Occupational therapy and COVID-19

Greta Thunberg, teenage climate advocate, notes the international response to COVID-19 has shown how governments can act in an emergency. ‘It is possible to treat a crisis like a crisis, it is possible to put people’s health above economic interests, and it is possible to listen to science’, she argues, adding that the pandemic has increased the value of science in many societies (Haynes, 2020).

Reports globally show that, as a result of the pandemic, there is increased poverty (World Bank, 2020), family job loss, disrupted schooling at all stages of education, mental and physical problems, often unaddressed because of the necessity for lockdown and isolation. These are areas where occupational therapists have had input during the pandemic. Based on our science, professional reasoning and innovation, we know that the role of occupational therapy is integral to the health of our populations.

However, the COVID-19 pandemic has created additional stress within our already strained occupational therapy workforce. A global survey, conducted by World Federation of Occupational Therapists (WFOT) between April and July 2020, (Hoel et al., 2021) indicated the pandemic had a wide-ranging impact for the delivery of occupational therapy services. The survey highlighted a lack of preparedness, restrictions in service access, redeployment, frequently changing working conditions and the demands of new technology. Limitations in essential resources, such as additional space for physical distancing, workplace protocols and personal protective equipment, impeded service delivery. As part of their initiatives to address issues arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, WFOT prepared public statements, located on the WFOT website, including:

• Occupational Therapy Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic

• COVID-19 and WFOT Minimum Education Standards

• Occupational Therapy and Rehabilitation of People Affected by the COVID-19 Pandemic

• International Year of Health and Care Workers 2021

WFOT advocacy initiatives include engaging with the World Health Organization (WHO) through meetings, briefings and strategy development regarding COVID-19. WFOT submissions to WHO and WHO Regional Groups can be accessed at https://wfot.org/about/partners.

The WFOT public statement for the International Year of Health and Care Workers notes,

Occupational therapists are key health human resource professionals that address the health and occupational needs of the population worldwide. WFOT recognises that substantial supply-need disparities currently exist in the occupational therapy workforce, both among countries of similar income, as well as within services, sectors or areas.

There are not enough of us to meet the need.

Occupational therapists have really come to the fore in response to individual and community needs during the COVID crisis. We have found new ways of providing services and ways of supporting each other in this changing time. The articles and case reports in this Bulletin attest to occupational therapy innovation and ability to implement creative solutions. Occupational therapists in China developed an online programme to advocate for redesigning one’s lifestyle in the face of the pandemic, encouraging viewers to reflect on their activity and occupation patterns, identify the impacts of the epidemic on their daily life, and engage in occupations and activities that foster their self-efficacy and wellbeing (Wang et al., 2021). Teoh (2021) noted the strategic leadership of an occupational therapist to address mental health for the Malaysian population through official public health online communication. Sersak offered a self-assessment of computer workspace at home for office workers, which was widely circulated in Arabic and English. Wainberg (2021), in the United Kingdom, noted the importance of human connections in perinatal mental health, while Ema et al. (2021) described the issues of dealing with a spinal cord injury during the pandemic in Bangladesh. Ricci et al. (2021) demonstrated how online social networking and video calls provided peer support as an occupational therapy mental health intervention strategy in Brazil.

These are but a few of the initiatives undertaken by occupational therapists around the world to support their clients and communities during the heights of COVID-19 and beyond. Post-COVID rehabilitation will also be on our minds as we consider this new world order. As we enter another phase of the pandemic, when many of us are receiving the proffered vaccines, we realise that we may not be returning to our old ways of occupational therapy intervention but will be using what we have learned during this last year to develop and enhance our education and practice.