Occupational Transitions Flashcards
Occupational transition defined as?
“major change in the occupational repertoire of a person in which one or several occupations change, disappear and/or are replaced with others.”
- Can be associated with life course transitions
Predictable transitions?
- School transitions (e.g., elementary to secondary, to post-secondary)
- Weekday to weekend
- Moving (from place to place, from city to city, etc.)
- Retirement
- Parenthood (maybe)
Unpredictable transitions?
- Injury
- Illness
- Divorce
- Losing a family member
- Job loss
- Bankruptcy/Homelessness
- Winning prize/lottery
- Forced migration
Predictability - A false dichotomy? It is not black and white, some occupations are sometimes planned and sometimes not (parenthood), others you might see it coming or not (bankruptcy, job promotion)
Give more examples?
- Parenthood, there are both planned and unplanned pregnancy
- Bankruptcy/Homelessness, sensing that you are in financial trouble
- Future plans not going according to plan (e.g., not getting into desired grad school program)
- Death of someone known (sometimes prognosis is known)
- Job loss
- Forced migration
- Wedding proposal
- Job promotion
Plans for transition?
- Planning finically
- Getting the needed supplies
- Planning for the temporal readjustment
- First aid kit for accidents that might happen, like natural disaster
- Having a plan A, B, and potentially even C
Occupational implications
- Retirement?
- Stopping work
- Social circle
- Less Less structure and daily occupation (more time for leisure, time may slow down)
- Shifting experience of time
- Pain (shift in use of body)
- Change to identity
Occupational implications
- Global migration?
- Change in mental health, for better or worse (distance from support system, a lot of changing)
- Changing status, legal and symbolic (and negating that)
- Deskilling, unable to practice the same profession that they did at home (lack of recognition of education and experience)
- Chaining in identity (any major change in occupation can lead to a change in identity)
- Lifestyle (learning new things, different social norms)
- Some family, members may stay behind
- Rebuild your social circle
- Learning how to navigate new systems (bureaucracy)
Community/Social transitions?
- Presence (who is is a space, a population can gradually cause a shift)
- Sweden accepted more immigrants and this caused a change to to the dominant culture (with the increase in popularity of Arabic influences on music and food)
- Gentrification
- People leaving communities
- Change of government/policy
- Shifts in social issues (e.g., LGTBQ+ rights, legalizing cannabis)
- Covid (and other public health restrictions)
Communities in transition
A live community growing together: Communal occupation of a senior centre welcoming Spanish-speaking elders?
- Pays attention to transformation among community relations and processes of community change; focuses on “moments of community change as the communal occupation of a community ring together’ (p.2)
- Examines how a community responds to the arrival of new members to explore social processes involved in community occupation
Communal occupations in a senior centre
- Thematic findings?
- Moments of growth
- Setting the stage
- Race, Aging policies, Presence
- Connection Spanish speakers with occupational opportunities
- Changing relations though doing together
- Reciprocal felt presence
- Policy changes
Communal occupations in a senior centre
Quote?
“Immigrants, like any community members, have power to transform their situations. Through doing together and offering presence and participation in communication, immigrants can shift how a community lives and works.” (p.11)
People in transition
Re-creating self-identity and meaning through occupations during expected and unexpected transitions in life?
- Examined occupational engagement during times of transition
- Understanding identity as not only individual, but also socially and culturally constructed
For example some might experience their identity as more collective, ansewring how they are doing based on how their community to inner circle is doing.
Occupation during life transition
Give examples of the 4 case studies used?
Case 1.
Transitioning between schools for children with disabilities
Case 2.
Transitioning to a new everyday life after traumatic brain injury
Case 3.
Transitioning to a new everyday life after stroke
Case 4.
Transitioning to a new life with serious somatic illness
Occupation during life transition, thematic findings? (3)
- Disruption of a former self, by for example brain injury, somatic illness, disaties
- Pursuing normality (Finding independence),
- Re-constructing daily occupations and routines, take public transport instead of driving -> in turn will pursue normality and achieve independence
Research Example
- Experiences of Internationally Educated Occupational Therapists Transitioning into Canadian Practice
- Life transition unrelated to illness (occupational perspective): “the process that results when an individual chooses a path of change that affects their occupational repertoire”
- The demand for Occupational Therapists (OTs) in British Columbia is not being met
- The registration of Internationally Educated Occupational Therapists (IEOTs) is one way to address this this shortage
- All IEOTs must complete the SEAS before registering as an OT in BC
