OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY: VALUABLE PROFESSIONALISM

‘Imagine the world in which those workers who have the specialized knowledge that allows them to provide especially important services have the power to organize and control their own work.’ (Freidson, 2001:1-2). This... [ view full abstract ]

‘Imagine the world in which those workers who have the specialized knowledge that allows them to provide especially important services have the power to organize and control their own work.’
(Freidson, 2001:1-2).
This challenging quote from the book: ‘Professionalism: the third Logic’ is about professional power and balancing between professionalism, managerialism and consumerism. This is recognizable for occupational therapists. They also lives with dilemmas like their accountability towards their clients, their employers, their insurance companies, their legislations, and their professional body. Occupational therapists feel that their professional needs and valued contribution to the client is hidden or overlooked by al kind managerial issues. Mackey (2013) stated ‘that the professional value of client centred practice remained strong, powerful voices and systems of control lead to changes in behaviour’. Valuable professionalism (Moor, 2008; Mackey, 2013) can be explained as the professional ability to reflect on professional performance and to do the ethical right things. In this presentation I explore the experiences of 9 occupational therapists in the Netherlands relating 'valuable professionalism' and different themes in relation to value based professionalism are identified. These are: client-centred practice, selfless values, occupation based practice, professional autonomy, balancing responsibilities. The most challenging issue for occupational therapists is ‘balancing responsibilities’ and provides insight into occupational therapists escape mechanisms. They are identified as: (1) conformation to managerial power, (2) professional disobedience and (3) creating professional opportunities in order to contribute to societal issues. I identify this as an challenging professional issue and will present my actual research findings.