Context, Environment And Culture In Occupational Therapy

Context, environment and culture are all very important aspects in occupational therapy and in the lives of every day people. In order to be occupational beings and have the best possible quality of life, it is important to have a balance of these three elements. Environment, context, and culture can either hinder or facilitate both occupational performance and participation. The environment consists of both a physical aspect and a social aspect. Context refers to the specific conditions that surround a person. Culture refers to a person’s beliefs and values. Without the balance of these three factors, quality of life may be compromised. All of these pieces combine together to form a person’s occupational identity. Having an occupational identity …show more content…
All of these factors influence occupational choices and performance. Context plays a large role in occupational therapy because it is what makes a client unique. For example, understanding temporal context will influence treatment decisions. When thinking about a treatment plan for a certain individual, their stage of life is vital. An occupational therapist may choose an intervention planed based on age. Someone who was born with a disability is going to need more services and planning than someone in a hospice setting. Someone who was born with a disability may need adaptive equipment and modifications to the environment in order to complete activities of daily living (ADLs). A person in hospice is not going to need assistive technology or environmental modifications because they do not have much time left. Therefore, it does not make sense to implement these techniques at such a late stage in …show more content…
It is important that each therapist takes the time to learn about their client’s culture in order to provide appropriate services. Occupational therapists will never be truly culturally competent, because culture changes so often over time (Kinébanian & Stomph, 2010). This is important to understand. Occupational therapists may try very hard to understand all walks of life, but it is very unlikely that they will ever fully understand all aspects of culture. It takes a great deal of effort for one to become culturally competent. Occupational therapists must also understand their own culture in order to respect others and develop a sense of diversity (Kinébanian & Stomph, 2010). Lastly occupational therapists must offer culturally sensitive therapy. This means that understanding that culture is unique to everyone, allows a therapist to provide culturally appropriate services (Kinébanian & Stomph, 2010). In conclusion, when an occupational therapist works on an occupation with a client in a meaningful context, performance and participation increase. The client will be more likely to complete certain occupations because they provide a sense of purpose. The relationships between culture, context, and environment are very important. Having knowledge of these aspects can benefit occupational therapy services and guides OTs to best provide services for all different