Occupational therapy with the community: Complexity, actions, and contexts

Abstract

Introduction: Occupational Therapists have been building community-based actions, however, these have been little documented. Objective: To systematize the actions of the Occupational Therapist in community as part of the process carried out under the project "Contribution to the processes of social inclusion of people with disabilities through community participation in the commune 20" Cali, Colombia. Method: Exploratory-reflective study. Documentary analysis and interviewing were used as a data collection technique. Results: The process included four actions: the first, or baseline, made it possible to understand the needs of the population and the project readjustment; The second, the identification of key actors that have a social impact on disability issues; The third, visibility of disability as a social problem. In the fourth action, the capacity for action and self-management of a group of actors was accompanied and strengthened. Conclusion: Conceiving the subject from a social model, it made possible find needs and collective answers, accompany the group of people with disabilities in their identification as civic. Meanwhile, find the actions from a systemic approach involved to consider the interaction of different social systems and a look beyond the individual to the community.