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This discussion paper aims to highlight the role of occupational therapy (OT) in understanding stalking and in interventions designed to assist the perpetrator to lead a more fulfilling life through healthier occupations.

This study highlights the role of OT in understanding stalking and in designing interventions to assist the perpetrator by extending discussions, drawing on the authors’ practitioner experiences and upon recent study findings on what drives men who stalk.

Stalking is a problem behaviour that is often effort-intense, all-consuming, emotionally driven and psychologically damaging for both victims and perpetrators. It consists of a patterned occupation of time which is overarchingly dysfunctional, yet intrinsically purposeful. As humans, our actions and occupations have meaning to us. Stalking can be conceptualised as a meaningful yet self-defeating and harmful pattern of occupations. This paper illustrates how stalking could be addressed through the additional contribution of OT to multi-agency approaches.

This paper extends the discussion by drawing on the authors’ clinical practitioner experiences and upon recent study findings on what drives men who stalk.

This paper highlights the role of OT in understanding stalking and in interventions designed to assist the perpetrator to lead a more fulfilling life through healthier occupations.

This marriage of knowledge from OT and stalking research is set out in support of the application of OT within multi-agency approaches to working with people who stalk.

The purpose of this paper is to establish the value placed on the facets that contribute to a meaningful leisure occupation for the residents of a residential care facility by the staff that care for them.

This was a service evaluation using a self-reported questionnaire, completed by six Activity Co-ordinators from the home of 158 individuals with a wide range of neuropalliative conditions.

The cultural/historical components, the built and social environment, learning, life satisfaction and goal orientation were reported as the least valued facets, which make up a leisure occupation. The staff did, however; value the sense of health and capability, purpose, the feeling of being fully human and the sense of belonging that comes about through leisure. They also valued preventing boredom, opportunities for self-expression, creativity, achievement, and control. Additionally they valued opportunities to gain a clear sense of the rhythm of life, of self-identity, choice of occupation, and engagement in the occupation.

The findings highlight a variance between the perceptions of staff members who deal with the day-to-day leisure opportunities and decisions of the residents, and the literature of occupational science about what makes an occupation meaningful, and therefore is worthy of consideration when planning a leisure occupation.

Personalised care requires consideration of the individual's cultural and historical background, the environment surrounding the occupation, opportunities for social interaction, individual learning, life satisfaction, and goal orientation when organising leisure opportunities. These facets are stressed because the participants undervalued them.

The context of this paper is a subset of individuals with neurological disabilities who experience profound disabilities, and the attitudes of staff to their leisure lifestyle.

The purpose of this paper is to compare the importance currently placed on meaningful work (MFW), and determine the frequency by which it is experienced in blue-, pink-, and white-collar occupations.

Using the comprehensive meaningful work scale (Lips-Wiersma and Wright, 2012) with 1,683 workers across two studies, ANOVAs were conducted to examine differences in dimensions of MFW.

While unity with others and developing the inner self were regarded as equally important for white-, blue-, and pink-collar workers, the authors data suggest that white-collar workers placed more importance on expressing full potential and serving others than blue-collar workers. The frequency of experiencing MFW differed across the three groups with white-collar workers experiencing higher levels of unity with others, expressing full potential, and serving others; however no mean differences were found for developing the inner self.

This study is the first to empirically investigate an oft-discussed but previously untested question: does the experience of MFW differ across white-, blue-, and pink-collar jobs?

The purpose of this paper is to explore the nature, transition and formation of occupational identity for those in recovery from eating disorders (EDs).

Semi-structured “episodic” interviews were carried out with six women, self-identifying in recovery from an ED. Narrative-type-analysis produced a distilled narrative of participants’ accounts, before use of thematic analysis compared and extracted pertinent themes.

During recovery from an ED, significant shifts occurred in occupational identities, moving from sole identification with the ED, to a greater understanding of self; facilitated by increased engagement in meaningful occupations, adapting occupational meaning, connecting with self and others and the importance of becoming and belonging.

This is the first known piece of research exploring occupational identity in relation to EDs. The findings are applicable to occupational therapists and add to the growing body of qualitative research into EDs.

Asylum seekers and refugees experience substantial barriers to successful transition to a new society. The purpose of this paper is to explore the value and meaning of a community drop-in service offering social support for refugees and asylum seekers in the northeast of England and to identify the occupational preferences of the service users.

A qualitative approach using semi-structured interviews was conducted with refugees and asylum seekers using a community drop-in service. In total, 18 people participated from ten countries. Data were analysed using interpretive phenomenological analysis.

The value and meaning of the service was expressed through four key areas: the need to experience a sense of community; being able to make an altruistic contribution within the community; the need for societal integration; and having the opportunity to engage in meaningful and productive occupations.

Community and altruism have profound cultural meaning for asylum seekers and refugees and the need to integrate, belong and contribute is paramount to successful resettlement. Community-based drop-in services can aid this at deep, culturally relevant levels. This study may inform policy and practice development, future service development and highlight potential opportunities for health and social care services provision amongst this growing population.

To date there are no studies that provide empirical evidence on how community-based drop-in services for refugees and asylum seekers are received. This study provides a cultural insight into the deeper value and meaning of such services, and is particularly relevant for professionals in all sectors who are working with asylum seekers and refugees.

