Understanding occupation in Canada: Recent graduates’ perspectives

Abstract

Background A robust occupational perspective can fortify an occupational therapist’s professional identity, which is especially important as occupational therapists can struggle with professional identity. Occupational therapy curricula are critical to the development of an occupational perspective. Recent graduates can offer valuable insights on an occupational perspective, having transitioned from occupation-centred curricula into often medicalised practice settings. Aims This study explored how recent graduates from Canadian entry-level occupational therapy master’s programs understand the concept of occupation. Materials and Methods Using an interpretive descriptive approach, rooted in constructivism, 13 English-speaking graduates (2017, 2018, 2019) from Canadian entry-level occupational therapy master’s programs were purposively recruited to participate in semi-structured interviews. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to analyse data, informed by reflexivity and member-checking. Results Four themes were described: (1) occupation: more than doing, (2) occupation is broad, abstract, and context-dependent, (3) occupation is not well understood: the fall out, and (4) navigating the challenge of describing occupation. Conclusion Participants’ experiences aligned with much of the previous literature, including the challenges of describing occupation and frustrations with navigating this in practice. Yet, participants described how flexible and critical understandings of occupation facilitate the use of an occupational perspective across practice settings, supporting professional resilience.