Capabilities, Opportunities, Resources and Environments (CORE): Using the CORE approach for inclusive, occupation‐centred practice

Abstract

Background/Aim Occupational participation is often claimed as a human right and determinant of health by occupational science and therapy scholars. Yet, maintaining occupation at the centre of practice is a challenge. The Capabilities, Opportunities, Resources and Environments (CORE) approach provides a mechanism for occupational therapists to address this challenge by viewing their practice through an inclusive lens, and enacting inclusive, occupation‐centred occupational therapy. This paper presents applications of the CORE approach via three case narratives. The aim is to increase occupational therapists’ understanding of how to apply the CORE approach and to facilitate research‐to‐practice knowledge translation. Methods The CORE approach is introduced and applied through three case narratives, each highlighting one of the CORE elements within the context of the broader approach. Findings The narratives contain critical reflective case narratives on the application of the CORE approach in the context of three different practice settings in Australia based on the authors’ experiences. Practice settings include working within the National Disability Insurance Scheme, in a secure forensic mental health facility, and in rural community health. The forensic health case narrative documents findings from the authors’ research which applied the CORE approach as an analytical tool, providing an additional layer of analysis of the identified themes from the original study. Conclusion This paper provides occupational therapists with a practical understanding of how to apply the CORE approach through diverse case narrative examples. The practical “how to” questions that guided the development of the case narratives can be used by occupational therapists and occupational therapy students in individual or group critical reflection to support development and application of socially inclusive and occupation‐centred praxis. If occupational therapists are to claim expertise in enabling occupation and social inclusion, then using the CORE approach is vital to designing and implementing inclusive, occupation‐centred interventions.

The National Disability Insurance Scheme and people with severe and persistent mental illness/psychosocial disability: A review, analysis and synthesis of published literature

“… NDIS: National Disability Insurance Scheme; NDIA: National Disability Insurance Agency; PSD: psychosocial disability. † Numbers listed in this column refer to the following publications: 1, Aitken et al (2019); 2, Barclay et al (2020); 3, Cashin (2014); 4, Dickinson and Carey (2017); 5, Diminic et al (2019); 6, Furst et al (2018); 7, Gillieatt et al (2018); 8, Hancock et al (2017); 9, Hayes et al (2018); 10, Horsfall et al (2018); 11, Isaacs et al (2018); 12, Kay and Kendall (2017); 13, Maker et al (2017); 14, Malbon et al (2019); 15, McGorry and Hamilton (2016); 16, Mellifont (2017); 17, Mulder (2017); 18, New South Wales Nurses’ Association (2019); 19, Pereira et al (2020); 20, Reppermund et al (2018); 21, Rosenberg (2017); 22, Rosenberg et al (2019); 23, Salvador-Carulla and Einfeld (2014); 24, Schweizer et al (2018); 25, Simpson et al (2016); 26, Stewart et al (2018); 27, Trollor (2014); 28, Williams and Smith (2014). …”

Terapia ocupacional e meio rural: uma revisão de escopo

“…O Crosstrainer Programme (CTP) é um método de intervenção sul-africano voltado para o desenvolvimento infantil em regiões rurais com escassez recursos e acesso a serviços (Villiers et al, 2019). O Capabilities, Opportunities, Resources and Environments (CORE) é uma abordagem de intervenção inclusiva que visa potencializar as capacidades, as oportunidades, os recursos e o ambiente da pessoa atendida, inclusive no meio rural (Pereira et al, 2020).…”

Using Practice-Based Inquiry to Enact Occupation-Centered, Justice-Oriented Practice in an Acute Mental Health Setting

“…These barriers included riskaverse, occupationally deprived environments for patients, a lack of cohesiveness and philosophical alignment with team members, and system policies that limited how therapy could be delivered. Reading and discussing literature on justice-informed and occupation-centered practice (e.g., Bailliard et al, 2020;Fisher, 2013;Pereira et al, 2020) generated ideas about what best practice is and what it looks like. As practitioners told stories about practice, many resonated with the conceptualization of occupation as a synthesis of doing, being, becoming, and belonging (Hammell, 2014;Wilcock, 1999;Wilcock & Hocking, 2015).…”

“…The CoPS discussed theories of change and strategies to address system-level concerns to advocate for justice-oriented services. Given the recognition that occupational justice can be enacted at the micro, meso, and macro levels (Bailliard et al, 2020) and the importance of capabilities, opportunities, resources, and environments (Pereira et al, 2020), the CoPS addressed the culture of the unit by advocating to be part of interdisciplinary team and leadership meetings. One practice scholar noted how these opportunities made him hopeful for change: "I am now part of teams to make larger scale changes to the unit schedules and wrap up group; I'm excited to be able to use my OT brain to hopefully help improve the quality of care patients are receiving.…”

“…Addressing these injustices has been within the scope of occupational therapy practice since its inception; however, it is now explicit in the American Occupational Therapy Association's (AOTA's; 2020) Occupational Therapy Practice Framework: Domain and Process (4th ed.). The evidence base to foster justice-oriented practice-that is, practice that addresses environmental-and system-level barriers to participation in occupation-is developing (Bailliard et al, 2020;Pereira et al, 2020).…”