Background: When and how people were able to engage in everyday occupations changed suddenly with the coronavirus pandemic. Defined as a risk group due to their age, people 70 years and older in Sweden experienced confinement, as did older adults globally.

Aim: To explore how doing, being, becoming, and belonging as dimensions of occupation were manifested in the lives of Swedish people 70 years or older, 100 days into the coronavirus pandemic.

Method: Data were elicited through semi-structured interviews with 17 participants (11 women, 6 six men, mean age 76 years), living in ordinary housing in Sweden. Interviews were conducted in June 2020 as part of a larger longitudinal research project. A directed content analysis approach was used to analyse the data based on the occupational dimensions of doing, being, becoming, and belonging.

Results: After 100 days of confinement, daily occupations had been changed, and habits and routines disrupted. However, the need to engage in occupations was strong. Participants expressed how they adapted their occupations to the restrictions, but also how their doing affected their well-being, further development, and opportunities for social interactions.

Conclusion: The participants, who were older people without any specific diagnosis, reflected upon their daily occupations during an unrehearsed natural experiment when, more than anything else, the social environmental circumstances changed. The analysis elucidates how doing, being, becoming, and belonging is embedded in people?s lives. The study can serve as a foundation to further research on understanding people?s individual needs as occupational beings.

Facets of participation have changed with the growing pervasiveness of digital technology in daily life. To enable older adults as active participants in an evolving digital society, it is relevant to examine how they engage in and situate digital technology-mediated occupations in daily life. Narrative inquiry was used to elucidate features in older adults’ engagement in occupations involving digital technology situated in everyday life. Analysis was based on data gathered through concurrent think aloud protocol and observations from 10 older adults in Northern Sweden. In line with narrative analysis, findings were presented as three stories about negotiating needs and values while interacting with the technological and social environments, entitled playing by the rules, being on the same wavelength, and calling the shots. Looking at these stories with an occupational lens resulted in an understanding that older adults’ participation involving digital technology likewise deals with negotiating and refining identities, as well as finding and experiencing meaning in daily life. There is potential for older adults to become active participants through digital technology, and new challenges in research and practice emerge.

Background: The aims of this longitudinal study were to analyse whether perceptions of employment,domestic work and leisure were predictors of health among women and men, and whether the predictors revealed were the same for both genders. Method: A random sample comprising of 2,683 employees in public health care and social insurance offices (2286 women and 397 men) in western Sweden, answered a survey twice, within a two-year interval. Results: The results showed that perceptions of low stress, good balance and high meaning in the occupations of everyday life predicted both good self-rated health and balanced work attendance among women but not among men. For men, the most important predictor of both good self-rated health and balanced work attendance was low work place stress. Conclusion: The men seemed to have a better balance between employment, domestic work, and leisure than the women. Furthermore, the results indicated that leisure might be a more pronounced health protector for women than for men.

There is growing interest in developing a conceptual understanding of the experience of balance in everyday life, from an occupational perspective. The purpose of this study was to gain insights about balance in the everyday lives of women with stress-related disorders. Data were gathered from 19 women who were past the first phase of recovery from a stress-related disorder and participated in one of five focus groups. Analysis revealed that the participants experienced a continuum between imbalance and balance in everyday life. The themes that emerged were image of occupational self, strategies to manage and control everyday life, occupational repertoire, and occupational experience. Balance in everyday life was achieved through a dynamic interaction between these themes, which the women characterised as respecting their own values, needs, and resources; having strategies to manage and control everyday life; having a harmonious occupational repertoire; and engaging in personally meaningful occupation. Engagement in personally meaningful occupation appears to be a mechanism that enables people to achieve balance in everyday life by enabling them to develop a successful occupational selfimage, manageability, control, and a harmonious occupational repertoire. Well-being seems to be the outcome of balance in everyday life, and lack of balance is experienced as overload.

