Occupational therapy and ideology: a critical investigation

[摘要] English: Occupational Therapy's (henceforth referred to as OT) self-conceptapparently remains, for all practical purposes, not well defined. While thecomplexity of the OT profession's definition and their subsequent difficulty ofarticulating this might point to the very unique character of the OT profession,it does not follow from this that its future relevancy is therefore ensured. It isfurthermore contended that due to the ongoing self-definition of theprofession, there is a globally increased focus on occupational therapy'svalues and philosophy about our relationships with not only those to whom werender a service, but also the environmental realities we form part of.An inevitable link is indicated between critical reflection in OT practice, andthe profession's identity. While research on reflexive practice may beassociated with the critical theoretical framework or critical social theory, thistype of research in OT appears to be relatively scarce, and is mostlyassociated with research topics pertaining to clinical reasoning.In order to explore one possible path through these complex problems, thisstudy turns to the core field of philosophy, which is that discipline that studiesessentially the foundations of disciplines (among other things). The presentstudy will avail itself of a specific philosophical and sociological tool namelyideology theory. Currently, little or nothing is known about the presence ofspecific ideologies in the field of OT. Ideology theory is closely related tocritique and self-reflection.The main aim of this study is to perform a critical analysis of the presence ofideology in the profession of OT, by applying a three-dimensional ideologyanalysis. In order to meet this aim, an innovative approach had to be followedduring which a unique methodology is argued. This study is subsequentlytypified as a (so-called) non-empirical type of research, based on a criticaltheoretical framework, using philosophical analysis as a study design,specifically applying ideology critique as a method of analysis.In accordance with existing approaches in ideology theory, this study focuseson three levels of analysis in its own model of ideology critique: the sociohistoricalanalysis of concrete contexts of domination (Chapters 2 & 3 and 5)the formal-structural analysis of the theory (model) of ideology critique that isused (Chapter 4), and finally, a creative end-interpretation of these analyses(Epilogue) with suggested perspectives for the 'de-idolized' future of OT.The ideology critique model (Ideology Typography of Modernity or ITM)applied in this study revealed a systematic identification of ideologies that arepresent in the OT profession. These analyses show that ideology critique mayserve as a methodical tool for critical self-reflection, offering a limited butpenetrating perspective on the 'deep structure' of OT discourse.

[发布机构] University of the Free State