ABSTRACT
As its name suggests, occupational therapy is concerned with ‘occupation’, that is, activities of daily life that have value and meaning to individuals and their cultures. Occupation encompasses caring for oneself, enjoying life and contributing socially and financially to one’s community (Law et al., 1998). People have an innate need to be active and express their occupational nature through engagement in a range of activities that are uniquely human in their diversity and complexity (Wilcock, 1993). Being unable to fulfil this intense drive to act is detrimental to individuals’ physical and mental health and is associated with an increased risk of mortality (Glass et al., 1999).
