Time geographic method: Application to studying patterns of occupation in different contexts

This article highlights a time-geographic approach to understanding the temporal patterns of people's occupations and their relationship to health and illness. It outlines the use of diaries to gather data and proposes that this method makes it possible to study the everyday life context of individuals, capturing i) Activity contexts (everyday context and project context) ii) Geographic context iii) Social context and iv) Experiential context. The method has been used to gather information about activity patterns in everyday life, and further developed to identify health risks in a population and as a foundation for intervention in rehabilitation. Examples described are application of the method to promote change processes in a workplace and in a rehabilitation setting.