REFERENCES

Creek, J., & Lougher, L. (2008). Occupational therapy and mental health (4th E.d.). Churchill Livingstone: Philadelphia, USA

Goldberg, B., Brintnell, S., & Goldberg, J. (2008). The relationship between engagement in meaningful activities and quality of life in persons disabled by mental illness. Occupational Therapy in Mental Health, 18(2), 17-44.

Law, M., Steinwender, S., & Leclair, L. (1998). Occupation, health and well-being. Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy, 65(2), 81-91.

Mee, J., & Sumsion, T. (2001). Mental health clients confirm the motivating power of occupation. British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 64(3), 121-128.

Mee, J., Sumsion, T., & Craik, C. (2004). Mental health clients confirm the value of occupation in building competence and self identity. British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 67(5), 225-233.

Rebeiro, K. L. (1998). Occupation as means to mental health: A review of the literature, and a call for research. Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy, 65(1), 12-18.

Westhorp, P. (2003). Exploring balance as a concept in occupational science. Journal of Occupational Science, 10(2), 99-106.

NOTE: Even though some of these references are not current, they were specific, detailed and most up to date research that I could find. Majority of the references used were from occupational therapy journal articles; meaning peer reviewed and therefore reliable and trustworthy.

WHAT HAVE WE LEARNT?

I have really enjoyed researching and developing my blog about meaningful occupation and mental health. I have gained a good understanding how meaningful occupation can facilitate to improve the mental health well being of an individual and how this enhances their recovery.

The main points we have learnt in this blog are:

- Occupation is defined as self cares, leisure and productivity.
- Meaningful occupations fulfil a goal or a purpose that is personally meaningful and culturally important.
- All individuals benefit from participating in meaningful occupation in regards to their mental and physical well being.
- People with mental health illnesses have difficulty participating in their meaningful occupations in regards to lack of self worth, motivation, and impact of their illness.
- Meaningful occupation provides the motivation for people with mental health illness to participate in activities therefore enhancing their mental and physical well being and enhancing their recovery.
- There is evidence is the literature to show that meaningful occupation benefits people with mental health illness in regards to their quality of life.

I hope you have enjoyed this blog and I encourage you to write comments, not only to increase your learning but also others as well.

FUTURE PRACTICE

In regards to future practice using meaningful occupation in mental health;

-       It is important that therapists learn from each client what occupations are important for the client’s health and well being and how their current problems are interfering with performance of those occupations.

-       The challenge for occupational therapists is to find methods to broaden our practice patterns to enable persons experiencing difficulties in occupational performance to engage in occupations that are meaningful in their lives.

-       Occupational therapists need to cover the skills that could be acquired by clients and through encouraging engagement in occupation, aim to facilitate the right amount of challenge for individuals with mental health problems.

-       Future research needs to be undertaken regards this area of practice.

CRITQUE ANALYSE OF A MENTAL HEALTH/MEANINGFUL OCCUPATION STUDY

In order to support what I have said about the use of meaningful occupation and mental health, I am going to analyse and critique an article that supports and relates to the topic.

Goldberg, B., Brintnell, S., & Goldberg, J. (2008). The relationship between engagement in meaningful activities and quality of life in persons disabled by mental illness. Occupational Therapy in Mental Health, 18(2), 17-44.

Critique Analyses: From Evidence Based Practice Class, I thought I would bring my skills in ensuring this article is reliable and appropriate. In regards to the authors, they have involvement in either mental health or occupational therapy practice. The title and information within the article relates to the use of meaningful occupation and benefits this has on mental health individuals. The article was published in 2008; therefore it is a current and up to date resource. Within the method, they use test-retest reliability and Cronbach Alpha to analyse results. Use a range of theorist to support opinions and findings.

Aim: The aim of the study was to identify the relationship between engagement in meaningful activities and quality of life.

Participants: The participants were individuals with a mental illness living in the community and attending programs at a private, non profit mental health agency in a large western Canadian city. Sixty three individuals were selected at random from approximately 235 who met the criteria for being severely and persistently mentally ill. They were also required to be between the ages of 18 and 65 and diagnosed for at least two years.

Method: All individuals chosen at random were sent a letter describing the project and requesting that they consider participating. The research assistant made a follow up call to these individuals using a standardised script for guidance with answering questions. Those who agreed to participate were scheduled a time at their choice of location either at home or the agency. Participants signed informed consent. Three measures were administered including: the Engagement in Meaningful Activities Survey (EMAS); the Quality of Life Interview; and the symptom Checklist-90. The interviews lasted on average 79 minutes. Following a two to 10 week interval, 15 participants repeated the EMAS in order to obtain data on its test-retest reliability.

Results: The results from the data analysis clearly showed that there is a relationship between engagement in meaningful activities and quality of life demonstrating a significant correlation of (p < .05).

Conclusion: Occupational therapists working in community mental health should ensure that it is the client who must determine what is meaningful for them, and include activities that increase feelings of control and that provide the right amount of challenge to be encouraged.

ACTIVITY: Go onto the research databases such as google scholar, Cinahl, OT seeker etc and find articles that support the use of meaningful occupation in mental health. This will help with your clinical reasoning in present and future practices and enable you to become an  evidence based occupational therapist. Let me know how you get on!