The Internet and online communities

"Occupational Disruption/Deprivation"

Definition:  Occupational Disruption.
"A Transient or temporary condition of being restricted from participation in necessary or meaningful occupations, such as that caused by illness and generally temporary".

Definition:  Occupational Deprivation.
"Influence of external circumstances that prevents a person from acquiring, using, or enjoying occupation over an extended period of time".

Ref: Christiansen, C.H.  & Townsend, E. A. (2010). Introduction to occupation: The art and science of living (2nd ed.). New Jersey: Pearson.

I have provided links to 3 online communities that relate to  the above topic. 

  

In my first fieldwork, I worked in Community Occupational Therapy.  It was here that I observed occupational disruption that people suffered through injury, chronic illness, disability and disease. Unfortunately due to the nature of some illnessess occupational deprivation was often the result.

Following each link I have given a brief description of the community and considered material presented online.

1) Accident Compensation Corporation: 

 

The purpose of this site is to provide easy access to all information on claim and legislation concerning injury and accident.  It provides eligibility for claims for individuals, businesses and providers.  Although there is a huge amount of information available on this website, it is not very interactive.  There is no public forum but people can place feedback via email.   With no public forum, most feed back with be concerning obtaining more information on claims or issues that have arrived due to placing a claim.

ACC is a huge administration within New Zealand.  It supports individuals financial with assistance to get back into work or support them financially while recovering from injury or accident.  New Zealand business annually contribute financial levies to the corporation.  People would comment on  this online community when there is extra information required, problems when making a claim or reporting fraud.  So basically feedback occurs to clarify or obtain more information about customer questions.  This information is reciprocal but private.

ACC supports individuals and employers with framework of getting people back into work after injury through accident.  It supports the individual financially and also through rehabilitation.  It provides employers with schemes to reinstate employees back to work e.g. the Stay at Work programme, which enables workers to rehabilitate while at  work and also assists with work and housing modifications.

2)Arthritis New Zealand
Arthritis New Zealand is a site intended to provide the general public of New Sealant with information on arthritis.  It covers the disease/condition in great detail from prognosis, diagnosis to manifestations.  It raises awareness and advocates for sufferers and provides free, accessible information to everyone.
It is moderately interactive.  It offers expert advice and a facilities for questions and answers.  There is a blog attached to it and people have the opportunity to write their experiences about the disease.

People mainly contribute by way of personal stories through the blog and there seems to be a sense of support and wanting to share their experiences of pain and success with living with arthritis.  Comments are available.

I chose this site because during my fieldwork placement in Community OT, there were many clients  who were experiencing occupational disruption due to their condition.  Many were unable to participate in meaningful activity  due to pain suffered.  As Occupational Therapists we were able to put in place equipment to help them adapt and assist their physical functioning to participate again in meaningful activities that they have performed in the past.  An example being a lady unable to stand unaided for any length of time due to pain.  She was unable to prepare meals for her husband.  We provided her with a perching stool and this enabled her to stand at her kitchen bench again.

3) Poverty Frontier
 

"Poverty Frontiers.org is a knowledge sharing resource on poverty reduction, asset-based approaches to development, and poverty-related issues" (Poverty Frontiers.org, n.d.) This is a moderately interactive site.  Contributions are made mostly by specialist and academics in their field of poverty.  They contribute by way of research and articles.  There is also online discussions with the relevant date posted.

People choose to contribute to this communities because of their concern of global poverty, which affects health and well being, development of countries and this is part of occupational deprivation.  These people are seeking solutions and answers global poverty.  The information appears to be shared one way but there is a section for questions and comments and this is done via email.

I chose this site as it reflected the area of service within my fieldwork, being a lower socio-ecomomic location.  I observed people existing in a level of poverty due to external factors, lack of money, lack of education, sometimes cultural factors e.g. language barriers and also internal factors being prolonged illness.  These factors have a immediate affect on the ability to earn money, hence their living standard.  This is also an example how occupational disruption and deprivation can often be seen as similar or overlapping.

