[CONGRESS THEME] 16th International Congress of the World Federation of Occupational Therapists in collaboration with the 48th Japanese Occupational Therapy Congress and Expo

ABOUT WFOT2014

1. Disaster Preparedness, Response and Recovery: Disasters, either man made or natural, have a significant impact on people's daily lives and how they undertake their routine tasks. What can occupational therapists do to alleviate the immediate suffering as well as contributing to reconstruction and recovery efforts? Drawing from worldwide experiences and expertise, this theme aims to explore how to make the most of occupational therapy's knowledge and skills.

2. Inter-professional Collaboration and the Role of Occupational Therapy: In all health and welfare arenas collaboration is essential. However, collaboration comes in various forms and depends on the clients receiving the service and the specific service being provided. Furthermore, the structure of the collaboration and the composition of multi-disciplinary teams can differ. This theme aims to explore what roles are required of occupational therapy and which roles occupational therapists may endeavor to fulfill.

3. Wisdom: Learning from the past, tradition for the future: Health care and societies continuously change and for almost 100 years occupational therapy has fulfilled its role, particularly as a profession that supports people's daily lives. Sometimes it is easy to forget that we can learn and build on the lessons of the past. We must also be prepared to consider the importance of cross cultural experience. This theme is about learning from occupational therapy experiences in the past and in other cultures to benefit the future of occupational therapy.

4. Innovations and Challenges in Occupational Therapy: The demands on occupational therapy change with the changes in health care and societies. Around the world, how does occupational therapy deal with the demands of the changing times? Presentations in this theme will deal with occupational therapy as an agent for change and how occupational therapists can promote and drive change.

5. Education and Research: Meeting the demands from the field.: As health care and societies change, so do the clients and delivery methods of occupational therapy practice, which in turn places new demands on occupational therapy education and research. What is required from both education and research to support these changing demands? This theme considers the current influences on occupational therapy education and research by reviewing educational developments and research directions internationally.

6. Evidence-based Practice and Quality of Occupational Therapy: Occupational therapy interventions must be evidence-based. Evidence may have objective, quantitative, subjective and qualitative elements. This theme provides the opportunity to consider how evidence-based occupational therapy (EBOT) of the highest quality may be delivered.

7. The nature of human occupation: Whether clients have a disability or not, the eternal theme of occupational therapy seems to explore the essence and the meanings of occupations commonly shared by people. For a profession that has occupation at its core, this theme provides opportunities to deepen and develop knowledge of the relationship between human beings and occupation.

8. Community & Occupational Therapy: This theme is not merely about community-based occupational therapy, but rather wants to explore a comprehensive position for occupational therapy in communities. It thus stimulates us to consider the many and varied ways in which occupational therapy can contribute to the sustainability of communities.