Chapter 9:

An Occupational Science
Perspective on Occupation,
Adaptation, and Participation
REBECCA M. ALDRICH, PHD, OTR/L AND
KENDRA HEATWOLE SHANK, PHD, OTR/L

Grajo LC, & Boisselle AK. Adaption Through Occupation: Multidimensional Perspectives. © 2019 SLACK Incorporated.
Overview

By the end of this chapter, learners will be able to

 Trace the conceptual development of occupation, adaptation, and participation from
their roots in the occupational therapy literature to their current expression in the
occupational science literature;
 Summarize how occupational science inquiry has shifted understandings about
occupation, adaptation, and participation; and
 Articulate how expanded understandings about occupation, adaptation, and
participation can influence occupation-focused research and practice, including the
pursuit of occupational justice.

Grajo LC, & Boisselle AK. Adaption Through Occupation: Multidimensional Perspectives. © 2019 SLACK Incorporated.
Occupational Science

 Expanded on existing occupational therapy concepts

 Generated new concepts and theoretical lenses
 “Occupational science will need to go beyond the definitions of adaptation that
occupational therapists have insightfully developed” because of the discipline’s
concern with “moral agency” (Frank, 1996, p. 50)

Grajo LC, & Boisselle AK. Adaption Through Occupation: Multidimensional Perspectives. © 2019 SLACK Incorporated.
Occupation

 Many definitions related to active “doing”

 Early definitions linked to adaptation
 Occupational scientists moved beyond focus on individual experiences of
occupation to emphasize complexity, situatedness
 Example: transactional perspective
 Occupation defined as “a type of relational action through which habit,
context, and creativity are coordinated toward a provisional yet particular
meaningful outcome that is always in process” (Cutchin, Bailliard, Aldrich,
& Coppola, 2008, p. 164)

Grajo LC, & Boisselle AK. Adaption Through Occupation: Multidimensional Perspectives. © 2019 SLACK Incorporated.
Adaptation

 Early links between engagement in occupation and the ability to adapt to

daily life problems (Meyer, 1922/1977)
 Occupational Adaptation (OA) framework utilized systems-based theories
and focused on individual (Schkade & Schultz, 1992)
 Alternative transactional concept of place integration emphasizes process of
action, social origin of habits, and reconstruction of experience (Cutchin,
2004)

Grajo LC, & Boisselle AK. Adaption Through Occupation: Multidimensional Perspectives. © 2019 SLACK Incorporated.
Participation

 Participation linked to well-being, with an emphasis on individual

occupational participation (Gray, 1997)
 Participation used as a synonym for performance
 Move to viewing participation as a social process that can take many forms
 Adaptation occurs through participation
 Participation linked to desired future (Vrkljan & Polgar, 2007), which enables change in
problematic situations

Grajo LC, & Boisselle AK. Adaption Through Occupation: Multidimensional Perspectives. © 2019 SLACK Incorporated.
Implications

 Adaptations occur through an ongoing person-environment relational

process of coordination that is never complete
 Participation (and adaptation) are shaped by social, cultural, political, and
historical contexts
 Attention to occupational injustice and disparity is grounded in
understanding adaptation as a complex and social phenomenon going
beyond individual action

Grajo LC, & Boisselle AK. Adaption Through Occupation: Multidimensional Perspectives. © 2019 SLACK Incorporated.
References
Cutchin, M. P. (2004). Using Deweyan philosophy to rename and reframe adaptation-to-environment. American
Journal of Occupational Therapy, 58, 303-312.
Cutchin, M. P., Aldrich, R. M., Bailliard, A. L., & Coppola, S. (2008). Action theories for occupational science: The
contributions of Dewey and Bourdieu. Journal of Occupational Science, 15(3), 157- 165.
Frank, G. (1996). The concept of adaptation as a foundation for occupational science research. In R. Zemke & F. Clark
(Eds.), Occupational science: The evolving discipline (pp. 47-55). Philadelphia, PA: F.A. Davis.
Gray, J. M. (1997). Application of the phenomenological method to the concept of occupation. Journal of Occupational
Science, 4(1), 5-17.
Meyer, A. (1977). The philosophy of occupation therapy. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 31(10), 639-
642. (Reprinted from Archives of Occupational Therapy, 1922, 1, pp. 1-10.)
Schkade, J. K., & Schultz, S. (1992). Occupational adaptation: Toward a holistic approach for contemporary practice, part
1. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 46(9), 829-837.
Vrkljan, B. H., & Polgar, J. M. (2007). Linking occupational participation and occupational identity: An exploratory
study of the transition from driving to driving cessation in older adulthood. Journal of Occupational Science, 14(1), 30-
39.

Grajo LC, & Boisselle AK. Adaption Through Occupation: Multidimensional Perspectives. © 2019 SLACK Incorporated.