As the population ages and the government focuses on cost-effective ways to treat older people, new systems will be put in place by the Ministry of Health.
The onus will then be on the occupational therapy professions to adopt and adapt to these changes.
Therefore, it is my belief that a paradigm change may be inevitable as a result of this.
Occupational therapy (OT) is a very malleable profession. According to Kielhofner, (2004), OT has gone through five paradigms to arrive at the contemporary paradigm we follow today. Who is to say that this paradigm will not evolve again to encompass the changing face of older person’s healthcare as a result of the aging population?
I believe this is very real possibility as the aging population phenomenon is not only being experienced in New Zealand, but in most 'western' countries around the world (Gavrilov & Heuveline, 2003). These countries will also need to adapt the way they deliver healthcare, contributing to a paradigm change.
The occupational therapy profession is in a prime position to evolve and adapt its paradigm alongside the complicated factors that contribute to an aging population. To do this in line with the likely political developments that will take place in New Zealand, OT will need to change from working with clients at a 1:1 level to working at population and community levels.
This reality is being acknowledged at a higher level: In 2006, at the annual New Zealand Association of Occupational Therapy conference, the Minister of Health, Pete Hodgson, stated the need for occupational therapists to move towards defining and implementing their future role in population based health, especially with older citizens (Wilcock, 2007).
Working at community and population levels will be explored in my next post.
Jamie
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