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MeSH TERMS
* cognition disorders
* history
* human activities
* occupational therapy
* professional practice
* psychomotor disorders
Gillen, G. (2013). A fork in the road: An occupational hazard? (Eleanor Clarke Slagle Lecture). American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 67, 641-652. http://dx.doi.org/10.5014/ajot.2013.676002
Good evening and welcome! I am thrilled to be at this podium and just as thrilled to be resuming my life an hour from now! This honor has been overwhelming in a good way, as you can imagine and, also as you can imagine, stressful. I have to thank my colleagues at Columbia University for consistently reminding me over the past year that this is an honor, not a punishment. In all seriousness, however, I am particularly touched to be delivering this lecture in San Diego. The last time I was in this city was the day after I completed my mental health fieldwork about 5 miles from where we are now. That was about 25 years ago, and it was the final hurdle to completing my bachelor's degree in occupational therapy at New York University. The occupational therapists who worked in the unit that I trained on that summer firmly embraced and applied Mary Reilly's occupational behavior frame of reference. I feel lucky that I was thoroughly trained in her approach and had the chance to read her 1961 Slagle lecture (Reilly, 1962) multiple times that summer.
My Thesis
My thesis today is relatively straightforward. I (well, we, because it takes a village to put these lectures together) chose the title A Fork in the Road: An Occupational Hazard? for several reasons. As a relatively young profession, occupational therapy has made tremendous strides in its growth and will only continue to do so. However, there have been times on our professional journey when we have begun to lose sight of and confidence in our methods, including intervention and assessment approaches, which I will discuss. These proverbial "forks in the road" during our profession's development may have led us away from our professed and philosophical occupational therapy methods.
Similarly, these forks in the road have resulted in hazards such as "professional blurring," "dual encroachment," and "professional envy," which I will discuss. Finally-exciting, albeit frustrating-the incredible volume of research that has been conducted...