School-Based Occupational Therapy during COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

School-based occupational therapy (OT) is very important because it helps the student to be more successful and engage or participate in roles, habits, routines and occupations at school, and those related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic brought huge changes to the daily lives of people worldwide and affected their participation in almost all their daily activities or occupations. Occupation includes all purposeful human activity through which people can influence their health and well-being and adapt to change. Measures related to COVID-19 and lockdown (when there is one) require changes in the daily school and home routine of students who need new training (especially those in special schools) to protect their health and adapt to changes. School occupational therapists (OTs) work with teachers and the school team and have an important role among the interdisciplinary team in occupational engagement, in order to avoid the negative consequences of illness and disability and promote the positive impact of participating in occupations on a student’s health and well-being. They focus on a wide range of areas of occupational performance such as education, social participation, play, leisure, work and activities of daily living. The purpose of this short report is to highlight the usefulness of school-based OT in supporting students in everyday life, including new COVID-19 conditions. Some directions are also discussed, so as for OTs, teachers and school team to be able to help students meet the challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic in OT school-based services including self-care, hygiene, masks and facial coverings, daily school and home routine, social distancing, e-learning/technology management and telehealth in collaboration with parents, and other professionals in school.