Problematization of knowledge and practices in Brazilian occupational therapy: the construction of critical thinking between 1979 and 1996

Abstract

: This article proposes to present, in a descriptive and analytical way, the historical constitution of critical thinking in Brazilian occupational therapy between 1979 and 1996. It is a theoretical and historical research, which took as its object some key discussions on historical-epistemological foundations of occupational therapy through a reflective and critical reading of texts. The study made use of the previous research database on the national occupational therapy literature from 1956 to 2017 through a scoping review. Books, master's dissertations, abstracts from scientific event annals and articles from national occupational therapy journals were used. The descriptive and analytical presentation of the results is organized into three distinct periods: (i) emergence of the first counter-hegemonic records at the end of the 1970s, published in event annals; (ii) production of critical studies in historical-epistemological foundations, published in master's dissertations and books from 1987 to 1990 and; (iii) critical elaborations on the hegemonic biomedical thought, the institutionalizaton of people and the technical-procedural model, published in occupational therapy journals from 1990 to 1993/6. The historical period between 1979 and 1996 marks the emergence of critical thinking in Brazilian occupational therapy. These elaborations contributed to make visible a certain ethical-political position that would serve as a foundation for the emancipatory practices that would happen in the following decade.