Occupational Therapy: The Link Between Occupation, Health, and Well-Being

Occupational Therapy 1
Occupational Therapy
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Occupational Therapy 2
Introduction
This essay will discuss the meaning of occupation, health, and wellbeing as well as its
influence on hindering or supporting my health and well-being. It will compare and contrast this
influence with how my occupations have affected my health and well-being in previous stages of
my life cycle. The aspects of my experience will be compared in the present time and in the past
by analyzing the physical, cognitive, social, psychological, emotional and spiritual impacts.
Various evidence will be used to support and contrast the impacts of various occupations on
health and well-being and relate them to my personal experience. In the end, the essay will
provide a summary of the main concepts covered in the essay.
Occupation
Occupation refers to the things that individuals do that occupy their attention or time
(American Occupational Therapy Association, 2016). These things include everything related to
relishing life, self-care and those that contribute to economic and social aspects within the
society. Occupations facilitate the engagement of people to their mutual work as well as the
promotion of personal development and growth, which provides possibilities to sustain a healthy
environment where people interact with each other. In occupational therapy, the term occupation
entails the daily activities carried out by people as individuals, in families, and with communities
to bring purpose and meaning in life as well as occupy time. Occupations can comprise the
execution of various activities for completion and can lead to different outcomes.
Health
The literature on the definition of health includes several different definitions and ways
through which health is measured ranges from those that emphasize objective measures to

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definitions that are broader and measurement by self-perception (Huber et al., 2011). Narrowly,
health can be defined to indicate mental or bodily functioning. Broadly, health can be defined as
a state of complete social, mental and physical well-being and not merely the absence of
infirmity or disease (WHO, 2019). Alternatively, health can be defined as personal fulfillment,
an adaptive response, ability to perform to the best of the ability of the person, flexibility in
encountering life challenges and an integrated functioning (Svalastog et al., 2017). In this essay,
the definition of health that is used was stated as health is created and lived by people in the
setting of their everyday life. Heath is a positive concept that emphasizes personal and social
resources and physical capacity.
Well-Being
Well-being is emphasized as a term used to describe the perception of an individual
regarding their condition. Well-being entails the total universe of the life of human domains
comprising of social, mental and physical aspects (Medvedev and Landhuis, 2018). Well-being
also refers to the integration of an individual’s social, spiritual, emotional, mental and physical
characteristics (Oades and Mossman, 2017). Researchers have emphasized well-being as an
internal construct that may be independent of external conditions (Harsha et al., 2016). For
instance, it is possible for an individual to be unhealthy or ill and still have a sense of well-being.
For the purpose of this essay, well-being is defined as an internal construct made up of
spontaneous and reflective dimensions. Other definitions include the state of harmony in all
aspects of a person’s life. This state is characterized by experiences of pleasure, contentment,
spiritual experiences and sense of happiness.
In the framework, occupation is referred to as daily activities of life in which people
engage. Occupation takes place in context and is impacted by the interplay among performance

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skills, client factors as well as performance patterns. They occur over time and have a meaning,
purpose and perceived utility to the client. There is a link between occupation, health, and well-
being (Fortune and Kennedy-Jones, 2014). The person-environment-occupation model is the
conceptual framework that explains this relationship (Russell and Bahle-Lampe, 2016). In this
framework, the relationship between various factors is emphasized, which include the
environmental factors, occupation, and personal aspects as well as their impact on the occupation
performance of the person, their health and well-being. In the life of a person, there are various
factors such as self-efficacy, genetics, socioeconomic status, sex, age and other performance
components, which affect their performance in various occupations. (Mauno, Ruokolainen and
Kinnunen, 2013).
There is also the Wilcock’s theory of doing, becoming and being, which also tries to
depict the relationship between occupation, health, and well-being (Kosma, Bryant and Wilson,
2013). According to this theory, doing entails the occupation and occupation performance of a
person, which is vital in the interaction of the person with other people as well as in the
development of one’s identity and shaping the society. ‘Being’ entails the habit of being true to
one’s self, which is important in the reflection of individuals. ‘Becoming’ entails the criteria
under which individuals redefine their values as well as a rethinking of priorities in the advance
preparation of the emerging roles. When these three concepts are combined together, they lead to
health and well-being.
Various studies have been conducted to examine daily occupations such as leisure,
productivity, self-care among others and their link with health and well-being (Jonsson, 2008).
The focus of these studies was on the factors, which mediated the link between occupation,
health, and well-being (Hu, Qin, and Xu, 2017). Their findings on the impact of occupation on