Purpose: To provide workshop participants with practical hands-on experience using the Assessment Tool for Occupation and Social Engagement (ATOSE) which uses interactive occupation and social engagement as outcome measures.
The ATOSE snapshot observational process creates quantitative, as well as narrative, understanding of a whole room environment. The ATOSE powerfully observes, records and reports occupational engagement and, equally, 'deprivation' (Whiteford, 2000; Wilcock & Hocking, 2015) in congregate settings.
Rationale: The concept of occupational literacy is valuable for understanding, reporting, discussing and making decisions about the occupational lives of our clients (Townsend, 2015). However, the language of occupation can appear lightweight and difficult to defend. With the growing emphasis on evidence, statistics and outcomes, quantitative measurement of occupation is an important challenge.
Objective: To empower therapists to support the needs and rights of people to engage in well-being enhancing occupations in congregate settings (Hammell, 2008; Smit et al, 2014). To explore an observational method which promotes occupational literacy to challenge ideas, practices, policies and economies (Townsend, 2015).
Format:
• Opportunity to use the ATOSE assessment including the snapshot observation method
• Application of the ATOSE statistical data to occupational justice
• Application of the ATOSE narrative observational data to occupational literacy
• Use of triangulated data (observation, narrative and interview) to define whole environment typologies
• Discussion: focusing an occupation justice lens to understand environments in order to enable empowerment and social inclusion (Nilsson and Townsend, 2010)
Maximum participants: 50
Intended participants: under and post graduate students, educators, researchers, clinicians
