BREASTED OCCUPATION: A CRITICAL AND POLITICAL ANALYSIS OF FEMALE IRISH OCCUPATIONAL IDENTITIES IN THE BREAST CANCER EXPERIENCE

Background: Contemporary visions of occupational justice call for “critical occupational therapy practice” whereby the often hidden mechanisms that inform occupational identity are actively addressed (Hammell and Iwama,... [ view full abstract ]

Background:

Contemporary visions of occupational justice call for “critical occupational therapy practice” whereby the often hidden mechanisms that inform occupational identity are actively addressed (Hammell and Iwama, 2012). This study explored subjective experiences of female breast cancer from a critical feminist occupational perspective, with emphasis on the formative influences of gender on socio-culturally sanctioned women’s occupations.

Method:

A qualitative methodology was used to collaboratively explore the lived breast cancer experience with Irish women, using semi-structured interviews over a period of three years. The co-constructed occupational narratives were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (Smith, Flowers and Larkin, 2009).

Results:
The women’s occupational identities were found to be infiltrated by their upbringings in a very conservative Irish era when a pervasive patriarchal culture of gender-role stereotyping prevailed. Two levels of occupational distress were identified.

Conclusion:
Results demonstrate the hidden political aspects of everyday occupation for women in a hetero-normative socio-cultural context, confirming calls for a critical political perspective to further occupational justice in occupational therapy clinical practice.

Application to Practice:

A novel occupational therapy clinical reasoning mechanism is proposed, whereby human occupation can be understood as a practical subjectivity through which the meanings and purposes that drive occupational performance can be more fully integrated into the therapeutic encounter.



References

Hammell, R.K.W. and Iwama, M.K. (2012). Well-being and occupational rights: an imperative for critical occupational therapy. Scandinavian Journal of Occupational Therapy, 19, 385-394

Smith, J., Flowers, P. and Larkin, M. (2009). Interpretative phenomenological analysis: Theory, method and research. London: SAGE Publications.