Introduction: Occupational balance and satisfaction with daily occupations are two central concepts in occupational science. The aim of the present study was therefore to explore associations between different aspects of occupational balance and satisfaction with daily occupations. A second aim was to explore whether different aspects of occupational balance predicted satisfaction with daily occupations 12 months later.

Methods: The present study had an exploratory correlational longitudinal pilot study design and was part of a project in which the Tree Theme Method was evaluated for patients with depression and/or anxiety disorders. Data collected directly after the intervention (n=107) and 12 months later (n=84) were used in the present study. The Occupational Balance Questionnaire (OBQ) and the Satisfaction with Daily Occupations (SDO) were used, and binary logistic regressions were used to explore associations between them.

Results: Statistically significant associations were found between the following aspects of occupational balance: Balance between work, home, family, leisure, rest, and sleep; Having neither too much nor too little to do during a regular week; Satisfaction with time spent in rest, recovery, and sleep and satisfaction with daily occupations directly after the intervention. The occupational balance item Balance between energy-giving/energy-taking occupations directly after the intervention predicted satisfaction with daily occupations 12 months later.

Conclusion: This study provides some support for the assumption about an association between occupational balance and satisfaction with daily occupations. Studies with larger sample sizes and in other cultures are recommended to confirm the presence of these associations and/or to find other associations.

This phenomenological research is the second part of two analysis phases. The purpose of the first analysis phase was to gain insights about the experiences, perceptions, and attitudes about lifestyle balance of 19 women who were recovering from stress-related disorders. The findings indicated that the women perceived both balance and imbalance relative to their image of occupational self, strategies to manage and control everyday life, occupational repertoire, and occupational experience. The purpose of the second analysis phase was to re-analyze the data for its congruence with the Matuska and Christiansen life balance model using a matrix system, and to test the validity of the model. Results from the second phase are reported. When discussing the continuum between balance and imbalance in their lives, the women described occupations that met needs related to each of the five lifestyle balance model dimensions. They felt balanced or imbalanced depending on whether they were able to maintain their physical health, nurture important relationships, create a positive identity, pursue rewarding and stimulating occupations, and manage their time and energy to achieve daily goals and renewal. These findings provide additional validity for the life balance model, which may be used in occupational science.

There is a debate about the meaning and importance of paid work for individuals as well as for society. On the one hand, paid work is considered the only way to secure general welfare. On the other hand, the Jobs Strategy urged by the OECD as the only possible model for achieving welfare is questioned and challenged through the idea of basic income. While basic income is frequently discussed within other disciplines, it is scarcely raised within occupational science, despite its obvious relevance. In this article, the significance of paid work and the possible consequences of introducing basic income are raised. Paid work may have healthy effects, but for many people worldwide dependence on paid work for basic security implies unhealthy, hazardous, and unsecure circumstances. Basic income may have a substantial impact on people’s occupational patterns as well as their experiences of occupational meaning. Three underlying rationales for introducing basic income can be traced: i) abolish a bureaucratic payment transfer system and maintain consumption, ii) diminish poverty and enhance a self-determined life, and iii) deepen democratization. These three rationales are discussed through the lens of Arendt’s vita activa: labor, work and action. Rationales underlying claims for basic income have substantially different underlying ideologies and are therefore important to scrutinize. Rationales mainly building on maintaining consumption imply a risk that people are reduced to homo consumens and denizens. Developing all modalities creates opportunities for occupational justice as well as inclusion and citizenship.

In his response to our article “Hannah Arendt’s vita activa: A valuable contribution to occupational science,” Turnbull (2017) outlined some tensions he perceived with our discussion of “her approach to philosophy, politics and science”. In our reply, we express appreciation of his interest in Arendt related to occupational science and the contribution his article makes, as well as clarifying some points in his critique. We argue that Turnbull’s main arguments do not address our primary purpose of presenting Arendt’s vita activa and provide examples of its relevance for occupational science. We thus focused on activity-related aspects of Arendt’s thoughts, to raise awareness of this work amongst occupational scientists. However, we are thankful for Turnbull’s reflections, which broaden the insights of Arendt’s thinking and contribute to a better understanding of human occupation. 

