Media release from AUT University

The return to work, school or unassisted living for people suffering from debilitating sickness or injury could be far more successful if occupational therapists were included in primary health teams, according to a senior lecturer at AUT University.

Head of the Department of Occupational Science and Therapy at AUT, Dr Kirk Reed says occupational therapists are educated to observe and ask the right questions about the daily challenges that act as barriers to someone returning to their routine activities.

"Occupational therapists are also schooled in the solutions which can prevent and overcome these barriers. For someone recovering from a back injury the return to work might spark anxieties that the pain will flair up again but the therapist may be able to look at the workspace and make some changes that will make the job workable or teach the person new ways of doing things."  

Primary health care has traditionally been thought of as being largely confined to GPs and nurses but Reed says broadening it to include occupational therapists and other disciplines like physiotherapy would lead to better health outcomes.

"All New Zealanders have the right to quality primary health care services available from interprofessional teams which must include occupational therapists."

"What and how we do the everyday things in our lives may be met with a range of personal or environmental barriers that need to be overcome - an occupational therapist will work with a person or community to overcome these barriers which will ultimately lead to improved health outcomes and ultimately less of a burden on the health system."

Reed says without the right assistance someone who is unable to return to work or to their normal daily routine risks further deterioration of their physical health and may also find their mental wellbeing suffers.