Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis Case Study

One of the core ideologies of past and present occupational therapy evidence- based practice, centres around the belief of occupation being essential to health, wellbeing, pleasure and happiness (Rudman & Dennhard, as cited in Mariana Moraes & Matsukura, 2016). In this essay the relationship between health and occupation will be examined through the case study of Ben Horgan; Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis (JRA) survivor and activist. This essay will observe aspects of his arthritis in relation to environmental assistance and barriers, followed by an analysis of the association between health and participation in his primary occupations. Next, the theories put forth in Townsend & Polatajko’s (2013) ‘Basic Assumptions’ will be evaluated in correlation

Occupational participation is described as involvement in a life situation (WHO, as cited in Larsson-Lund & Nyman, 2017), therefore, ones’ active participation in an occupation must be analysed. For individuals with health conditions, such as Ben Horgan, there may be restrictions to executing actions involved in certain occupations, therefore, limitations are placed on participation in activities that may adversely impact their health. Occupation is “everything people do to occupy themselves, including looking after themselves (self- care), enjoying life (leisure) and contributing to the social and economic fabric of their communities (productivity)” (CAOT, as cited in Townsend and Polatajko, 2013). Horgan can engage in each of the three aspects of occupation; he still has partial functional mobility (self- care), he is able to socialise at forums with his peers (leisure), and lastly, has been successful in organizing Juvenile Arthritis youth forums and in maintaining a career as a radio host (productivity). “Productive labor force participation is a hallmark of the transition to adulthood” (Jetha, Badley, Beaton, Fortin, Shiff & Gignac, 2015), which is conveyed via Horgan’s participation in organizing forums for children diagnosed with arthritis throughout much of his early adulthood. Organizing and fundraising may have provided Horgan with the fulfilment

Current occupational therapy practice therefore revolves around the concepts of health and occupation; both of which are dependent on one another. Consequently, the key focus of occupational therapy is to utilise therapeutic, and beneficial occupations to “enable people to take control of and improve their health” outcomes (Frenchman, 2014). For an occupation to be therapeutic, it must be meaningful to the client. The more meaningful the intervention prescribed by the occupational therapist, the more likely it will be to increase the client’s subjective health, and thus, the more effective rehabilitation will be (Erlandsson, Eklund & Pearson, 2011). Therefore, in occupational therapy, the overall importance of the concept of health and occupations is to identify how these facets individually represent themselves in the life of the client, and subsequently how the interrelationship between the concepts effects the life of the client, and utilise this to create the most effective individualistic