Occupational science is undergoing dynamic development and claims have been articulated that human occupation must be understood from multiple ontological standpoints. Hannah Arendt (1906–1975) is known for her work The Human Condition in which she explored human occupation from a philosophical and political standpoint. She distinguished the modalities labor, work and action, and labelled them vita activa. The aim of this paper is to present Arendt and her vita activa, in order to provide examples of its relevance for occupational science, showing how vita activa can assist occupational scientists to take a deeper perspective on human occupation. According to Arendt, human occupation is always conditioned. The condition for labor is necessity, which reflects human biological needs and represents the basics of life. The condition for work is utility, as something persistent and durable is produced. Action is the activity that takes place between people without the intermediary of things. Similar to occupational science, vita activa is concerned with human doing but their origins differ. Arendt also emphasized the public sphere as an arena for human occupation, a viewpoint that is shared with recent occupational science literature. The need to expand the scope of occupational science to encompass all aspects of human occupations, including the deleterious, has been expressed and vita activa can contribute to broadening this perspective. Examples of the need for sustainability in working life are also presented in this paper.

Introduction: People from European Union (EU) countries such as Latvia, Romania and Bulgaria who beg on the streets have become a common part of the townscape in Sweden. While demanding situations in their home countries drive them abroad to earn their living, those who turn to begging still face challenges in their everyday lives. Additional knowledge is needed, from their perspective, about the occupational challenges of begging, as well as how they adapt to those challenges.

Aim: To describe the occupational challenges and related adaptations of vulnerable EU citizens begging in Sweden.

Methods: We used a descriptive qualitative design. Individual interviews with 20 Romanian participants were conducted and analysed using qualitative content analysis with a deductive and inductive approach.

Results: Six categories of occupational adaptation responses were identified: Keeping the family tier intact despite distance; Dealing with shame and stress; Managing body and mind when begging despite the monotony; Living as cheaply as possible; Trying to get a night's sleep without drawing attention to oneself; and Seeking alternatives for earning their living.

Conclusion: Everyday life, when begging abroad, is filled with occupational challenges requiring occupational adaptations, for better or for worse, to sustain basic human needs. To further understand the needs of this vulnerable and marginalised group in society, human rights discourses that go beyond the individual level are needed.

Research into older people's use of remote controls, mobile phones, digital home appliances, and computerized communication systems reveals that many have difficulty accessing and using these everyday technologies. By using occupational justice theory as a lens onto this technological development, we argue in this commentary that critical analysis of the findings from an occupational perspective reveals systematic injustices that disadvantage certain sectors of the older population. In particular we propose that, contrary to what might be expected, diagnosis or disability is not the sole marker for a vulnerable population at high risk of occupational injustices. Rather, the empirical findings support that other aspects (e.g., economic, educational) may also be influencing both everyday technology access and use among the older population. In light of these concerns, we argue that (a) occupation-centred outcome measures are needed to target everyday technology populations at risk of occupational injustices, and (b) future studies evaluating the access and use of everyday technology among older people must also monitor and target socio-demographic diversities.

Using a transactional frame of reference, this paper situates the concept of emplacement within and between the notions of embeddedness, situatedness, and enactedness. Emplacement recognises how the spaces and places in which we engage in occupations both shape and are shaped by engagement. Hence, the meaning and importance attributed to certain occupations can involve a complex, unbounded, uncertain, and often messy process. Further, embeddedness describes the deep anchoring of individuals to their social and physical contexts. Situatedness emphasises the importance of being 'in-place'. Enactedness delves into the dynamic unfolding of occupations that highlight the role of agency and identity that are reflected in the stories shared. Vignettes from our research projects illustrate these concepts by offering insights into the lived experiences of emplacement. These narratives enrich understandings of the nuanced, transactional nature of emplacement. Additionally, we acknowledge the relevance of emplacement across contexts and suggest avenues for future research. This discussion adds to the existing understanding of emplacement and the growing body of knowledge in occupational science specific to the value of using a transactional frame of occupation to explore the complexities of human-occupation-environment interactions.

