A case study of the development of occupational therapy at St. Patrick’s Hospital Dublin, 1935-1969

Dunne, Bríd; Robinson, Katie; Pettigrew, Judith

doi:10.1108/ijot-11-2017-0025

Cited by 4 publications

(11 citation statements)

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“…The first author conducted the interviews, following the completion of a masters level module in historical research methods. The research was conducted as part of the first author's doctoral research on the history of occupational therapy in Ireland (see also Dunne et al., 2016; Dunne et al., 2018; Pettigrew et al., 2017). Most interviews were conducted in participants’ own homes and three interviews with overseas participants were conducted by Skype.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

An oral history of occupational therapy education in the Republic of Ireland

Dunne

Pettigrew

Robinson

2018

British Journal of Occupational Therapy

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Introduction: Historical research contributes to the critical perspectives called for in occupational therapy. Despite this, research on the history of occupational therapy education is limited. The only occupational therapy programme in the Republic of Ireland from 1963 to 1986 was the diploma at St Joseph's College of Occupational Therapy, Dublin, which followed the curriculum first of the Association of Occupational Therapists and from 1974 the British Association of Occupational Therapists. This study explores oral histories of pioneering students from that programme. Method: Oral history interviews were conducted with 19 former students of the programme who studied between 1963 and 1970. Interviews were thematically analysed. Findings: Participants described a curriculum with two subject foci: academic and activity-based subjects. Despite a focus on activity-based subjects in the curriculum, participants were ambivalent about their use in practice. They described a need to manage tensions arising from working alongside craft workers designated as occupational therapists. Throughout the interviews, claims for the professional status of occupational therapy were identified. Conclusion: The oral histories reveal a multitude of professionalisation strategies used to establish the profession in 1960s and 1970s Ireland. These findings have relevance for present day debates about professionalisation, occupation-focused curricula and interprofessional practice and education.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

An oral history of occupational therapy education in the Republic of Ireland

Dunne

Pettigrew

Robinson

2018

British Journal of Occupational Therapy

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“…The first appearance of the term "occupational therapy" in Irish media was in a newspaper article about Peamount Sanatorium, Dublin, September 1930(Irish Times, 1930. Similar to the international field (Friedland, 2011), patronage by psychiatrists was an important factor in the development of occupational therapy in Ireland (Dunne et al, 2018b). The findings of the British RMPA study tours influenced Dr Eamon O'Sullivan, Resident Medical Superintendent (RMS) who established an occupational therapy department in the 1930s in Killarney Mental Hospital, based in part on Dr Simon's principles (O'Sullivan, 1955).…”

Section: Early Occupational Therapy In Irelandmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Comparatively later than its international counterparts, professionally qualified occupational therapists only began to practice in Ireland in the late 1940s (Pettigrew et al, 2017). In the privately run St. Patrick's Hospital, Dublin, RMS Norman Moore employed Olga Gale to establish an occupational therapy Department in 1946 (Dunne et al, 2018b). Gale was not a registered member of AOT but had completed two years of the Dorset House School of Occupational Therapy.…”

Section: Early Occupational Therapy In Irelandmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Gale was not a registered member of AOT but had completed two years of the Dorset House School of Occupational Therapy. Professionally qualified occupational therapist Margret Sinclair was later employed for a brief period in 1952 (Dunne et al, 2018b). In contrast, to Development of occupational therapy public hospitals, which were generally less resourced and funded (Hall, 2016), patients did not carry out domestic work in St. Patrick's Hospital.…”

Section: Early Occupational Therapy In Irelandmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This is a comparable stance to that of the British Board of Control, 1933 Memorandum on Occupation Therapy for Mental Patients and that expressed in Eamon O'Sullivan's, 1955 Textbook of Occupational Therapy, although no specific training was sought for nursing staff at Killarney Mental Hospital (O'Sullivan, 1955, p. 17). The handicrafts organised in Grangegorman resemble handicrafts such as weaving, woodcrafts and needlework promoted in Killarney Mental Hospital, St. Patrick's Hospital and early occupational therapy practices within psychiatric hospitals internationally (Dunne et al, 2018b;O'Sullivan, 1955;Wilcock, 2002). Occupational therapy practice in mental health settings in the USA, the UK and Northern Europe stemmed largely from the psychiatry profession and this pattern was also observed in Grangegorman.…”

Section: Establishment Of Occupational Therapy In Grangegorman and Portranementioning

confidence: 99%

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Development of occupational therapy in Grangegorman hospital, Dublin: 1934-1954

Cahill

Pettigrew

2020

IJOT

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Purpose In the early to mid-twentieth century, psychiatrist-led occupational therapy departments emerged in Irish psychiatric hospitals. This marked a transition towards establishing rehabilitative services in institutional settings. This paper aims to examine the development of occupational therapy in Grangegorman Mental Hospital and its auxiliary hospital, Portrane Mental Hospital from 1934-1954. Design/methodology/approach Historical documentary research methods were used to analyse primary source data from Grangegorman Committee Minutes, Inspector of Mental Hospital Reports, Boroughs of Mental Hospitals, Department of Foreign Affairs documents and newspaper archives. The archival data was analysed using both a chronological and thematic approach. Findings The main key event emerged in 1935 when four Grangegorman nursing staff were sent to Cardiff Mental Hospital to undergo a six month training course in occupational therapy. The following themes emerged – “establishing occupational therapy in Grangegorman and Portrane”; “the role of short-course trained nursing staff in providing occupational therapy services” and “therapeutic rationales vs hospital management rationales”. Originality/value This study throws light on the early practitioners of occupational therapy in Grangegorman and highlights the complexities of occupational therapy’s role origins in mid-twentieth century Ireland. In line with contemporaneous psychiatric hospitals, the occupational therapy activities promoted in Grangegorman were mainly handicraft or productivity based. The absence of patients’ voices means there are limitations to determining the therapeutic nature of this early occupational therapy service.

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Anthropological perspectives on the trajectory from institutionalisation to community care in Irish psychiatry

Kelly

2020

Ir. j. psychol. Med.

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The trajectory of the anthropology of Irish psychiatry, like the trajectory of Irish psychiatry itself, is indelibly shaped by the history of Irelandʼs mental hospitals. This paper focuses on three works concerning the anthropology of psychiatry in Ireland: Nancy Scheper-Hughesʼs book, Saints Scholars and Schizophrenics: Mental Illness in Rural Ireland, an anthropological study (1977/2001); Eileen Kaneʼs paper, ‘Stereotypes and Irish identity: mental illness as a cultural frame’, from Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review (1986) and Michael D’Arcyʼs conference paper, ‘The hospital and the Holy Spirit: psychotic subjectivity and institutional returns in Dublin, Ireland’ (2015), based on his PhD dissertation. All three publications explore the relationship between institutional and community psychiatric care in Ireland, concluding with the work of D’Arcy which, like much good anthropology, is rooted in the lived experience of mental illness and combines deep awareness of the past with tolerance of multiple, ostensibly contradictory narratives in the present.

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A case study of the development of occupational therapy at St. Patrick’s Hospital Dublin, 1935-1969

Cited by 4 publications

References 34 publications

An oral history of occupational therapy education in the Republic of Ireland

An oral history of occupational therapy education in the Republic of Ireland

Development of occupational therapy in Grangegorman hospital, Dublin: 1934-1954

Anthropological perspectives on the trajectory from institutionalisation to community care in Irish psychiatry

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