It is in the emphasis on health promotion where public health and occupational therapy can find common ground ...”
It is in the emphasis on health promotion where public health and occupational therapy can find common ground ...”
In this sense , occupational therapists can offer valuable input to public health improvement approaches , as well as to the research that both informs and evidences outcomes , by emphasising the wider occupational determinants of health .
Sharing a common language
Although the approaches and foundations of public health and occupational therapy differ in many ways , I have come to recognise through my studies that there is a common language within the models and frameworks of both .
A model that has been central to much of my learning to date is Dahlgren and Whitehead ’ s ( 1991 ) model of the social determinants of health , which explicitly outlines the factors outside of the individual that directly shape the person ’ s health .
This speaks directly to the premise of my work as an occupational therapist in practising with an inherently holistic view of health and wellbeing . When considering occupational therapy models in comparison , the factors identified by Dahlgren and Whitehead ( 1991 ) could be seen as specific components of the environment element of , for example , the Model of Human Occupation ( MOHO ) or the Person-Environment-Occupation ( PEO ) model .
In a sense , this could highlight a potential downside to occupational therapists relying solely on models determined by their profession ; although the inclusion of environment as a factor in these models calls therapists to consider the crucial influence of environmental factors , their lack of specificity runs the risk of restricting considerations of environmental factors , particularly socio-political , that influence occupational participation .
Nevertheless , similar limitations could be identified in Dahlgren and Whitehead ’ s ( 1991 ) model in respect to the individual factors that impact on health ; the model ’ s lack of detail on these could equally disregard many aspects of individual factors , specifically occupational participation .
This speaks to the benefits of a collaboration between the disciplines of public health and
occupational therapy to enable a more holistic and arguably more effective approach .
My own learning
Throughout the MSc to date , I have had the opportunity to demonstrate this partnership of disciplines through many of the essays and reports I have produced .
For example , my first assignment explored the use of the Dahlgren and Whitehead ’ s ( 1991 ) model in planning effective intervention for a public health problem of my choice . I elected to write about the impact of social media use on rates of self-harm and suicide among teenagers , a contemporary issue of professional interest to me .
A crucial element to this was in incorporating my clinical expertise and knowledge around meaningful occupation , namely internet and social media use , as the individual lifestyle factor to explore its wider impact on individual and population health .
I have also been able to write about health behaviours such as substance misuse and poor eating patterns that have a primary occupational focus , as with so many public health issues .
In many ways , engaging in this MSc has furthered my current clinical practice , especially in equipping me with a much greater understanding
22 OTnews September 2023