School of Applied Psychology

Monday April 1st, 1-2pm

Room G20, Cork Enterprise Centre Building, North Mall Campus

Eithne Hunt, Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, UCC

Since its inception at the beginning of the 20th century, the profession of occupational therapy has been concerned with promoting health and well-being through occupation. The primary goal of occupational therapy intervention is to help people to engage in the day-to-day activities that are important to them and to their health and well-being. This focus on activities across the day is also a central concern for the discipline of occupational science which studies the human as an occupational being, including the need for and capacity to engage in and orchestrate daily occupations in the environment over the lifespan, generating a systematic base of description and understanding concerning participation in occupations. Specifically, occupational scientists seek to advance understanding of how the form, function, and meaning of daily activities influence health and well-being.

Time use is a defining interest in the fields of occupational therapy and occupational science. My doctoral research examined a question posed by founding occupational scientist Dr. Elizabeth Yerxa – “what is the relationship between human engagement in a daily round of activity (such as work, play, rest and sleep) and the quality of life people experience including their healthfulness” Specifically, I considered Yerxa’s question in relation to the quotidian activities and health-related quality of life of late adolescents in Ireland. This research enquiry was informed by an occupational perspective of health and by population health, ecological, and positive youth development perspectives.

In this presentation I outline an occupational perspective of health with reference to a person-centred analysis of adolescent time use. I will share how these perspectives inform my current work on supporting second and third level students with occupational transitions, time use and wellbeing.