Defining occupational therapy

Consistent with the concept that occupation is the foundation stone of occupational therapy, this chapter makes a case for the importance of acknowledging the central position of occupation in all definitions of occupational therapy. Having a clear and easily recognisable definition of occupational therapy is imperative if the profession is to survive current challenges such as competition for limited resources, other professions widening the scope of their practice, and pressure for generic rather thanspecialist workers. However, even though a chorus of occupational therapy leaders has urged the profession to state clearly and explicitly what occupational therapy stands for, occupational therapists have struggled to achieve this aim. The chapter explores a number of reasons why occupational therapists have experienced difficulty describing occupational therapy and concludes that even though there are challenges to defining occupational therapy, this profession can be better articulated by consistently using the word 'occupation' and by explaining the occupational therapy meaning of this term.