Equality of rights for individuals who identify as being lesbian or gay (LG) have emerged over recent years, and significant advancements have been made in recognition and support of LG rights in Ireland. Given the recent change in legal rights for the LG population, Civil Partnership 2010 and Marriage Equality 2015, this paper aims to explore the lived experience of daily occupations of LG adult’s in Ireland today, by applying an occupational justice lens.

A qualitative phenomenological research study, examined the concept of occupational justice as experienced by eight adults, who identified as being LG. Data was collected through face to face, semi-structured interviews.

Four themes capturing the complexity of each participant’s experience of daily occupations and occupational justice emerged, namely, transitions and personal journeys, celebrating differences, empowerment through occupation and inner conflict. Findings demonstrate how occupational justice is experienced as a complex, contextually embedded and dynamic process specific to each individual.

Future research in this area should aim to explore the experiences of both a younger and older LG population, along with those who identify as bisexual, transgender, queer or intersex to continue to raise awareness of the potential for occupational injustice within this minority population.

Facilitation of genuine occupational engagement rather than a more superficial level of participation that has minimal therapeutic benefit is a challenge within secure mental health settings. The purpose of this paper is to develop, pilot and evaluate therapeutic tools based on a framework of occupational engagement.

The study used action research with occupational therapists from two secure residential units. Focus group discussions gathered participants’ views of how the occupational engagement framework could be used to inform a therapeutic tool. Following the development and piloting of the subsequent tools, focus groups were again used to review their usefulness in practice. Discussions were audio recorded and thematically analysed.

Three tools were designed and piloted. Evaluation revealed a number of benefits and different ways in which the tools could be used in practice.

This research has indicated that the occupational engagement framework has potential for increasing understanding of the relationship between the value and consequences of participating in occupations. The limited timescale of the research restricted the opportunity to fully explore the tools’ potential effectiveness as outcome measures.

The clinical tools developed within this research have provided some information to the clinical teams which has contributed to their understanding of how service users experience participating in occupations.

The occupational engagement framework and resulting tools have the potential to enhance understanding of occupational engagement within secure settings.

Engagement in meaningful occupations and being included as full citizens of the community, is essential in everyday life, and may be of considerable relevance for recovery and quality of life. However, persons with co-occurring substance use and mental health problems experience extensive obstacles to engagement in occupations and citizenship. The relationship between objective measures of occupational status and subjective experiences of occupational meaningfulness, citizenship and recovery, is scarcely researched in the context of co-occurring problems. As such, the purpose of this study is to examine associations between occupational status, occupational meaningfulness, citizenship and recovery and quality of life and to examine the roles of occupational meaningfulness and citizenship as possible mediators between occupational status and recovery and quality of life.

The study used a cross-sectional design with a sample of 104 residents at supported housing sites across six Norwegian cities.

Linear regression analyzes indicated that occupational status was significantly associated with the citizenship domains caring for others and community participation and with the quality of life measure positive affect. Occupational meaningfulness and citizenship were significantly associated with different domains of recovery and quality of life. Furthermore, mediation analyzes showed that the relationship between occupational status and recovery and quality of life was mediated by caring for others and community participation.

The results suggest that emphasizing opportunities for occupational meaningfulness and citizenship in practice may have positive implications for recovery among persons with co-occurring problems.

There has been an increase in swimming in natural bodies of water as reported in personal qualitative accounts. However, limited academic research has explored the meaning of this occupation. Engaging with nature, exercising and being part of a community contribute to better mental and physical health. The purpose of this research was to explore the meaning that adults attribute to open-water swimming in natural bodies of water.

This study used phenomenological interviews to explore the meaning that five adults attribute to open-water swimming.

Open-water swimming contributes to meaning-making in many ways. Participants reported swimming as necessary for maintaining mental and emotional well-being and forming meaningful connections with the social environment, nature and their true selves.

This study contributes to the understanding of the meaning of open-water swimming for adults in Ireland. Understanding the meaning of this occupation may add to the body of evidence exploring blue-space to promote health.

Open-water swimming is an occupation growing in popularity. This is the first paper to explore open-water swimming from an occupational perspective. This may provide an alternative perspective for viewing blue-space engagement and understanding the relationship between health, blue-space occupations and our oceans.

Dating is a meaningful occupation for many single people. The occupation of dating has transformed considerably in Ireland due to recent changes in Irish culture and the advent of online dating technology. The purpose of this study was to explore the complexities and intricacies of dating in an Irish context.

A qualitative research approach was used and data were collected using semi-structured interviews with ten heterosexual women (age 24‐34) living in urban areas of Ireland. Data were analysed using inductive thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke, 2006).

Dating did not fully resonate with their experience, but they did not have an alternative term. The form of dating was influenced by cultural, temporal, physical and virtual contexts. Beliefs about dating, fluctuating emotions and feelings of mortification because of the stigma of online dating created meaning for participants and influenced their use of strategies to improve resilience. While dating was not a preferred occupation for participants because of its arduous nature and fluctuations in emotion, it was seen as essential to fulfil the function of finding a romantic partner or partner in occupation. Connections between participant experiences and occupational science are discussed to address the lexicon of dating and the form, function and meaning of dating.

This study contributes to occupational science knowledge by revealing the occupational understandings of dating as an emerging and dynamic occupation in a rapidly changing culture of Ireland.