Upstreaming occupational therapy: reflections on sustaining contextual relevance in a globalising world

Abstract

By blurring the boundaries between the physical, digital, and biological worlds the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) is poised to affect the future of planetary and human health and wellbeing in the emerging new world order being promoted by the United Nations Agenda 2030. Precipitating a paradigm crisis in the architecture of the occupational therapy profession, the implications of the 4IR and the UN Agenda 2030 warrant collective examination. A new practice paradigm suited to the new world order may be indicated. We propose two actions that the profession can take for facilitating a paradigm shift towards contextual relevance in different parts of the world; firstly, by reflecting on and debating the impact of the paradigm crisis on 15 dimensions of occupational therapy and, secondly, by confirming and adjusting the basics of the professions ontology, epistemology, axiology and methodology.