Meaningful Occupation

"Occupation is without a doubt, a central aspect of the human experience, and so much a part of everday life"

(Christiansen & Baum, 2005, p.150).

Photo retrieved from http://www.betterphoto.com

We all know what occupations are, they're the things we do for enjoyment, to fill in time and to keep us occupied throughout our lives. We cook, clean, exercise and study all depending on what occupation we choose to or need to do. Occupational therapists use their occupational perspective to introduce meaningful occupations into clients lives to improve their daily structure, provide routine and add meaning to their day. Before completing this paper I didn't really think about how an older persons' roles can change so much once they retire and that they are restricted in what they can do depending on their health.

Meaningful occupations or meaningful activities are a fundamental concept of occupational therapy. Occupation of course is embedded in our profession of occupational therapy and as Molineux (2004) states "the founders of occupational therapy based the new profession on their own personal experiences of the health enhancing effects of engagement in purposeful and meaningful activity" (p.2). Furthermore meaningful activities are the activities/occupations which a person finds meaning from. For example your job is an occupation which you may or may not enjoy but you still do it as it is a way to make money, provides structure to your day and gives you a sense of identity. Hobbies like netball and rugby may also be meaningful to a person as they find enjoyment out of participating in it and possibly  enjoy meeting up with friends.

Older people like every other indivdual find meaning from occupations they participate in. However as we age we tend to enjoy different occupations and lose a lot of roles due to retirement and physical barriers. As we age we go through different developmental stages and it is during the fourth stage of developmental life stages that older people tend to participate in fewer activities. Older people also find new activities unwelcome and counterproductive which often means older people become secluded, lonely and physically deteriorate (Cole,  2007).

This is where occupational therapists can work alongside older peole and find out what the individual finds meaningful, their interests and values etc. to introduce them to activities they are comfortable with and will find meaning from.I found it very interesting to learn about the different life stages we go through and agree with alot of the work done by Laslett (1991) on these stages. Laslett (1991) explained how when someone has retired they are in the third age and prefer to do more pleasing activities. Whereas in the fourth age they are at the stage of preparing for death and "demonstrate a pattern of withdrawl" (Cole, 2007, p.2).

References:

Better photo.com. (2011). Photography gallery. In Master photography. Retrieved November 21, 2011, from http://www.betterphoto.com/

Christiansen, C. H., & Baum, C. M. (2005). Occupational therapy: performance, participation and well-being (3rd ed., pp 130-142). Thorofare, NJ: SLACK Incorporated.

Cole, M. B. (2007). Occupational therapy in the third age. Special interest section quarterly: Gerontology, 30 (2).

Molineux, M. (2004). Occupation for occupational therapists (pp. 2-8). Oxford, England: Wiley- Blackwell.