Citation
Cremin, K. (2022), "Editorial: Transition", Irish Journal of Occupational Therapy, Vol. 50 No. 2, pp. 65-65. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOT-12-2022-032
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2022, Katie Cremin.
License
Published in Irish Journal of Occupational Therapy. Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode
This edition of the Irish Journal of Occupational Therapy (IJOT) marks the retirement of our Editor-in-Chief, Dr Carol Hills. A huge thankyou to Carol for all her work with IJOT and wishing her a happy, healthy and occupation-filled retirement. Vol 50 issue 2 is slightly smaller than normal due to our handover and regrouping of the editorial board. Nevertheless, this issue represents contemporary Occupational Therapy’s many facets, including the occupation of dating, recovery and psychosis and the ever-expanding area of tele-health. As we regroup and recruit a new editor, we ask that you bear with us, and as always if you are interested in getting involved with IJOT in anyway, please just contact us at: IJOT@aoti.ie.
As Carol transitions to retirement and the IJOT transitions into its next phase, I am reminded of all the important work Occupational Therapists carry out in relation to supporting life transitions. From cradle to grave, our life course is demarcated by periods of transitions and rites of passage to the next phase or stage. Occupational Therapists can support these transitions, particularly in circumstances where the transition may be challenging, or supports are required to negotiate the next phase. Examples include supporting school transitions for autistic students (Cremin et al., 2017), guiding the work-to-retirement transition (Eagers et al., 2022), negotiating the transition to work for people with Intellectual Disability (Jaegers et al., 2020) or interventions to support the transition out of homelessness (Marshall et al., 2021) to name but a few.
In a fascinating paper in the British Journal of Occupational Therapy, Blair (2000) presents transition theory through the lens of Occupational Science. Her work reports on the exciting potential for research in Occupational Science to contribute to further understanding of the complexity of transitions. But most importantly the centrality of occupation to life transitions.
Best of Luck Carol!!
References
Blair, S.E. (2000), “The centrality of occupation during life transitions”, British Journal of Occupational Therapy, Vol. 63 No. 5, pp. 231-237.
Cremin, K., Healy, O. and Gordon, M. (2017), “Parental perceptions on the transition to secondary school for their child with autism”, Advances in Autism, Vol. 3 No. 2, pp. 87-99.
Eagers, J., Franklin, R.C., Broome, K., Yau, M.K. and Barnett, F. (2022), “Current occupational therapy scope of practice in the work-to-retirement transition process: an Australian study”, Scandinavian Journal of Occupational Therapy, Vol. 29 No. 6, pp. 495-510, doi: 10.1080/11038128.2020.1841286.
Jaegers, L.A., Skinner, E., Conners, B., Hayes, C., West-Bruce, S., Vaughn, M.G. and Barney, K.F. (2020), “Evaluation of the jail-based occupational therapy transition and integration services program for community reentry”, The American Journal of Occupational Therapy, Vol. 74 No. 3, pp. 7403205030p1-7403205030p11.
Marshall, C.A., Boland, L., Westover, L.A., Isard, R. and Gutman, S.A. (2021), “A systematic review of occupational therapy interventions in the transition from homelessness”, Scandinavian Journal of Occupational Therapy, Vol. 28 No. 3, pp. 171-187.
Further reading
Rosner, T., Grasso, A., Scott-Cole, L., Villalobos, A. and Mulcahey, M.J. (2020), “Scoping review of school-to-work transition for youth with intellectual disabilities: a practice gap”, The American Journal of Occupational Therapy, Vol. 74 No. 2, pp. 7402205020p1-7402205020p23.