Catálogo de publicaciones - revistas

<jats:sec><jats:title>Introduction:</jats:title><jats:p> Occupations are recognised in occupational therapy and occupational science literature as vehicles to meaning and wellbeing. Yet, the question of how they are used to create meaning has not been investigated exhaustively. In this study, the researchers explored the life histories of worker-writers in the United Kingdom. These writers considered themselves as representatives of the most numerous but marginalised social class. The researchers considered how the worker-writers derived life meaning from their occupations and occupational roles. </jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Method:</jats:title><jats:p> Using heuristic research methods, 34 published autobiographies were analysed to elicit themes illuminating how meaning was created by the worker-writers through occupations and occupational roles. </jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results:</jats:title><jats:p> Five themes emerged from the analysis. Worker-writers created meaning by engaging in occupations and occupational roles that fostered family life and other meaningful relationships; a sense of control over their lives; meaningful leisure pursuits; a contribution to or connection to greater causes; and a sense of wellbeing. </jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion:</jats:title><jats:p> No claims are being made in this study about the generalisability of the findings to clinical practice. However, occupational therapists may consider exploring ways of helping clients engage in occupations reflecting themes that emerged from the study, as a way of helping them to reconstruct their lives following life-changing events or conditions. </jats:p></jats:sec>

<jats:sec><jats:title>Introduction</jats:title><jats:p> There is a worldwide trend towards value-based health care, which strives to control healthcare costs while maximising value for clients. The main concept of value has been defined as health outcomes achieved per US dollar spent. This research explored how clients of occupational therapy services, managers and occupational therapists perceived value in occupational therapy services. </jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Method</jats:title><jats:p> A qualitative design was used to explore the perspectives of clients ( n = 11), occupational therapists ( n = 7) and occupational therapy managers ( n = 7). Appreciative inquiry guided the two phases of semi-structured interviews ( n = 5) and focus groups ( n = 6). Inductive and deductive coding were used to establish themes. </jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Findings</jats:title><jats:p> Three themes encompassed the participants’ perceived value of occupational therapy services: (1) outcomes which are meaningful to daily life, (2) a constructive client–therapist relationship and (3) affordable, coordinated and understandable therapy. </jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion</jats:title><jats:p> Participants attributed value to occupational therapy services when they encountered personalised goal setting, focused on meaningful outcomes, managed personal costs and experienced positive therapeutic relationships. Enhancing services could focus on (1) developing skills in collaborative goal setting, (2) determining suitable outcome measures which are meaningful at personal- and service-level reporting, (3) encouraging self-management strategies, and (4) emphasising therapeutic relationships and supporting therapeutic communication skill development. </jats:p></jats:sec>