The Meaning of Everyday Occupation by Betty R Hasselkus

The Meaning of Everyday Occupation by Betty R Hasselkus

This new text describes the meaning found in the ordinary and familiar occupations that make up the routines of our everyday lives. Meaning and Occupation: Essentials for Everyday Life is about occupation as an experience rather than occupation as a task. Occupation as experience is occupation as it is perceived through our senses, as it is lived through, as it is experienced. From an occupational perspective, the occupations of our lives and the meanings of those occupations are essential contributors to the pace and direction of the life flow. The initial chapters in the book address the concepts of meaningfulness and meaninglessness in our lives as well as meaning and occupation. Subsequent chapters focus on the primary ways in which daily occupation contributes to meaning in our lives - as a source of connectedness to others, as a force for well-being and lifespan development, as a source of meaning in disability, and as a repository of creativity and spirituality. Cultural contributions to meaningful occupation and the contributions of experiential space and place are discussed. Quotations and stories from the author's phenomenological research on occupation and from her own life experiences, as well as illustrations from literature and the visual arts, are used liberally throughout the book.

Betty Risteen Hasselkus, PhD, OTR, FAOTA is an Emeritus Professor of Kinesiology/Occupational Therapy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she served as program director for 10 years. Prior to her faculty appointment, she earned a bachelor of science degree in occupational therapy, a master of science degree in physical education, and a doctor of philosophy degree at the University of Wisconsin. The hospital where she did much of her training and where she held her first position in occupational therapy is also the building where she was born, where her children were born, and where, ultimately, the academic program of occupational therapy was located during her faculty years.

During her more than 40 years of active participation in the profession of occupational therapy, Dr. Hasselkus has focused her research, teaching, and practice on the everyday occupational experience of people in the community, with a special emphasis on family caregiving for older family members, physician-family caregiver relationships, meanings of everyday occupation to dementia daycare staff, and the meaning of doing occupational therapy. She was elected to the American Occupational Therapy Association Roster of Fellows in 1986 and to the American Occupational Therapy Foundation Academy of Research in 1999. Dr. Hasselkus was the invited Wilma West Lecturer at the University of Southern California in 2003, presenting a lecture entitled, The Voice of Everyday Occupation. In 2005, she was awarded the AOTA Eleanor Clarke Slagle Lectureship Award--the Association's highest award for scholarship--and subsequently gave the award lecture in 2006, The World of Everyday Occupation: Real People, Real Lives.

Dr. Hasselkus was editor of The American Journal of Occupational Therapy from 1998 to 2003. Her international reputation as a scholar has taken her to Australia, Canada, Sweden, Denmark, Wales, and Northern Ireland, where she has provided lectures and workshops on qualitative research methods, critical analysis, writing, and qualitative research opportunities in everyday occupation. Her scholarly career includes more than 90 publications in journals and texts.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781556423987
ISBN 10	1556423985
Title	The Meaning of Everyday Occupation
Author	Betty R Hasselkus
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Taylor & Francis Inc
Year published	2002-05-31
Number of pages	250
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.