Experience of Therapeutic Occupations in Schizophrenic Subjects: Clinical Observations Organized in Terms of the Flow Theory.

Abstract

Some basic assumptions in occupational therapy theory are that participation in occupations is necessary for human development. Yet the relationship between health and participating in occupations is largely unexplored, and there is a need for concepts to describe this relationship. The purpose of this study was to examine intrinsic motivation and flow experience as an effective agent in therapeutic occupations for persons with schizophrenia. Three persons who had been psychiatric inpatients for more than 5 years participated in the study. The Flow Questionnaire was used to identify flow experiences in their lives and observations were made of the participants performing selected activities based on their interests. Each activity session was followed by an interview aimed to find the participant's experience of the acitivity. Two of the participants managed to identify flow experiences in their lives. During the activity sessions, flow experience was observed in all three participants. In the following interviews this was confirmed. The results suggest that the six elements from the Flow Theory are useful concepts for describing effective components in therapeutic occupation. The method used here makes it possible to conceptualize what happens in therapeutic occupation.