexis) was used to identify news articles about
occupational therapy; Twitter feeds of the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) and three other
professional organisations were evaluated for tone of online presence; and ‘occupational therapy’ related Google
Images were coded using MaxQDA software. Findings included that occupational therapy did not appear prominently
in news items, and that the AOTA’s Twitter feed used very high levels of emotional ‘worried’ language that may be
misconstrued as instability within an organisation. The author identifies the need to communicate a clear professional
identity through academic and social platforms, and to highlight the words ‘occupational therapy’ within news items.
I am an
occupational therapist
working in the joint community
rehabilitation team. My role is to enable
people to remain as independent and safe
as possible, when completing the activities
of daily living that matter to them the most. I
aim to achieve this by either providing home
exercise programmes, advice/guidance on
alternative methods to completing tasks and
equipment provision. I have an interest in
providing interventions and rehabilitation
to palliative clients and with those
requiring moving and handling
equipment.
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