This article presents a study of three asylum-seeking men from Iran and Afghanistan. It aimed to explore how and if they experienced occupations as occupations in a Danish asylum centre and how their life experience shaped their choice and value of current occupations. In-depth narrative interviews explored the participants’ occupational history and its influence on their occupations in the asylum centre. A thematic analysis showed that the participants had been subjected to occupational disruption and deprivation by politically oppressive systems even before their flight. Their occupations in Denmark were to a certain extent influenced by their earlier occupations and the current occupational deprivation they all experienced was due to limited possibilities in the centre. Although they tried their best to fill their days and create structure, there was a loss of valued occupations and a profound sense of occupational deprivation. One of the participants had been subjected to torture and he experienced occupational deprivation to a greater extent. The findings suggest that further research should include exposure to torture as a key component when examining the occupational deprivation of asylum seekers.

Background: Asylum seekers often experience social exclusion, beyond work and productivity. For this group, social inclusion is needed in order to participate in their new society and regain control over daily life and occupations, as well as prevent health problems. Social inclusion has been discussed within occupational science, and a collaborative approach such as the Participatory Occupational Justice Framework recommended to be followed. However, there is still a lack of understanding of the asylum seekers? perspective on social inclusion, which this article begins to address through the lived experience of one participant.

Method: Framed as a phenomenological study, data were collected through interview and articles written by the asylum-seeking participant. The data were analysed using Giorgi?s method as modified by Malterud (2017).

Results: The participant's ideas revolved around the components of Bogeas and colleague's (2017) description of social inclusion and revealed the problems that he experienced daily in the asylum centre. His suggestions for change and social inclusion included the need for asylum seekers to take part in the daily work in the centre, establishing channels of information, and a residents' council to support collaboration with the local population. The participant stressed that social inclusion should be a two-way process, with both sides taking responsibility for working with the challenges.

Conclusion: Although there are objective conditions that might limit social inclusion, a collaborative and participatory approach offers the opportunity for social inclusion and participation in occupation. Employing such an approach would facilitate the health, well-being, and inclusion of asylum seekers; and promote occupational justice for an otherwise marginalised population.

To decrease the spread of the COVID-19 virus, public health officials in British Columbia, Canada ordered large-scale physical distancing requirements, leading to school and business closures, banning of large gatherings, and travel restrictions. These requirements shifted people?s occupational repertoires, with vulnerable populations (e.g., those with chronic health conditions) possibly being differentially impacted. To learn more about people?s occupational changes, we conducted a before-and-after study during the first wave of COVID-19 on occupations and well-being of adults with and without inflammatory arthritis (IA). We invited participants from a prior study to repeat selected measures to assess the impact of pandemic restrictions. Occupations, occupational balance, stress, life satisfaction, and physical and mental health were measured in participants during pre-pandemic (April 2019-March 12, 2020; Time 1) and phase one pandemic restrictions (March 16-May 19, 2020, Time 2). Of 143 adults from the pre-pandemic study, 71 agreed to participate in a Time 2 online survey. Six categories of occupation were identified at Time 1, using Personal Projects Analysis (a tool to explore and measure occupation). At Time 2, there was less variety in health-related occupations, along with a decrease in community-oriented occupations and an increase in occupations around the home. Occupations were characterized as having greater time adequacy at Time 2 than Time 1. Occupational balance and stress scores were higher at Time 2 in both groups, and mental health scores lower at Time 2 only in the healthy comparison group. These pre/post and between-group comparisons contribute to nuanced understandings of the impact of chronic illness and short-term societal disruptions on occupations and well-being.

