Occupations for resolving life crises in old age

Crises may occur as people experience life events. Life's course in old age offers such potential crises, disrupting lifelong occupational patterns. Such crises and their resolution may be compared to van Gennep's rites of passage, with stages of separation, transition and reincorporation (1908/1960). I discuss the use of occupations to resolve a life crisis as analogous to moving through the stages of a rite of passage. I use ethnographic methods to study the life experience of a Japanese elder (after a stroke) and the people surrounding her, including the occupational therapist who intervened to assist in the resolution of the resulting life crisis. The process involved learning, collective occupations, and sponsorship, using occupations that linked the elder's current experience to her previous life course. The occupations promoted temporal adaptation, bridging the woman's past to her future and promoting adjustment to her life course; had personal meaning that promoted engagement; provided her with safety as an occupational being; and promoted her reincorporation into society.

Key Words:

• Life stage transition
• Rites of passage
• Older adults
• Collective occupation