Occupation and participation in everyday life: Women's experiences of an Austrian refugee camp

Satisfaction with daily occupations amongst asylum seekers in Denmark

“…Among these healthy individuals, the average rating of satisfaction with daily occupation was 54.3, which is almost 40% higher than that of the asylum seekers. Also people with severe mental illness have been found to rate their satisfaction with daily occupations better than the present sample, as shown in a Swedish study (2,29). A shorter version of the SDO was used in the Swedish study, but transformed the scores for both samples into mean scores instead of sum scores (i.e., an average of 3 instead of 39 for the present sample) indicated that the Swedish sample with severe mental illness also scored about 40% higher than the asylum seekers.…”

“…A shorter version of the SDO was used in the Swedish study, but transformed the scores for both samples into mean scores instead of sum scores (i.e., an average of 3 instead of 39 for the present sample) indicated that the Swedish sample with severe mental illness also scored about 40% higher than the asylum seekers. A low level of satisfaction with daily occupations was not surprising, as the selection of activities at hand in an asylum centre is very limited and often unrelated to the persons' former daily occupations (2,3,5). At follow-up no changes in activity level were found, although in regard to occupational performance an earlier study showed a decline in the asylum seeker group.…”

“…Research within occupational therapy and occupational science research has revealed that refugees often experience occupational disruption, and eventually occupational deprivation (1), but very few studies focus on asylum seekers (2)(3)(4), who, due to their legal position, experience uncertainty as opposed to those who have gained asylum and refugee status.…”

Asylum seekers' experiences in Australia between 2012 and 2014: The Structural-Personal Interaction Process

“…Occupational therapists see engagement in meaningful activities as a vital aspect of wellbeing (Kielhofner 2009;Law, Steinwender and Leclair 1998;Letts et al 2011;Steindl, Winding and Runge 2008;Townsend and Polatajko 2007;Wilcock 2006; World Federation of Occupational Therapy 2010). It would be logical to draw the conclusion that if someone is deprived of their meaningful day-to-day activities, or has 'nothing to do', that they would be suffering.…”

“…Similarly, Steindl, Winding, and Runge (2008) carried out an ethnographic study involving seven interviews and weekly observations with female asylum seekers in a detention centre. They noted that privacy, physical, cultural, legal, and social factors limited asylum seekers' engagement in meaningful activities.…”