A Model of Occupational Empowerment for Marginalized Populations in Community Environments

Abstract

Globally there are individuals who are marginalized from mainstream society due to problems such as physical or psychological impairment, poor socio-economic circumstances, and occupational deprivation. Many develop learned helplessness syndrome, rendering them unable to control their lives and their destinies. This paper proposes a Model of Occupational Empowerment for providing services to these community populations. The model, a grounded theory, emerged from our work at a homeless shelter for women and children. Disempowering environments in the past had caused learned helplessness in the women at the shelter. Occupational engagement was used to empower them. We contend that the model may be used to guide occupational therapy practice with marginalized individuals and families in a number of community environments.

Model of Occupational Empowerment and Gunnarsson’s Tree Theme: Intervention for Mothers in Recovery

“…According to Redick, McClain, and Brown "People have a selfhealing capacity when they are able to take responsibility and determine what is needed for their own health." This provides them with selfreliance to manage and change environmental conditions (as cited in Fisher & Hotchkiss, 2008).…”

“…Fisher and Hotchkiss (2008) developed the Model of Occupational Empowerment to strengthen those experiencing the "poor behavior patterns" of learned helplessness. This outcome resulted from the disempowering environmental agents of financial limitations and the recovery from substance abuse, as well as from "occupational deprivation" (Fisher & Hotchkiss, 2008, p. 60).…”

An Elective Course Exploring Occupational Justice Through Occupational Storytelling and Story Making

“…To promote self-advocacy leading to empowerment, Fisher and Hotchkiss (2008) worked with women and children in homeless shelters. Fisher and Hotchkiss (2008) supervised occupational therapy students and faculty who met with women and children in a homeless shelter for weekly empowerment groups. Faculty and students assisted the women in choosing an empowerment project and then followed up weekly on their progress.…”

Perils and Pitfalls of OT Research in a Foreign Country: A Reflection

“…To describe the experience of completing intervention research in a foreign context, I explored these documents with thematic and structural narrative analysis (Riessman, 2008;Wertz et al, 2011). I used techniques from the grounded theory tradition to complete data analysis, including multiple readings of the data, word frequency results, open coding of emergent themes, and constant comparison of the data (Fisher & Hotchkiss, 2008;Holton & Walsh, 2017;Riessman, 2008). Continued re-readings of the data with lineby-line analysis revealed thematic relationships.…”

“…Narrative analysis is grounded in the belief that health care professionals use stories in the clinical reasoning process (Mattingly, 1991). Narrative has also been used in the inquiry process to add the texture of a personal voice to analytical writing (Wertz, Nosek, McNiesh, & Marlow, 2011), make sense out of lived experiences (Monrouxe, Rees, Endacott, & Ternan, 2014), revise perspectives (Mattingly, 1991), and find meaning in both familiar (Jenstad & Donnelly, 2015) and unfamiliar contexts (Ekelman et al, 2003;Fisher & Hotchkiss, 2008). Narrative reflections have also been used to explore emotional experiences and develop relationships with global partners (Main, Garrett-Wright, & Kerby, 2013).…”