When Meaningful Activities Are Out of Reach. Understanding occupational deprivation and the role of occupational therapists.

We often take for granted the simple routines that bring structure, purpose, and enjoyment to our daily lives. Whether it's walking the dog, gardening, volunteering, or meeting friends for coffee, these occupations are essential to our overall sense of well-being. But what happens when people are prevented from engaging in them, not by choice, but because of factors beyond their control? They experience occupational deprivation.

When people are cut off from purposeful activity, it can erode their mental health, raising risks of anxiety, depression, and loneliness, while causing a loss of identity and community connectedness. Addressing occupational deprivation is central to building healthier, resilient communities.

Various factors can contribute to occupational deprivation:

Environmental access

For people living with a disability, access can be a significant external barrier to engagement. Occupational therapists play a key role in risk assessing the environment and providing suggestions tailored to the individual regarding how to improve access and safety in any given location. The 2010 Building Regulations stipulate that all new buildings must have reasonable provisions to facilitate access. In reality, many people living with a disability still struggle to access the places they want and need to visit outside of their home, such as restrictive building layouts for wheelchair access or overwhelming and fast-changing menu screens. Euan’s guide is a helpful resource for disabled access information, where anybody can leave a review including information regarding a location’s accessibility features to help others plan their trip.

Transport

Although the majority of households in the UK have access to at least one car, some still rely on public transport to get to work or leisure activities. Unfortunately, the public transport network varies greatly around the UK, and partially owing to inconsistent government funding, we are still far behind our European neighbours in terms of coverage and reliability. This leaves some rural areas, such as in North Yorkshire, geographically isolated, which can cause problems with accessing schools, shops and medical care. The Harrogate Bus company have developed journey assistance cards which can help people communicate their individual needs to the driver and make travelling less stressful.

Financial

For families whose wage-to-house price ratio outpaces savings, they may be forced out of local hobby groups or clubs, or struggle to access leisure centres or gyms due to high cost membership fees. Thankfully many charities provide free or low-cost community groups, such as Chain Lane Community Hub or there are also local branches for condition-specific charities and organisations such as Dementia Forward and Headway Harrogate & District which can provide a support network of people having similar challenges and experiences.

The role of Occupational Therapists

Occupational therapists (OTs) focus on helping people to restore access to meaningful occupations after illness or injury. As part of their holistic assessment, OTs should not only explore essential activities of daily living such as personal care and meal preparation, but also explore what someone did during their leisure time, before their illness or injury. They can then support them by looking at ways to overcome the barriers stopping them from returning to leisure occupations. This could be support with planning safe access to the location, or grading the activity to complete an adapted form of the task; helping to rebuild confidence through engagement. If they are unable to return to the same activities, occupational therapists can support people to explore new activities that reflect their personal values, which can bring them meaning and purpose, and in turn support their mental health and wellbeing.

By Clare Wayman, BSc(Hons) Occupational Therapy.

For more information about independent occupational therapy services provided by CWOT, please visit www.cwot.co.uk.