Major Contribution to OT
Dr. William Rush Dunton, Jr.
- Coined the term ‘occupational therapy’ – distinguishes aimless
amusements from activities prescribed for therapeutic benefit
- Believed in importance of occupational activities to recovery of
patients
-“It has been found that a patient makes more rapid progress if
his attention is concentrated upon what he is making and he
derives stimulating pleasure in its performance.”
(Bing, 1981, p. 318)
Major Contribution to OT
Dr. William Rush Dunton, Jr.
- Nine cardinal rules to guide the emerging practice of occupational therapy:
1. Any activity in which the patient engages should have as its objective a cure
2. It should be interesting
3. It should have a useful purpose other than merely to gain the patient’s
attention and interest
4. It should preferably lead to an increase in knowledge on the patient’s part
5. Curative activity should preferably be carried on with others, such as in a group
6. The occupational therapist should make a careful study of the patient in order
to know his or her needs and attempt to meet as many as possible through
activity
7. The therapist should stop the patient in his or her work before reaching a point
of fatigue
8. Encouragement should be genuinely given whenever indicated
9. Work is much to be preferred over idleness, even when the end product of the
patient’s labor is of a poor quality or is useless
(Bing, 1981, p. 319)
Major Contribution to OT
Susan Tracy
-Differentiated the term ‘occupational therapy’ from vocational
training
- “What is occupation? The treatment of disease by occupation…
The aim of occupation is to get the man well; that of vocational
training is to provide him with a job. Any well man will look for a
job, but the sick man is looking for health.” (Bing, 1981, p. 315)
- coined the term ‘occupational nurse’ – those she has trained in
therapeutic use of meaningful activities
• Bing, R.K. (1981). Occupational therapy
revisited: A paraphrastic journey. American
Journal of Occupational Therapy, 35, 499–451.