50 Fun Facts About Occupational Therapy

Occupational therapy was launched as a profession at a Clifton Springs, NY meeting in which year?

The National Society for the Promotion of Occupational Therapy met that March, weeks before the US entered World War I.

What was the name of the building in Clifton Springs where the founding meeting was held?

It was George Barton's convalescent home and workshop.

How many founders attended the 1917 meeting?

George Barton, William Rush Dunton, Eleanor Clarke Slagle, Thomas Kidner, Susan Cox Johnson and Isabel Newton Barton.

Who is considered the 'mother' of occupational therapy?

AOTA's highest academic award, the Slagle Lectureship, is named for her.

At which famous Chicago settlement did Slagle set up a workroom for people with disabilities?

She was inspired to enter the field after visiting Kankakee State Hospital.

Where in Baltimore did Slagle direct an occupational therapy department from 1912?

She also set up the first OT training program for the disabled.

Founder William Rush Dunton was also a noted scholar and collector of what?

A psychiatrist, he edited the Archives of Occupational Therapy and led AOTA in its early years.

What did the founding society rename itself in 1921?

The shorter name came with an amended constitution that October.

What were the more than 1,200 women recruited to rehabilitate wounded World War I soldiers called?

NSPOT helped the military recruit and train them.

Which 18th-century reform of asylum care is a philosophical root of occupational therapy?

Doctors like Philippe Pinel replaced harsh treatment with routines and meaningful activity.

Which 1860-1910 design movement shaped early occupational therapy via 'learning by doing'?

Crafts gave patients a creative outlet during long hospital stays.

Which Swiss-born psychiatrist gave a widely cited 1922 paper on the philosophy of occupational therapy?

He championed the idea that a balanced rhythm of work, play, rest and sleep supports health.

Who founded the first school of occupational therapy in the UK, in Bristol in 1930?

She was the first woman to earn a medical degree from the University of Bristol.

What was the name of Casson's Bristol clinic that housed that first UK school?

She opened it in 1929 for women with mental disorders and even acted in patients' plays.

In which year was the World Federation of Occupational Therapists founded?

AOTA was one of ten founding members.

Which month has AOTA designated Occupational Therapy Month?

World Occupational Therapy Day falls separately in October.

How does the WFOT define occupational therapy?

'Occupation' here means the everyday activities that give life meaning.

In OT shorthand, what does the acronym ADL stand for?

Feeding, bathing, dressing, grooming and toileting are classic examples.

Who originally proposed the concept of ADLs in the 1950s?

His team worked at the Benjamin Rose Hospital in Cleveland; the Katz Index still bears his name.

Who developed the concept of IADLs in 1969?

IADLs cover things like managing money, shopping and medications that support independent living.

Which occupational therapist developed sensory integration theory?

She earned all three of her degrees at the University of Southern California and taught there for nearly 30 years.

What is Ayres' definition of sensory integration?

Sensory Integration Treatment is a growing outpatient intervention, especially for children.

Which theoretical approach is associated with Gary Kielhofner?

MOHO looks at volition, habituation and performance capacity.

In which year did CAOT originate the Canadian Model of Occupational Performance?

It has since evolved into the CMOP-E, adding engagement.

What is the name of AOTA's core document describing the profession's domain and process?

Its fourth edition, OTPF-4, defines occupations as everyday activities that bring meaning and purpose to life.

According to AOTA, what is the most common primary work setting for occupational therapists?

Schools, outpatient clinics, home health and skilled nursing follow.

What entry-level degree do occupational therapists in the US need?

Occupational therapy assistants need at least an associate degree.

What does the credential OTR signify?

It follows a national exam run by NBCOT plus state licensure.

Which board administers the US national certification exam for occupational therapists?

ACOTE, by contrast, accredits education programs.

What did Slagle propose in 1922 that was adopted as an educational standard in 1923?

Standards grew to 18 months in 1930 to match other professions.

In which year did AOTA create the lectureship award named for its 'mother'?

It recognises creative contributions to the profession's body of knowledge.

The body that became Occupational Therapy Australia began in which year?

World War II drove rapid growth in the field worldwide.

In which uniformed services can US occupational therapists serve as commissioned officers?

The Public Health Service Commissioned Corps is one of eight US uniformed services.

Which 2010 US law contained a habilitation clause credited largely to AOTA's political advocacy?

Public Law 111-148 is the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

In OTPF terms, which of these is classed as an occupation?

Occupations include ADLs, IADLs, education, work, play, leisure, social participation, rest and sleep.

What is AOTA's promotional slogan?

It captures the focus on participation in meaningful activity.

What is the OTD?

Other options include the DrOT, the CScD and a PhD.

What is the domain of occupational therapy according to the third edition of AOTA's core document?

That framing links OT closely to the WHO's ICF classification.

In which US city was the Benjamin Rose Hospital, where the ADL concept was born, located?

The Katz Index of Independence in ADLs came out of that work.

Which functional mobility ADL is often referred to as 'transferring'?

Bathing, dressing, toileting, feeding and continence round out the classic list.

What is occupational therapy commonly called in continental Europe, from the Greek for work?

Founder William Rush Dunton disliked the clumsiness of the English term and weighed this alternative, along with 'work-cure', before the society settled the name in 1921.

Which body regulates occupational therapists in the United Kingdom?

It oversees fifteen allied health professions with more than 350,000 registrants, together the third-largest clinical workforce in the NHS.

The client-centred frame of reference in OT grew out of the work of which psychologist?

It puts the client's own needs and goals in charge of the whole therapy process, a theme that re-emerged strongly after the reductionist 1950s.

The Kawa model developed by Michael Iwama is built around which natural metaphor?

The name is simply the Japanese word for the feature; rocks, driftwood and banks stand in for life's obstacles, assets and surroundings.

Thomas B. Kidner became vocational secretary of which country's Military Hospitals Commission?

His programme kept soldiers busy with occupations even while bedridden, then moved them through curative and industrial workshops back to work.

The Scottish and wider-UK associations of OTs merged in 1974 to form which body?

The Scottish association dates from 1932 and the rest of the UK was served by a separate association from 1936.

In which year did the US first set educational standards for OT assistants?

The assistant role was created to ease a chronic shortage of qualified therapists that the profession had been wrestling with since the 1950s.

What was the title of William Rush Dunton's 1919 textbook on the field?

It grew out of his 1918 article 'The Principles of Occupational Therapy' in the journal Public Health.

Who founded occupational science as an academic discipline at USC in 1989?

The field studies humans as 'doers' or occupational beings, giving the practice a basic science of its own.

Which Greek physician treated mental illness c. 100 BCE with baths, massage, exercise and music?

The Roman writer Celsus later prescribed music, travel, conversation and exercise, but such humane methods largely vanished by medieval times.