Political dimensions in the actions of health-care practitioners: Reflections for occupational science based on the Chilean psychiatric reform

ABSTRACT

This discussion focuses on the political dimensions of health-care practitioners’ actions as a key aspect in occupational science reflections. To understand politics and its relationship with occupational science, a brief explanation is offered about the conceptual framework of governmentality studies. From this understanding, a proposal is developed to discuss the specific form taken by power relations in the practices of health practitioners. Based on the notion of occupational apartheid, this analysis is aimed at reflecting on political actions towards greater occupational justice. The concept of extitution is used to explain how to shape power relations under the current mental health systems, discussing the case of the Chilean psychiatric reform as an example of a political process that engaged different practitioners. There is evidence that some of the impacts of the reforms are not as expected under an occupational justice perspective, both for users and families, and/or for practitioners themselves. The findings suggest that—consistent with certain theories on power—there are some restrictions to the understanding of the political dimension of practitioners’ actions. New aspects are proposed as a focus for an occupational science committed to an occupational justice framework.

KEYWORDS:

• Occupational science
• Politics
• Health-care practitioners
• Power relations
• Psychiatric reform

TAMBIÉN PUBLICADO EN ESPAÑOL:

• https://doi.org/10.1080/14427591.2018.1519871

View translated version:

Dimensión política de las actuaciones profesionales en salud: Reflexiones para la ciencia de la ocupación a partir del proceso de reforma psiquiátrica en Chile

ORCID

Jimena Carrasco http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7073-1592

Notes

1 The so-called community approach involves multiple and diverse theories and methods unable to be grasped as a theoretical, methodological and/or disciplinary formulation but rather considered a hybrid made up of theoretical developments, social policies and different practices in Latin America, led by NGOs during the dictatorship (Alfaro & Zambrano, 2009).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by <Fondo Nacional de Desarrollo Científico y Tecnológico de Chile, FONDECYT> [11160195].