Occupational Therapists as Primary Health Promoters: Opportunities and Barriers

Abstract

Over the last two decades, there has been a growing international interest by some associations of occupational therapy and their respective members in the contribution that occupational therapists can make to the multidisciplinary field of health promotion. More recently, the College of Occupational Therapists in the United Kingdom has recommended that occupational therapists take a more proactive stance in the health promotion arena and has advocated the World Health Organisation's Ottawa Charter principles to inform this professional development. In this paper, a critical assessment is made of the opportunities for and the barriers to the adoption of a primary health promotion role by occupational therapists working in the United Kingdom and how the principles advocated in the charter might reflect a more distinctive occupational therapy approach to the promotion of health. It is argued that a paradigm shift would be required if the profession moved towards a primary health promotion agenda.