Doris Pierce

Co-Occupation: The Challenges of Defining Concepts Original to Occupational Science

The term co‐occupation was coined in the early days of occupational science and has begun to accrue a grouping of studies that shed light on its dynamic. Its lasting nature as a concept original to occupational science may be due to the fact that it is grounded in the interdisciplinary play literature, as well as the interests of occupational scientists in the interactive social dimension of occupation, especially those of mothers and children. The essence of co‐occupation is its highly interactive nature. Co‐occupation is a dance between the occupations of one individual and another that sequentially shapes the occupations of both persons. Although many of the experiences of co‐occupation are fairly symmetrical, as in playing tennis, this is not a defining characteristic of co‐occupation. Co‐occupations do not necessarily occur within shared space, time, meaning, affect, or intent. Efforts to define co‐occupation bring to light multiple challenges to defining occupational science concepts: the need to welcome multiple definitions, the special logics that can support the definition of new concepts, the tendency to glorify occupation within definitions, the need to differentiate between ideas and experiences within definitions of occupation and its subtypes, the tendency to overemphasize the social dimension of occupations and underemphasize their spatial and temporal aspects, and the need to build new areas of understanding of the transactional characteristics of occupation without discrediting occupational scientists’ valuing of the individual perspectives of those studied. This special issue of the Journal of Occupational Science is a milestone for occupational science, as this unique type of occupation comes of age as a research focus for diverse researchers.

Cooking Up Christmas in Kentucky: Occupation and Tradition in the Stream of Time

Abstract What makes the Christmas meal successful “is just having family all together and sharing.” This statement summarizes the meaning of the Christmas meal for the older women in rural Kentucky who participated in this study. Older women in eastern Kentucky are the orchestrators of this important, ritual meal, as were their mothers and grandmothers before them. This paper presents the Kentucky findings from a multi‐site research project exploring older womens experiences of food related occupations at Songkran in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and Christmas in Auckland, New Zealand and Eastern Kentucky, USA. Data were collected through three focus group interviews from 23 eastern Kentucky women aged 65 and older. The narratives of these women revealed rich and complex interrelationships among the food occupations of the elder women, the matrilineal transmission of womens family and cultural roles, and the womens ability to adapt physically, temporally and emotionally to aging and to familial and cultural change.

Exploring the Forgotten Restorative Dimension of Occupation: Quilting and Quilt Use

Abstract Restorative, or restful, occupations serve to renew depleted energy resources and result in an improved physical and mental state, with feelings of regeneration during and after participation. Restorative occupations include sleep and quiet focus activities such as quilting. Historically, the concept of restoration has been a neglected dimension of occupation within the fields of occupational therapy and occupational science. The process of quilting is used in this article as an example of a restorative occupation. Restoration from quilting may be gained through the experiences of meaning, tradition, ritual, and rite of passage that quilting provides. Quilt use may be restorative as well, through associations with sleep, meaning, and the sensory qualities of quilts. Both quilting and quilt use have therapeutic benefits that promote restoration.

Pediatric therapists' perspectives on occupation-based practice

Abstract Aims: The aim of this study was to describe the perspectives on occupation-based practice of 22 pediatric occupational therapists in a medical facility in the Midwestern United States. Methods: The study used a grounded theory approach to analyze the individual, semi-structured interviews of 22 pediatric occupational therapists. Transcripts were initially coded using Ethnograph™ 5.0 software and analysis continued using constant comparison techniques and memo writing to produce emergent themes of meaning. Findings: The doing of occupation-based practice was based in personal identity and influenced by professional education. Occupation-based practice was more satisfying and rewarding for therapists, and they found it more effective and individualized. Patients and families were perceived by therapists to find occupation-based practice more motivating, understandable, valuable, and easily generalized to everyday life. However, occupation-based practice was seen as more difficult in a medical-based facility because pragmatic factors and contextual forces exerted strong influences. Conclusions: Therapists used specific creative strategies to negotiate between competing paradigms to maximize occupation-based practice within constraints.

Occupational science: A data‐based American perspective

The purpose of this research was to provide a data‐based picture of the discipline of occupational science by identifying patterns of research in the first 5 years of presentations at the Society for the Study of Occupation: USA (SSO:USA). A grounded theory approach was used to examine 184 peer‐reviewed presentation abstracts, from 2002 to 2006. Among the 108 data‐based presentations, adults were the most studied group, with 46% of the data‐based abstracts focused on participants with a disability or clear disadvantage. Presenters’ research foci related to 4 themes: the personal experience of occupation, the context surrounding or impacting occupation, changes associated with occupation, and a descriptive perspective of occupation. Implications for occupational science are discussed.

