Workplace expectations and limited power to influence practice are impeding graduates from authentically applying occupation in practice. Insights from recently graduated therapists about occupation have the potential to inform future directions of occupation-based practice.

Introduction: The call for occupational therapists to embrace occupation-based practice has increased in recent decades. Little is known about how occupational therapists perceive and implement occupation-based practice. This study aims to uncover the experiences of new and recent graduates using occupation in their practice. Method: A phenomenological design guided the development of semi-structured interviews. New and recent Australian occupational therapy graduates were interviewed about their experiences of occupation in their practice. Interview transcripts formed the data and themes were developed by thematic analysis. Findings: Eighteen occupational therapists were interviewed. Three main themes emerged from the data. Overall, graduates found it challenging to embrace occupation in their everyday practice, deciding it is more pressing to remediate impairments than to enable occupations. Some participants stated that occupation-based practice was unrealistic given the efficiency pressures of their practice environments. However, graduates felt that with more experience they would be able to implement occupation in their daily practice. Conclusion: Recently graduated occupational therapists in Australia find it challenging to consistently implement occupation in their daily practice. Confidence to apply occupation-based skills is an important factor for implementing occupation in practice. Some recent graduates are choosing impairment-based techniques over occupation-based practice.

Background/aim Occupation and an occupational perspective of health and wellbeing are required to be taught in accredited occupational therapy programmes internationally. Current research into occupational therapy education has commonly focused on curriculum design and the experience of students and their developing skills for practice. Little research has focused on the perspectives of educators and in particular their own reflections and beliefs on the use of occupation in occupational therapy education. The aim of this study was to uncover Australian educator perspectives of occupation in occupational therapy education. Method This study utilised a qualitative research framework. Eight occupational therapy educators and practice education coordinators completed semi‐structured interviews. Educators ranged in experience from two to over 20 years in the university sector. The interview transcripts were transcribed verbatim, forming the data for analysis. Braun and Clarke's thematic analysis was used to analyse the dataset. Results Three themes emerged from the data: occupation is our framework; the balance between practice education and occupation‐centred education; and educators changing the focus. Overall, educators believed that the ‘occupation for health’ philosophy and its application are important foundations for education. However, educators provided varied responses on how to teach these concepts to students. Conclusion Gaining educators’ opinions on the importance of occupation in education is beneficial for ensuring consistency throughout occupational therapy curricula. Theoretical models were endorsed by educators to foster occupation‐based practice. Educators must continue to innovate within the profession for occupation‐based approaches in practice and education to be strengthened in the future.

Occupational therapists working in primary contact roles were pushed by the biomedical culture of the setting. Despite this, there was still a pull towards an occupational perspective. This research provides an initial exploration of primary contact clinics, and highlighted the added bonus of an occupational perspective. The findings present a timely opportunity for occupational therapists to critically reflect on practice in PCOTH clinics.