Respecting global wisdom: Enhancing the cultural relevance of occupational therapy’s theoretical base

Abstract

Dominant models of occupation that inform the international occupational therapy profession have been delineated predominantly by able-bodied, middle class, middle-aged, white, urban, North American Anglophone academics with Judeo-Christian backgrounds, thus reflecting the culturally-specific perspectives of a global minority. Because these models exclude priorities and occupations valued by the global majority, they are demonstrably inadequate. This opinion piece highlights the imperative of incorporating the wisdom of a diversity of global peoples into occupational therapy’s theories of occupation to enhance the possibility that the profession’s theories and practices will be culturally relevant, safe and inclusive, rather than ethnocentric, imperialistic and potentially irrelevant.