Occupational Therapy in Health Care, 27(2):75–77, 2013


C 2013 by Informa Healthcare USA, Inc.
Available online at http://informahealthcare.com/othc
DOI: 10.3109/07380577.2013.784692

EDITORIAL

Special Issue of Obesity and the Role of

Occupational Therapy

Guest Editor: Michael A. Pizzi PhD, OTR/L, FAOTA

The power of occupation in a person’s life can never be underestimated. As Pelo-

quin (1997) states, “Occupation . . . animates and extends the human spirit; we par-
ticipate in that animation. Gazing past the details of practice . . ., we discern a deeper
aim. The discovery is awesome” (p. 168). People coping with the challenge of obe-
sity that impacts participation in daily life deserve the chance to optimally engage
in self-chosen occupation that facilitates health and well-being, promotes maximal
participation and animates their spirit to live long and productive lives. As guest
editor, I have had the privilege of working with dynamic, interesting, and scholarly
occupational therapy colleagues similarly committed to expanding the conversa-
tion about obesity and the role of occupational therapy. The following are brief
summaries of their work in this issue, and readers are encouraged to use this work
to establish a body of literature in order to develop an evidence base for the role of
occupational therapy within the obesity epidemic.
The obesity epidemic is a public health concern. Bazyk, continuing with her com-
mitment to a public health approach to improving the lives of children, especially in
mental health, has developed “A Multitiered Approach to Addressing the Mental
Health Issues Surrounding Obesity.” Through this paper, readers are introduced to
a three-tiered public health approach that focuses on multiple ways occupational
therapy professionals can address the mental health issues surrounding obesity,
obesity prevention, and the promotion of healthy weight. The author nicely details
how public health can easily interface with occupational therapy values, philosophy
and practice, and reasons that this approach may be crucial to meet society’s needs.
I suggest that all readers examine her references to further the work this author has
developed to help meet society’s needs, in this case, the need to address obesity and
mental health.
Children who are obese or overweight are a family health issue and must be
viewed from an open systems lens. Pizzi and Vroman, in their article on “Child-
hood obesity: Effects on children’s participation, mental health, and psychoso-
cial development,” make the case for occupational therapists to consistently be
aware of the psychosocial and mental health dimensions of health in order to
promote full participation. They address the concepts of occupational marginal-
ization, deprivation, and alienation through being client and family centered and
occupation focused using a systems approach to care. The authors emphasize the
need to always address the multiple mental health challenges faced by children
who are obese or overweight and to develop strategies and programs that are

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preventive and interventional relative to empowerment of these children and their

families.
Culture has a significant influence on the development of obesity and lifestyle
choices. Suarez-Balcazar, Friesema, and Lukyanova have created a glimpse into
the lives of African American and Latino children in their seminal article “Cultur-
ally Competent Interventions to Address Obesity among African American and
Latino Children and Youth.” The authors review the literature and examine strate-
gies for occupational therapy intervention in three specific categories—healthy eat-
ing, physical activity, and overall healthy lifestyles. They also detail preventive and
interventional ways in which occupational therapy professionals can create pro-
grams that are culturally sensitive. The authors also suggest that occupational ther-
apy professionals should always be culturally aware when designing programs for
children who are or are at risk for being obese or overweight.
Forhan and Gill, in their scoping study “Cross border contributions to obesity re-
search and interventions: A review of Canadian and American occupational ther-
apy contributions,” examines the occupational therapy literature regarding child-
hood obesity using the PEO model to ground their study. The authors discover
that much has been published in areas of body functions and structures, activity
limitations and participation, and environmental influences on participation, but
very limited attention paid to occupation. They make the case for advancing re-
search to include more focus on occupation in order to produce the evidence for
the profession.
In a family and culturally centered program, Kuo and colleagues introduce read-
ers to “Service Learning in a Pediatric Weight Management Program to Address
Childhood Obesity.” In a primary care setting, through an interprofessional collab-
orative process, the authors delineate various roles of professionals and occupa-
tional therapy students in the community-based pediatric weight management pro-
gram for children and adolescents who are overweight or obese. The paper reflects
the many benefits and factors to consider when designing an obesity intervention
program, and is a call to educators to consider similar service learning collaboration
around the country.
“Effects of an occupation-based obesity prevention program for children at risk”
is both a health promotion and service learning pilot study exploring the power of
occupation and its influence on life choices for young children. In the paper, Lau
examines the efficacy of a program, Healthy Choices for Me, using graduate students
as interventionists in a 12 week after school program. The results of the study were
positive and the reader is encouraged to examine the possibilities for creating such
programs in their own communities.
It is our hope that this special issue will inspire readers to pursue this topic in
whichever way best fits his/her style of communicating the role of occupational ther-
apy. This could include community-based programming, publishing a case study,
writing for your local newspaper, engaging in a research study, or talking to fami-
lies about prevention and intervention for children and adults with obesity or who
are overweight, who are at risk for obesity or who can benefit from a health promo-
tion program to prevent obesity. An incredible opportunity awaits us to promote
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occupational therapy and the powerful role of occupation in people’s lives if we but
take that opportunity and run with it.

REFERENCE
Peloquin, S. M. (1997). The spiritual depth of occupation: Making worlds and making lives. Amer-
ican Journal of Occupational Therapy, 51(3), 167–168.
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