"Contemporary History of Occupational Therapy in Japan (1965-1975): Conflicts between Professionalization and Identity"
TAJIMA Akiko
last update: 20151225
Contemporary History of Occupational Therapy in Japan (1965-1975): Conflicts between Professionalization and Identity
TAJIMA Akiko
Abstract:
This article overviews the conflicts, contradictions and difficulties in Japan related to both the
professionalization of occupational therapy as a medical service and the specification of its identity by looking
at developments in the field during a 10-year period from the enactment of the Law of Physical Therapists and
Occupational Therapists in 1965. The source materials for this study are the Japanese Journal of Physical
Therapy and Occupational Therapy and abstracts from meetings of the Japanese Association of Occupational
Therapists, with a focus on records of discussion sessions such as round-table discussions and symposiums.
Based on these documents, the paper summarizes the contemporary history of occupational therapy according
to the following points of view: 1) evaluation, 2) patients and therapists, 3) relations with doctors, 4) relations
with physical therapy and 5) what occupational therapy is.
Keywords: occupational therapy, contemporary history, Japan, professionalization, identity
REV: 20151225