Long-term unemployment impacts a person’s life and opportunities for participating in occupations. Despite the frequent occurrence of short-term unemployment, the proportion of long-term unemployment in Western contexts remains high and is growing, which particularly affects vulnerable groups and thus is an issue of relevance for occupational science. Research into the lived experiences of being long-term unemployed and how it affects daily life is limited, although the need to look more closely into unemployment has been recognized. The aim of this study was to describe people’s experiences of long-term unemployment from an occupational perspective. Due to the dearth of studies in this area, a scoping review methodological framework was used, resulting in nine relevant studies reported in English to be included in a thematic analysis. Results revealed three analytical themes: Experiences of occupations during and due to long-term unemployment; Experiences of occupational obstacles; and Experiences of occupational enablers. The daily lives of long-term unemployed people consist largely of occupations they perform for obligatory reasons, that is, to be eligible for economic subsidies for their survival, and less of anything related to what they want or need. People also experience obstacles that limit and restrict their opportunities of engaging in meaningful occupations. These obstacles could be seen as occupational injustices. Enabling factors also exist, but they are not available or possible for all. Being long-term unemployed changes people’s participation and engagement in occupations. By understanding the experience of long-term unemployment, it is possible to plan and implement better services.

Antecedentes: El equilibrio ocupacional es un concepto importante en la ciencia ocupacional, aunque su estudio se ha realizado principalmente desde una perspectiva individual. Otra perspectiva relevante en el equilibrio ocupacional es la perspectiva interpersonal, por ejemplo, en qué medida el equilibrio ocupacional de una persona afecta a los demás y se ve afectado por estos. El objetivo de esta revisión es describir en qué medida se ha abordado recientemente el equilibrio ocupacional desde una perspectiva interpersonal.

Métodos: Se ha utilizado una metodología de revisión de alcance. Se utilizaron datos de artículos publicados entre 2014 y 2017 que cumplían los siguientes criterios de inclusión: artículos completos que recogían una investigación primaria; publicados en inglés; incluían los conceptos «equilibrio ocupacional», «equilibrio en la vida cotidiana» o «equilibrio personal» en el resumen, en las palabras clave o en el título; tener un foco ocupacional en el equilibrio; y aportar información relevante respecto a la perspectiva interpersonal.

Resultados: Se incluyeron nueve artículos. La perspectiva interpersonal se vio principalmente respecto a parejas o familias, cosa que muestra el impacto positivo del apoyo y el impacto negativo de las madres de satisfacer las necesidades de los demás. Un artículo abordó aspectos relacionados con organizaciones y actitudes en el lugar de trabajo en padres respecto a hijos pequeños.

Conclusión: Los hallazgos evidencian la importancia de considerar el equilibrio ocupacional de la persona y de su entorno, mostrando, al mismo tiempo, algunas de las complejidades del equilibrio ocupacional. La cantidad limitada de artículos identificados indica que todavía existe una falta de estudios que apliquen una perspectiva interpersonal, por lo que profundizar en los análisis de la influencia interpersonal en el equilibrio ocupacional podría ser una senda fructífera que convendría emprender.

Background: Occupational balance is an important concept in occupational science but it has mostly been studied from an individual rather than an interpersonal perspective, i.e. the extent to which one individual’s occupational balance affects and is affected by others. The aim of this review was to describe the extent to which occupational balance has been recently considered from an interpersonal perspective.

Methods: A scoping review methodology was used. Articles published between 2014 and 2017 that met the following inclusion criteria were included: full articles reporting primary research; published in English; using “occupational balance”, “balance in everyday life”, or “life balance” in the abstract, key words, or title; having an occupational focus on balance; and providing relevant information in relation to the interpersonal perspective.

Results: Nine articles were included. The interpersonal perspective was mostly seen in relation to partners or families, showing the positive impact of support and the negative impact of meeting other’s needs in mothers. One article addressed aspects related to organizations and attitudes at the workplace in parents with young children.