Potential ethical issues that may arise in the above communities:
Generally, it is very difficult to monitor information that is published on the internet.  However I would suggest that ACC and Arthristis NZ would vet throughly what information is on their site.  ACC is a government website and Arthristis NZ is backed by the department of health.
Where there are public forums bad language is removed, but other than that it is difficult to control what people post.

On the above sites wording has been carefully used, so information is not offensive or upsetting to all that read it.


Benefits and limitations of these communities:
The benefits of Acc and Arthritis NZ is that they are local to the New Zealand population and within New Zealand there is access to physically locate an office for the Hamilton region.  Having the opportunity for some people to go and talk to staff, face to face, is a huge benefit as not all people have a computer or are literate.  Another benefit for these two sites is that the information is representative to the New Zealand sample population.
The only limitation  that I can consider is there is a possibility for communication to be local to New Zealand only.

Poverty Frontiers is global with the benefit of global academic import into the site.  The limitation is the level of poverty that they discuss is very different to the poverty that we experience in NZ.

Exercise Classes for the IHC

Exercise for the Intellectually disabled.

During my 2nd field work experience I worked for IDEA Services, being a day centre for Physically and Mentally Handicapped adults.  They did a variety of activities during their scheduled day and I found that through my observation, the clients seemed to get huge satisfaction out of exercise activities.
I chose exercise as my topic to relate back to my blog of participation as there are so many added benefits to exercise besides the actual "doing".
When looking at exercise the fact that we are doing an activity that we enjoy and have fun while doing it bring us into a state of "being and becoming"  the way we feel while participating is a reflection of who we are, we are being ourselves and enjoying the  task by means of knowing it is rewarding to us.  Through exercise there are many benefits - health and mind.  The variety of activities that were offered to the IDEA group gave each member the chance to develop their different areas of strengths and interests.  Everyone is different  and it was very surprising how each person changes or came into "being" when they participated in the activity that brings out their talents and interests.
The following activities are all carried out in different environments and this is particularly enriching for the clients of IDEA .  Stepping out of their usual environment, where there are many limitations for variety and independent contact with the local community is difficult due their impairment.  It is an opportunity for them as a group to feel the same as everyone else and a sense of belonging to that particular communiting and environment seems to develop.
The following are five links of different activities that my group of clients participated in.  The links are not the same location and different ages groups are viewed but it will give you a good insight as to how the  activities were carried out in the different scenarios.

Horse riding:

Horse riding provides clients the opportunity to take care and touch a huge animal, which in itself is very healing.  To ride on horse back gives them the freedom, for a short time,  to not feel the constraints of their
impairment.  It provides a sense of achievement - riding a horse involves a certain amount of concentration and co-ordination.  there is a  particular sense of excitement.  The environment is completely different  to usual places so this can be greatly stimulating to all their senses.

The Music club:

The music activities ranged from dancing,  playing instruments and singing.  As a group it was an opportunity for everyone, including staff, to join in.  There was a great deal of fun belonging to a group that created  whatever happened.  There was no structure or pressure to achieve anything.  Clients and staff participated by "being" who they were and enjoying the moment.  Music group produced many great dancers and alot of laughs.  To feel comfortable to be yourself through this type of expression has great psychological benefits and physical benefits.

Walking group:

Walking was always enjoyed.  It gave the clients of opportunity to be one on one with a staff member, the opportunity to talk together with no other interruptions or as a small group enjoying the moment.  The chance for them to step outside their small localised environment into the local community and see the day to day activity of what was happening in their immediate surrounds was stimulating for them.  The health benefits were attained easily by way of walking for weight management and easy exercise for the muscles and bones.
Social aspect was non-demanding and it was relaxing to spend time together in this way.

Dance class:

Dance class has all the benefits of walking and music all put into one!

Aqua jogging:

Aqua jogging provided challenge and stimulation.  The pool environment gave the client a chance to step outside their comfort zone, build confidence and self esteem.  Movement within the water gave them physical
freedom to different extents and a great feeling of belong as a group.  They looked to each other for encouragement, support and celebrated in their fun together.  Great bonding between clients and staff were being established due to the exceptional environment of the pool.