Expanding the community role for occupational therapy: becoming political in the corporate sector.

As health professionals, occupational therapists must explore the social, cultural, and environmental contexts of a community when dealing with clients. This becomes complex as determinants of community health are constantly changing in response to community social priorities (McMurray, 1999). Determinants of health, outlined in this paper, are influenced by economic systems that encourage corporate sector pursuit of financial profit as the primary business objective (Friedman, 1997), often at the expense of community health. Historically organizations responded primarily to shareholders, however the current trend shows movement towards stakeholder responsibility (“consumer input” as therapists may term it), in response to a community demand for more accountable, transparent, and ethical organizational activity. Consequently in a global environment it may no longer be socially acceptable for organizations to ignore the broader impact of corporate activity on community health (Wulfson, 2001). The increasing social concern and activism surrounding corporate activity may well be the impetus for occupational therapists to extend their practice into the corporate sector as a means of influencing community health. In becoming politically active within the corporate sector, occupational therapists can influence macro systems through the use of health determinants traditionally seen as outside their sphere of influence. Even in environments where therapists work in federaland state-funded institutions, or the not for profit sector, an ability to understand the link between macro-level community activity and client health is essential if therapists are to advocate for change on behalf of clients. In addition to focusing on facilitating change for the client, therapists must challenge themselves to change the environment that contributes to a clients need for therapy in the first instance. The first step and purposes of this paper are to understand the scope of the corporate sector and establish connections between their activities and the determinants of health.