Innovation Focused Teaching in Occupational Therapy Education and Practice

Beskrivelse

Occupational therapy is widely recognised as being a creative profession, and other professions look at occupational therapists as being creative problem solvers in their daily intervention with clients. However there is a lack of research concerning the meaning of creativity within both occupational therapy and occupational science (Blanche, 2007. Schmid, 2004) Still Occupational therapy educations recruit new occupational therapy students by using descriptions of occupational therapists as being fundamentally creative thinking.

Through time different occupational therapists have described the use of creativity within occupational therapy practice. Creek (1997) has described the use of creative activities in psychiatric occupational therapy, Sadlo has discussed the importance of use of creative activities in occupational therapy in general (Molineux, 2004), Graham (1983) has discussed the value of creative problem solving within occupational therapy and Hagedorn (1995) has described occupational therapists as being inventive therapists who use creativity as a part of clinical reasoning. Furthermore both Reilly (1962), Mattingly and Fleming (1994) and Kielhofner (2002) have stated that creativity is a fundamental source in the practice of occupational therapy. These different perspectives on creativity within occupational does however not explore creativity as a source to innovation within occupational therapy.

Innovation is, as creativity, very seldom explored in the context of occupational therapy. Hinojosa (2007) and Law (2004) however points out the importance of being innovative within occupational therapy, to cope with the challenges the profession might face in the near future. Innovation in its core demands both creative individuals and a creative climate as a foundation for success (Gilmartin, 1999) These creative factors exists, at least in history, within occupational therapy. The question is:

“Do we use the right forms and methods of creativity within occupational therapy to become innovators, and how can we get inspired by other professions concerning creativity and innovation?”

My possible contribute to the ENOTHE Conference 2009 will give different suggestions to answer the problem, by describing different approaches to innovation and methods of creativity that are vital to succeed in innovative goals, as well as a suggestion on how to both teach and use creativity
and innovation within occupational therapy education and occupational therapy practice. I will benchmark my experiences in teaching both students and teachers in “Creativity and Innovation” at the Occupational Therapy Education and other health educations at the University College of Northern Jutland and at Aalborg University - Denmark.

Keynotespeaker

Periode	16 okt. 2009
Begivenhedstitel	Innovation Focused Teaching in Occupational Therapy Education and Practice
Begivenhedstype	Foredrag/oplæg
Arrangør	ENOTHE
Placering	Coruna, SpanienVis på kort