Creative Engagement in Occupation: Building Professional Skills

In occupational therapy, creative thinking and problem-solving skills are critical aspects of delivering appropriate intervention programs. These professional characteristics are essential components in the clinical reasoning process that facilitate meaningful therapy.

Creative Engagement in Occupation: Building Professional Skills is a comprehensive text on the recognition and development of creative thinking as a primary tool in occupational therapy.

Margaret S. Coffey, Nancy K. Lamport, Gayle I. Hersch, and their contributors, guide occupational therapy students and clinicians in identifying their creative potential for designing activities to address client goals. By actively engaging in the creative process, readers can enlist the creative potential of their clients to overcome or compensate for limitations in occupational performance.

The skillful application of activity analysis is advanced through the reader’s use of their own creativity in developing meaningful intervention programs for clients. References to the AOTA’s Occupational Therapy Practice Framework further support this aspect of the text as readers begin to sense and use their own and the client’s creativity in developing collaborative therapist-client partnerships.

Experience these creative opportunities inside Creative Engagement in Occupation: Building Professional Skills through the use of case studies, discussion and individual activities, role playing, and worksheets. Each chapter offers didactic and experiential applications to develop and practice using creativity as it applies to occupational therapy practice.

Included with the text are online supplemental materials for faculty use in the classroom.

Creative Engagement in Occupation: Building Professional Skills offers a unique opportunity for occupational therapy students, faculty, and clinicians to develop their potential in delivering creative occupational therapy intervention.

Margaret S. Coffey, MA, COTA, ROH is the Academic Fieldwork Coordinator and a Faculty Instructor in the Occupational Therapy Assistant Program at Brown Mackie College (South Bend, IN). She received her BA degree in biology at Wheaton College, her AS degree in occupational therapy technology at Indiana University School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences (formerly known as the Occupational Therapy Program, School of Allied Health Sciences, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis), and her MA degree in art at the University of Indianapolis. Her specialty areas of practice are in psychiatric hospital settings, long-term care, and residential facilities for adults experiencing dementia. Her teaching responsibilities are in the areas of therapeutic media, group activities, mental health, and geriatrics. She serves as a consultant and facilitator for experiences in the adult population at Moon Tree Studios, an outreach ministry exploring the interconnectedness of art, nature, and spirituality in Donaldson, IN.

Nancy K. Lamport, MS, OTR is Associate Professor Emeritus in the Department of Occupational Therapy School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences (Indianapolis, IN) (formerly known as the Occupational Therapy Program, School of Allied Health Sciences, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis). She received her BS degree in occupational therapy at Ohio State University and her MS degree in special education at Butler University (Indianapolis, IN). She was a preschool teacher for 7 years in Indianapolis and worked as an occupational therapist at the Commission for Handicapped Children in Kentucky and the Veteran’s Hospital in Louisville, KY. Prior to her retirement, her teaching responsibilities included the fundamentals of occupational therapy (activity analysis), activities of daily living skills, leisure activities, and media. Together with her husband, she established the Horizon Fund to provide funding for the professional development of occupational therapy students to attend the American Occupational Therapy Association National Student Conclaves and IOTA State conferences.

Gayle I. Hersch, PhD, OTR is Professor with the School of Occupational Therapy at Texas Woman’s University (Houston, TX). She received her BS degree in occupational therapy, her MS degree in allied health sciences, and her PhD in educational psychology at Indiana University. Her practice area is in gerontology with an emphasis on Alzheimer’s disease, stroke, caregiving, and home safety. Her current responsibilities are in the areas of teaching and research with MOT and PhD students. Her content emphasis is on geriatric practice, qualitative methodology, and adaptation to relocation to residential settings. Efforts to tap into student creativity have been done in coursework via experiential activities and with the development of research grants and client intervention protocols.