Terapia ocupacional em contexto de catástrofe

Abstract

In the wake of the Castanheira de Pera disaster in 2017, Médicos do Mundo implemented the Hope Mission, with the aim of providing people with humanitarian support. It involved the Equipa Técnica de Rua [Technical Street Team], for community intervention. This consisted of one occupational therapist, two final year Occupational Therapy degree students, one nurse, and one local facilitator. It was the first time in Portugal that Occupational Therapy professionals participated in a humanitarian mission in the context of a disaster. In this interventional study, the occupational therapy was implemented in three strands: Home, with adaptation of the context, insertion of support products, teaching energy conservation, and counselling; Institutional, with implementation of group activities to promote the sharing and solving of problems, and the creation of healthy habits/routines in the population; Community, in terms of health education, cultural and artisanal activities such as tapestry or the commemoration of World Mental Health Day. We intend to raise awareness about the oOccupational Therapy intervention in this context, to encourage autonomy and participation.