Occupational Determinants and Disruptants

Determinants of Occupation

• Spiritual: one’s personal meanings and identity attributed to occupations and one’s place in the world.
• Socio-cultural: the internal values and beliefs that underlie social interactions.
• Physical: e.g., strength, endurance, flexibility
• Cognitive: learning, knowledge, behaviors; more specifically attention, memory, problem-solving
• Neurobehavioral: the underlying motor and sensory processes that support occupational performance.
• Psychoemotional: the internal processes that motivate and sustain occupational engagement; self-agency and self-efficacy
• Environmental
  • Social
  • Physical
  • Cultural
  • Institutional¹ 

Disruptants of Occupation

• Occupational interruption: temporary interruption of occupations
• Occupational imbalance: patterns that constrain the ability to meet the personal needs of other occupations.
• Occupational disengagement: lack of involvement in occupations due to lack of investment or emotional detachment.
• Occupational delay: deviations from the typical occupation due to personal, or other factors.
• Occupational deprivation: remarkable levels of constraints to occupational participation.
• Occupational alienation: the lack of involvement in meaningful occupations from social and cultural causes.
• Occupational apartheid: social, status, or values that may cause decreased occupational participation; often external to the client.¹ 

1. Krupa, T., Fossey, E., Anthony, W. A., Brown, C., & Pitts, D. B. (2009). Doing daily life: How occupational therapy can inform psychiatric rehabilitation practice. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, 32(3), 155.[↩][↩]