Cross-cultural understandings of festival food-related activities for older women in Chiang Mai, Thailand, Eastern Kentucky, USA and Auckland, New Zealand.

This cross-country, cross-cultural study explored the meaning of older women’s food-related activities for the annual festivals of Songkran (Thai New Year) in Chiang Mai, Thailand; and Christmas in Richmond, Kentucky, USA; and Auckland, New Zealand. A derived etic method was used. The community-dwelling participants were 33 Thai women, aged 60 and older, and 16 New Zealand and 23 eastern Kentucky women, aged 65 and older. This article focuses on the final cross-cultural analysis of the data. Emic, or within-country, findings are presented, followed by the derived etic, or cross-cultural, interpretations for two themes of meaning; older women’s ‘protecting what matters’ and ‘leading the way’. Applying derived etic methods helped reveal how, despite the highly different food-related practices, preparing and sharing celebratory foods at Songkran or Christmas held related meanings for older women in Thailand, Kentucky USA, and New Zealand.

Respecting regional culture in an international multi-site study: A derived etic method.

In order to look across three cultures at the meanings of celebratory food preparation for older women, researchers in Thailand, America and New Zealand collaboratively designed a derived etic method that respected each culture while allowing cultural comparison of food-related occupations. Anticipating differences in practices at each site, the inquiry broadly addressed who was involved, the tasks of preparing, sharing and offering food, and the physical and social contexts in which the tasks were performed. A seven-step process emerged with alternating collaborative action to design the study and advance analysis, undertake site-specific data collection and analysis of emic and later, conduct etic interpretation. Strategies to support collaboration, address issues relating to translation of data and analysis, and minimize domination of the western researchers are reported, along with critical examination of the method as enacted. Challenges and benefits of working as an international collaboration are identified.

The Promise of Internationally Collaborative Research for Studying Occupation: The Example of the Older Women's Food Preparation Study

Growing awareness of the Western perspectives underpinning occupational science and occupational therapys values, theories, and evaluation tools has given rise to questions about culturally relevant knowledge and practice with non-Western populations. To make sense of attempts to develop cross-cultural knowledge taking place within the profession and discipline, the authors review epistemological perspectives and methodological advances in anthropology and psychology. Thus informed, they both summarize and critique constructivist and positivist approaches to knowledge development and practice that cross or resist the crossing of cultures. The authors outline a multicultural collaborative research method that supports extending and refining the professions knowledge in a way that both honors local perspectives and reveals concepts that cross cultures. Insights from a study that explored the meaning of food preparation to older Thai, American, and New Zealand women provide illustrative examples.

Grandmothers' Use of Routines to Manage Custodial Care of Young Children

ABSTRACT Principles of grounded theory guided a qualitative analysis of the occupational nature of late-life parenting among four grand- or great-grandmothers raising grandchildren and four typical age mothers. Semi-structured interview and video of in-home childcare routines furnished data relevant to understand how custodial grandmothers re-engage in the parental role after age 60 despite contextual barriers and age-related limitations. When presented with the situation to care, grandmothers activate prior role competencies and enfold the child into existing routines with only subtle contextual adaptations. Findings conceptualize the strength of prior experience as grandmothers make wise use of routine to meet the physical demands and energy challenges posed by late-life parenting.

Refining the Occupation of Research Across Cultures

This chapter discusses an 8-year international collaboration involving research teams from three countries: New Zealand, Thailand and the United States. The purpose of the research was to explore and compare the meanings that the foodrelated occupations associated with potent cultural celebrations (Christmas and Songkran, the Thai New Year) hold for elder women. The researchers began with what seemed a straightforward multi-site study in three countries, and then found that the richness and complexity of the data and analysis required the development of methods to work across all three cultures. The team created and lived a lengthy and rigorous process as the methods were implemented and refined. This process was informed and enriched by growing understandings of our participants’ cultural uniqueness as well as our own cultural differences. We discuss our team process as we learned to communicate effectively and with integrity for our study. The team’s development will be illustrated with some of the data, methods and findings as they emerged. We conclude the chapter with a summary of what was helpful to this team of international researchers to look across cultures in a trustworthy way.