A holistic approach to specialization.

There is a growing concern that extensive specialization in occupational therapy may so fragment the profession that it may be lost in the changes taking place in the delivery and payment of health care services. The early concepts of occupation and purposeful, developmentally appropriate activities are giving way in some settings to the use of highly specialized technologies. This article examines the trend of leaving occupational behaviors and adopting activity of a more technical nature and offers a conceptual model to preserve the traditional holistic approach to the practice of occupational therapy in today's climate of specialization. The approach is seen as important to the viability of the profession in a modern competitive health care market.