| CODE | OCT1012 | ||||||||
| TITLE | Human Occupation Across the Lifespan | ||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 01 - Year 1 in Modular Undergraduate Course | ||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 5 | ||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 4 | ||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Occupational Therapy | ||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | This study-unit has been designed to address human development and development of occupation across the lifespan. The perspective adopted shows how occupations and occupational roles grow and develop from birth to senescence as part of a continuum. The initial part of the study-unit focuses on the meaning of occupations during different phases of one’s development from an occupational science perspective. In the context of this study-unit, occupations are viewed as those activities that constitute one’s routine and they lead to a greater understanding of how people view, orchestrate, draw meaning and gain an identity from and improve their lives as well as the satisfaction that they draw from life. Content: - Definition of terms; - Changing views about occupation; - Understanding occupation and its’ complexity; – the problems inherent in explaining occupational therapy; - Why is engagement in occupation therapeutic?; - What is the place of technology in therapeutic intervention; - Occupation and Learning; - Learning by doing and learning styles; - The importance of occupational competence; - Occupations and identity; - The neurological basis of occupation; - How the creative media engage the brain; - Occupations, well being and survival; - use of our hands as tools; - Using Activity Configurations and occupational balance; - Factors that influence growth and development; - The developmental wheel; - Movement and adaptation; - Critical periods in development; - General principles of Human Development: Physical Development (normal developmental milestones, reflexes, static and dynamic balance in a therapeutic context, development of gross and fine motor control); - Play - definition, the play-work continuum, theories, functions, content and structure, characteristics, types and behaviours, the role of the OT and play assessments; - Stage specific issues - Occupational Performance Issues in childhood, adolescence, middle age and senescence. Study-Unit Aims: - Define the term occupation and determine its significance during human development; - Show students how the concept of using occupation as a basis for the profession’s philosophy and knowledge base developed across time; - Familiarise students with the essential characteristics that constitute occupation; - Explain why the use of occupation promotes recovery from illness and trauma; - Show how participation in carefully selected occupations promotes learning and supports personal roles and identities in the context of a particular society or culture; - Review development of human occupations across the lifespan and identify stage-specific issues; - Analyse the effect of physical and psychosocial illness/trauma and disability on occupation; - Familiarise themselves with the therapeutic use of play; - Analyse play activities. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Define the term occupation and occupational roles; - Illustrate how the major occupations such as work and play can be used in a therapeutic milieu; - Learn the basics of motor, sensory, social, emotional, cognitive, perceptual and cultural development and how illness/disability affects these areas; - Articulate the importance of play and play theories; - Become familiar with the idea of using standardised assessments as important tools for patient evaluation; - Demonstrate comprehensive knowledge of stage specific issues of childhood, adolescence, adulthood and senescence and how illness/trauma/disability can disrupt a person's occupations; - Be able to frame occupational therapy using an occupational science mindset. 2. Skills: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Learn to use activity configurations as a visual aid to appreciate the variety and complexity of human occupations people engage in at different ages; - Become critical and able to form opinions about occupations based on empirical evidence; - Enhance their observation skills by looking at what constitutes an occupational role; - Be able to analyse at a basic level the demands of different occupations; - Adopt a more holistic view of people and their problems; - Reflect on how illness or disability affect one's roles/occupations; - Use everyday activities as therapeutic media to remediate problems in the area of occupation; - Start to bridge the gap between theory and practise by applying principles of human development learnt in class to a clinical situation. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: - Christiansen C. H. and Townsend E.A., Introduction to Occupation : The art and science of Living (Prentice-Hall, 2004). - Hasselkus B. R., The Meaning of Everyday Occupation (Slack Inc. 2002). - Stage specific issues - Occupational Performance Issues in childhood, adolescence, middle age and senescence – note pack provided by tutor. |
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| RULES/CONDITIONS | Before TAKING THIS UNIT YOU MUST TAKE OCT1035 | ||||||||
| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture | ||||||||
| METHOD OF ASSESSMENT |
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| LECTURER/S | Joanne Bellia |
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2024/5. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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