How can anthropological fieldwork contribute to research in occupational therapy

Occupational Therapists build on various academic disciplines, each with their own traditions and each with roots in various scientific soils. Occupational Therapists draw on natural sciences in the form of anatomy and... [ view full abstract ]

Occupational Therapists build on various academic disciplines, each with their own traditions and each with roots in various scientific soils. Occupational Therapists draw on natural sciences in the form of anatomy and physiology but also on the humanities, using narrative and phenomenological approaches. The social sciences too, have had some influence on Occupational Therapists, notably providing a framework for the subject to be seen within a social scientific context. Occupational Therapy is thus a wide-reaching discipline and one that has grown out of a variety of scientific traditions. This also means that the methods used within Occupational Therapy vary, depending on the tradition referenced by its techniques. Methodically, it means that we as Occupational Therapists uses various methods in our research. In this paper, we will focus on how the anthropological method can contribute to the research within occupational science. The paper concentrates on the ways in which the Occupational Therapist can help uncovering the significance of environment for activity.
We argue that this significance can be revealed through fieldwork as used in the anthropological method, whereby it is possible to capture the 'dimensions' of the immediate environment and their significance: That is the experienced meaningfulness in relation to the individual. We will exemplify how anthropological fieldwork as a method can contribute to research within occupational therapy. In addition, we argue that anthropological fieldwork is well suited to uncover the importance of the environmental meaning for activity.