Background: In life, as in stories, there are both beginnings and endings, existing across time, space, development and context. Relationships, narratives and connection to occupation are all experienced within and influenced... [ view full abstract ]
Background:
In life, as in stories, there are both beginnings and endings, existing across time, space, development and context. Relationships, narratives and connection to occupation are all experienced within and influenced by this continuum, though traditionally with deference to the commencement or engagement processes.1 Termination is an integral component to research and health care interactions yet remains under-theorised in occupational therapy and science.
Method:
The experiences of 24 masters-level occupational therapy students participating in a brief international learning opportunity were studied using a nine-month ethnographic design. Conceptually framed using narrative phenomenology,2,3 data was collected before, during and after the trip through interviews, essays, photos, field notes and participant observation.
Results:
Planning, rapport building and culturally sensitive practices dominated the preparation and overseas phases. The conclusion of the trip, the departure from the host site, and the coinciding conclusion of the students’ professional studies were less overtly addressed, yet arose as deeply resonant and emotional themes.
Conclusion:
The study findings suggest that the beginning-ending binary is fluid and transactional, not easily represented as a single event but rather continually re-experienced through engagement with symbolic artifacts, narrative rituals and everyday occupations.4,5
Application to Practice:
The work of different partners in terminating a shared experience is relevant for research, therapy and education as ending relationships or terminating participation juxtaposes occupation, social actors, temporality and context. How endings are anticipated, avoided or sustained are thus informative variables to understanding the human experience of ‘goodbye.’5
Elliot_poster_abstract_-_termination_and_endings__final_.docx 