The practice of the occupational therapist in work and income generation initiatives: contributions from the profession’s fundamentals and the work category dimensions

Abstract

Occupational therapists have been seeking to enhance and legitimize himself as a professional in face of the reoccurring changes in the fi eld of mental health, thus they have been perfecting theirinterventions in the scope of prevention and promotion of health, treatment, rehabilitation and social inclusion. This study is part of a Master’s research in which the general objective was to investigate the practice of the occupational therapists working in initiatives of work and income generation in the scope of mental health in São Paulo State, Brazil. This is a qualitative study which was attended by 16 occupational therapists working on initiatives to generate work and income intended for users of mental health in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. For the collection of data we have used two instruments, a semi-structured questionnaire and a semi-structured interview script. The data from the questionnaires were analyzed descriptively and the interviews were subjected to thematic analysis technique. It was possible to verify themature conception from the professionals regarding the understanding of the activity and work in these contexts those break up with the therapeutic conception, demonstrating a practice consistent with the principles of psychosocial rehabilitation and with what is being advocated by the social inclusion policy at work.