Occupation

Abstracts Thursday 30th June 2016
Session 47.1
Embedding Spirituality in Occupational Therapy
(ESPiOT) Model: a 21st century model for guiding
practice
Jones J, University of Huddersfield
Spirituality is a concept central to healthcare practice, and in
particular to occupational therapy (Clarke, 2013). Occupational
therapy holds the uniqueness of the individual, and meaningful
and purposeful expressions of health and well-being through
occupation, as central to professional practice. Set in the context
of 21st century healthcare, this study explored how occupational
therapists (n=4) working in the English National Health Service
embedded spirituality into daily practice. A qualitative study,
underpinned by an ethnographic approach, using participantas-observer
observation and follow up interviews explored how
occupational therapists embedded spirituality into everyday
practice. Framework approach was used to guide analysis and
interpret the large volume of unstructured textual data (Smith &
Firth, 2011).
Despite difficulties defining spirituality occupational therapists
appeared able to apply the underpinning core values and
philosophy of the profession and embed spirituality in their
practice. Practitioners found it more meaningful to describe
spirituality in terms of how they applied the concept in,
and through, practice by comprehending the values, needs
and concerns of the individual as opposed to a consistent
definition. They concerned themselves with supporting patients
experiencing vulnerability due to disruption in their health and
well-being. This support was achieved by the occupational
therapist uncovering the individual needs of the patient and
through delivering person-centred care by explicitly addressing
spirituality. The Embedding Spirituality (ESPiOT) model which
emerged from the findings is offered as a tool to guide practice,
education and research into how spirituality is, and could
be, embedded into occupational therapy practice in the 21st
century.
References
Clarke, J. (2013) Spiritual Care in Everyday Nursing Practice. A
New Approach. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Smith, J. & Firth, J. (2011) Qualitative Data Analysis: the
framework approach. Nurse Researcher. 18(2), 52–63.
Keywords
Occupational therapists, Research, Occupational therapy models
and theory, NHS
Contact E-mail Addresses
Nandjjones@aol.com
Author Biographies
Janice Jones is an occupational therapist working in higher
education. She has held posts as the course leader and senior
lecturer of a pre registration occupational therapy course.
Currently employed as a lecturer delivering inter professional
CPD courses to bands 1–9 working in the NHS. This study
was carried out as part of her doctoral studies, submitted for
examination in 2015.
Session 47.2
Disclosure of lesbian, gay and bisexual identity,
what do we need to know?
Roberts S, Cole F, University of Cumbria
Introduction: Disclosure of Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual (LGB)
orientation is identified as a continual process with negative
and positive experiences holding long and short-term health
and wellbeing impacts (Ryan, Legate and Weinstein, 2015).
Occupational therapists claim holistic practice encompassing
individuals’ diverse values, beliefs, and behaviours, yet evidence
in addressing issues related to sexuality and disclosure is limited.
It remains an under-researched area and from some perspectives,
its relevance to occupational therapy is contested as illustrated
in Couldrick (2005). A lack of understanding of the impact of
disclosure on people’s occupational lives emphasises a need
for this review of existing knowledge and its relevance to
occupational therapy.
Method: A structured database search and critical appraisal
identified 17 articles that met the review criteria relating to
LGB, disclosure, health & wellbeing and occupation. Data were
extracted and analysed for themes according to Aveyard (2014).
Findings: The review identified the factors influencing disclosure
and the impact of disclosing sexual orientation on people’s
health and wellbeing. Disclosure was a need, which increased
alongside LGB identity affirmation. Analysis revealed how nondisclosure
or negative disclosure experiences contributed to
occupational deprivation, reduced participation and occupational
performance. A lack of education amongst health professionals
and ‘heteronormative’ practice was one of the key factors for
negative impacts of disclosure.
Conclusion: Disclosure of sexual orientation is a complex process
impacting on individuals’ occupational identity, performance
and engagement. This confirms the importance of developing
occupational therapists’ understanding in order to support
service users with an LGB orientation whom they may encounter
in practice. The review has presented some foundations for
future research directions and professional practice.
References
Aveyard H. (2014) Doing a literature review in health and social
care. Place of publication needed before publisher McGraw-Hill
Education (UK).
Couldrick L. (2005) Sexual expression and occupational therapy.
The British Journal of Occupational Therapy 68:7 315–318.
Ryan WS, Legate N and Weinstein N. (2015) Coming Out as
Lesbian, Gay, or Bisexual: The Lasting Impact of Initial Disclosure
Experiences. Self and Identity 14:1 1–21.
Keywords
Disadvantaged, Research, Practice – present and future, Interagency
Contact E-mail Addresses
shane_roberts2802@yahoo.co.uk
Author Biographies
Shane Roberts is a University of Cumbria MSc Student with
a particular interest in sexuality, occupational therapy and
prevention of health and wellbeing detriments associated with
disclosure. Interest lies more significantly at the role Occupational
therapy plays in supporting and treating the occupational
impacts of sexual identity disclosure and development.
Fiona Cole is a senior lecturer and research supervisor at the
University of Cumbria with a particular interest in occupational
science, and promoting health through occupation.
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