Conclusion: The findings reveal the importance of considering the occupational balance of both the individual and those around him or her while also showing some of the complexity of occupational balance. The limited number of articles identified indicates that there is still a lack of research using an interpersonal perspective, suggesting that further examination of the interpersonal influence on occupational balance may be a fruitful avenue to pursue. 

This article reports a comprehensive review of the research conducted regarding occupational balance. A scoping study method was used to explore and describe current research about occupational balance and to identify research gaps. Twenty-two articles published between 2009 and 2014 met the inclusion criteria. The articles reported studies conducted in eight countries on four continents, but the majority were conducted in Europe and North America. The articles contributed to knowledge about the concept itself, its importance, levels of occupational balance, and the relationship between occupational balance and health and well-being. They also described what is important for occupational balance or how to enhance/create/recreate it and differences between people. Several research gaps were identified which include the need for studies about perceptions of occupational balance among people beyond western societies. Furthermore, systematic research is warranted with regards to levels of occupational balance, and how to enhance it.

An analysis of data from a previously conducted grounded theory study exploring perceptions of life balance among 19 working adults without recent long term sick leave was carried out. The aim of this secondary analysis was to use these perceptions of life balance to validate the Model of Lifestyle Balance proposed by Matuska and Christiansen. For the validation, a matrix was used. The results showed that Matuska and Christiansen's five need-based dimensions were represented by the participants’ perceptions of life balance, but also an additional aspect not included in the model. The participants stressed healthy habits in relation to sleep, exercise and eating, and good relationships as important for life balance. Furthermore, it was described as important to perceive sufficient challenge and meaningfulness in their occupations and to organize time and energy. Finally, the participants stressed financial security as important for life balance. These findings provide additional evidence of the validity of the Model of Lifestyle Balance, a model that appears to be useful in occupational science.

Background: Everyday life outside home and accessing a variety of places are central to occupation. Technology is ever more taken for granted, even outside home, and for some may culminate in occupational injustice. This study aims to explore the association between everyday technologies (ET), particularly out of home, and the number of places older adults with and without dementia go to, in rural and urban environments.

Method: The Everyday Technology Use Questionnaire, and Participation in Activities and Places Outside Home Questionnaire, were administered with 128 people in England. Six logistic regression models explored the association between ET and the number of places people went to, with other demographic factors (i.e., rurality, diagnosis, deprivation).

Results: The amount of out of home technologies a person perceived relevant and relative levels of neighbourhood deprivation were most persistently associated with the number of places people went to. Associations with ability to use technology, diagnosis, and education were more tentative. In no model was rurality significant. All models explained a low proportion of variance and lacked sensitivity to predict the outcome.

Conclusion: For a minority of people, perceptions of the technological environment are associated with other personal and environmental dimensions. Viewed kaleidoscopically, these associations assemble to generate an impermanent, fragmented view of occupational injustice that may jeopardise opportunities outside home. However, there will be other influential factors not identified in this study. Greater attention to the intersections between specific environmental dimensions may deepen understanding of how modifications can be made to deliver occupational justice.

The categorizations of occupation commonly used in occupational science and therapy today lack empirical foundations for children and adolescents. Without common definition or conceptualization, the ability to understand and evaluate the impact of occupation on people’s lives is limited. Research in these areas has predominantly been conducted with adults and research about children and adolescents has mainly focused on specific occupations and/or diagnoses. The study aimed to identify experience-based categories of occupation from the perspective of adolescents. Through qualitative interviews with 10 participants aged 12-15, data were collected and analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Eight experience-based categories were identified: experiencing change of time perception, experiencing enjoyment and satisfaction, experiencing challenge and competence, experiencing boredom and tediousness, experiencing deeper engagement, experiencing relaxation and recovery, experiencing need, necessity or neutrality, and experiencing self-identification. The categories cover a variety of experiences, and show connections to earlier research. The findings show a possible way of understanding adolescents’ experience of occupation, and contribute to earlier research with an adolescent perspective. Further research is needed to confirm their relevance within other groups and contexts and can be used in further exploration of conceptualization.