In the early 1990s, occupational therapists were challenged to refocus their evaluation processes. Specifically, they were urged to focus on their clients’ abilities to do what they want and need to do and to carry out meaningful occupation rather than evaluating the components underlying occupational performance problems (Fisher, 1992a, 1994a; Law et al., 1994; Mathiowetz, 1993; Trombly, 1993)...

Introduction Transformation Through Occupation (TTO) is a model in its conceptual stage, therefore referred to as a prototype. The prototype originates in South Africa and was formulated by a team of occupational therapy lecturers who wanted to develop a conceptual framework that guided occupational therapy practice within a transforming society. With guidance from the Transformation Through Oc...

C hronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is now the fourth leading cause of death worldwide and, by all reasonable projections, its incidence will increase. The worldwide burden of COPD morbidity and mortality is already large, and will become staggering in this century. In this issue of the journal, Meldrum et al describe the impact of COPD on the UK. In their poignant review, they point ...

In a population of 432 apparently healthy men aged 50 years and over 19-2% had one or more erythrocytes per high-power field in the urine while 8-1% had more than 10. Erythrocyturia seemed to be strongly correlated with tobacco consumption. No significant association with occupation could be demonstrated but the data were insufficient to refute the possibility of such an association. Raised lev...

Objective. Research on occupation and suicide has neglected multivariate models. It is not clear, for example, if persons in alleged “high-risk” occupations have high suicide risk because of occupational stress associated with the occupation or because of the demographic composition of the people in the occupation. The present study explores the relationship between occupation and suicide for 3...

The descriptive epidemiology of prostate cancer, including international comparisons of incidence, temporal trends, social class gradients, and migrant studies, suggests that incidence varies greatly and that exogenous factors may play an important etiologic role (1, 2). Despite attempts to investigate the roles of several classes of exogenous agents, there are still no definitely recognized ex...

SIR—A Korean supreme patriarch died a natural death at 81 years. An author died aged 27 years. Does longevity vary with occupation? We have studied longevity in different occupations in Korea by examining obituary notices in newspapers. We classified socially prominent occupations into 11 groups and investigated 2,143 cases. Because of small numbers, we excluded soldiers, doctors and policemen....

Although spirituality is rarely explicitly mentioned in the occupational therapy literature, it is implied as an interwoven part of the human system. This article explores the meaning of occupation in the context of sociological and Judeo-Christian theological frameworks and the meaning of spirituality in the occupational therapy clinic. A case is made for acknowledging spirituality in clinical...

Occupational cancer is malignant neoplasm caused by exposures to carcinogenic agents at workplace. It is estimated that one out of every three people will subsequently develop cancer during their lifetime in industrialized countries. Undeveloped countries are also at increasing risk due to transfer of hazardous industries. An occupational cancer does not differ either pathologically or clinical...