This paper, the first of four, presents the structure and content of a model of occupation. The model is proposed as the first step in the development of paradigm of occupation for the field of occupational therapy and is designed for application in practice and research. It draws upon the theory of open systems to build a structural framework. Concepts relevant to human occupation are integrated into this framework. Subsequent papers will add concepts to the model and demonstrate its application in clinical practice.
This article describes the development and reliability testing of the Role Checklist, a two-part written inventory designed to identify past, present, and future roles and the degree to which individuals value each role. Roles included provide expectations and/or opportunities for occupational behavior, such as student, worker, volunteer, care giver, home maintainer, friend, family member, religious participant, hobbyist/amateur, and participant in organizations. To assess reliability, we administered the checklist twice to a group of 124 normal volunteers ranging in age from 18 to 79. Values obtained for kappa and weighted kappa, measures of agreement that correct for chance agreement, suggested moderate or better agreement for Parts 1 and 2 of the checklist. We concluded, therefore, that the checklist has satisfactory test/retest reliability.
This study examines the relationships between the volition subsystem, activity pattern, and life satisfaction of 60 elderly individuals. The volition subsystem includes an individual's interests, values, and personal causation. The Occupational Questionnaire (OQ) was developed to measure volition subsystems and activity patterns, and it was pilot tested for reliability and validity. Scores on the OQ were compared with measures of subjects' life satisfaction. Results of the study identified several aspects of the subjects' occupations that were related to their level of life satisfaction. The most important findings were the positive correlations between the degree of interest, value, and personal causation in occupation and life satisfaction. Time spent in work and leisure was found to be correlated more highly with high levels of life satisfaction than was time spent in daily living tasks and rest. Although further verification of these results is needed, these findings indicate that occupational therapists may enhance the life satisfaction of their elderly patients by emphasizing interests, values, personal causation, work, and leisure in their treatment programs.
This article presents the results from a longitudinal study of retirement. Data were collected through interviews with 12 Swedish participants over a 7-year period, beginning when they were still working and continuing through their early years of retirement. The findings show that the participants' narrative anticipations of retirement interacted with the events of ongoing life. Sometimes these events influenced the outcomes of the retirement process unpredictably. Consequently, retirement was often full of surprises and temporary periods of turbulence. Although some participants managed a transition into a satisfying pattern of retirement, others found it an ongoing process of frustration and dissatisfaction. Evidence from this longitudinal study indicates that a special type of occupation--engaging occupation with six constituents--was an important determinant of retirement satisfaction. This key finding is discussed with regard to its implications for theory development as well as its practical implications related to the importance of differentiating occupations and attending to the interaction between internal motivation and external expectations in the occupational pattern.
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