Occupational Science Concepts

Occupational science is the basic discipline that studies humans as occupational beings, examining the form, function, and meaning of the occupations through which people occupy their time and participate in life. It was founded to provide occupational therapy with a body of knowledge about occupation itself, and it contributes core concepts, such as doing, being, becoming, and belonging, that inform occupation-focused theory.

Definition

Occupational science is the study of humans as occupational beings, encompassing the nature, organization, and meaning of human occupation and its relationship to health, identity, and participation; it serves as a basic science from which occupational therapy draws.

Scope

This entry introduces occupational science as a discipline and its central concepts as they relate to occupational therapy theory. It covers the founding aim of the field, key ideas about the meaning and health relevance of occupation, and major critiques. It is a reference-educational overview of disciplinary concepts, not clinical guidance.

Core questions

• What is occupational science and why was it founded?
• What do the concepts of doing, being, becoming, and belonging refer to?
• How is occupation related to health, identity, and well-being?
• What criticisms have been raised about the assumptions of occupational science?

Key concepts

• Humans as occupational beings
• Form, function, and meaning of occupation
• Doing, being, becoming, belonging
• Occupation and health/well-being
• Occupational identity
• Occupational justice and participation

Key theories

Occupational science as a foundational discipline

Yerxa and colleagues proposed occupational science as a basic science devoted to studying humans as occupational beings, intended to generate knowledge about occupation that would underpin occupational therapy as a profession.

Doing, being, becoming, and belonging

Wilcock framed occupation in terms of doing (active engagement), being (reflection and the experience of who one is), and becoming (development toward potential), a triad later extended to include belonging (social connectedness), articulating dimensions through which occupation relates to health and meaning.

Clinical relevance

Occupational science supplies concepts that help practitioners understand why occupations matter to people and how engagement relates to identity, meaning, and participation, which can inform occupation-focused reasoning. As a basic discipline its role is to generate knowledge about occupation; this entry describes that knowledge rather than directing the assessment or treatment of any individual.

Evidence & guidelines

Occupational science is an academic discipline whose literature is largely conceptual, qualitative, and theoretical rather than composed of clinical trials. Its concepts are widely taught within occupational therapy education, and a vigorous critical literature examines and contests the field's foundational assumptions, cultural reach, and relationship to practice.

History

Occupational science was established as a distinct discipline in the late 1980s, most visibly with the introduction of a doctoral programme at the University of Southern California, and was articulated programmatically by Yerxa and colleagues in 1990 as a foundation for occupational therapy in the twenty-first century. Ann Wilcock subsequently developed influential ideas about occupation and health, including the doing-being-becoming framework, while later scholarship broadened and critically examined the field's concepts and cultural assumptions.

Debates

Are the discipline's core assumptions culturally universal?

Critics argue that occupational science has at times generalized from Western, individualistic perspectives and treated certain assumptions about occupation and well-being as universal, calling for resistance to theoretical imperialism and for more culturally inclusive scholarship.

Key figures

• Elizabeth Yerxa
• Florence Clark
• Ann Wilcock
• Karen Whalley Hammell

Seminal works

• yerxa-1990
• wilcock-1999

Frequently asked questions

How does occupational science differ from occupational therapy?

Occupational science is a basic academic discipline that studies humans as occupational beings and the nature of occupation, whereas occupational therapy is the applied profession that uses such knowledge to support participation; the science was founded in part to provide a knowledge base for the profession.

What do 'doing, being, becoming, and belonging' mean?

They are dimensions through which occupation is linked to health and meaning: doing is active engagement, being is reflection and the sense of who one is, becoming is development toward one's potential, and belonging refers to social connectedness and relationships.