TITLE:
Professional identities of occupational therapy practitioners in Japan
AUTHORS:
Risa Takashima, Kazuko Saeki
KEYWORDS:
Occupational Therapist; Professional Identity; Grounded Theory Approach
JOURNAL NAME:
Health,
Vol.5 No.6B,
June
27,
2013
ABSTRACT: To aim to inductively clarify the
professional identity of occupational therapists who work in a clinical
setting, the researchers interviewed the 22 occupational therapists who had a
minimum of 5 years or more of practice in the field. The professional identities
of the practicing occupational therapists were constructed by the following
two core categories: “harmonizing with a client’s life and the characteristic
of a client’s disability”, and “giving clients sovereignties as a mission of
the occupational therapists”. The occupational therapist can carry the role of
coordinator in an interdisciplinary team for the clients with disability by understanding
them. This is achieved based on the core category called “giving clients
sovereignties as a mission of the occupational therapists”. Furthermore, in
order to achieve the clients’ sovereignties, the occupational therapist can be
an operational unit by planning practical strategies and practicing them
based on the core category called “harmonizing with a client’s life and the
characteristic of a client’s disability”. The fact is often difficult for
these clients that they are concerned with how he/she lived actively. It is
through unique ways of contributing for the clients in a team of professionals
that the occupational therapists try to understand the clients not as “patients”
but as “human beings”, and try to harmonize with their life and the characteristics
of their disability, then try to support and empower them to reach a stage in
which they have the sovereignties of their lives.