Welcome to the 2021 Senior Legacy Symposium!
Introduction: Justice Based Occupational Therapy (JBOT) assembled an international network of OTs and key stakeholders to promote justice reform. In 2020, we identified four needed actions: advocacy/policy, education, resources, and research to advance occupational justice.
Objectives: Explore actions taken toward promoting occupational justice in the OT profession since March 2020.
Approach: We identified the inclusion of occupational justice topics (e.g. diversity, equity, incarceration, justice), in international and national OT journals, specialist groups, state or provincial associations, activities, educational opportunities, and online outreach from March 2020 - March 2021. Artifacts were gathered through social media networks, literature, and online searches.
Results: The four focus areas of JBOT were represented within JBOT and the OT community by 40 artifacts. The overarching theme of occupational justice appeared most prominent in resources (n=20), advocacy and policy (n=13), research (n= 6), and education (n=3).
Implications: Example action steps include: combating health disparities, advocating for Black, Indigenous, and people of color, promoting academic representation of minority sexual orientations in academia, incorporating occupational justice into OT curriculum, and funding research to identify systemic injustices that practitioners, students, and academics face. We acknowledge biases toward Westernized literature and associations and the need to be more inclusive of all geographic regions of OT.
Conclusion: Since the first JBOT publication in March 2020, we found increased activity in occupational justice-related advocacy/policy, education, resources, and research. This project shows the momentum of these efforts and explores sustainability. Wider dissemination is needed for maximizing impact.
Alyssa Cepon is from Gurnee, Illinois. She is a member of Saint Louis University’s Occupational Therapy program, and this May she will be graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in Occupational Science. In the fall, Alyssa will be continuing her education at Saint Louis University in order to receive her Master’s in Occupational Therapy. She is most interested in working in pediatrics, but is also interested in working in a neuro rehab setting.
Natalie Hoeferkamp is from Manchester, Missouri, and she will be graduating in May with a degree in Occupational Science. She will be continuing her education at Saint Louis University through the Occupational Therapy program to receive her Master’s in Occupational Therapy. She is most interested in working in pediatric neuro rehab, but she is also interested in working in community-based OT.
Natalie Hoeferkamp and Alyssa Cepon would like to thank their faculty sponsor Lisa Jaegers for their support of this project.