Research Poster Session - Expanding a dialogue on occupational justice and Social Occupational Therapy: building an international perspective

Background: In occupational science, the discussion about social issues and the link with justice and occupations in daily life has grown in the last two decades. The occupational justice concept articulates occupational equity, occupational fairness, occupational empowerment and occupational rights (Wilcock & Townsend, 2000). Social injustice exists when people face persistent disadvantages that restrict their social inclusion both as individuals and communities, and this concept calls us all to reflect on our intellectual and practical responsibility to develop ways to work toward social inclusion (Townsend & Wilcock, 2004). Social Occupational Therapy aims to work toward social inclusion with individuals and groups who experience persistent social, cultural, and economic disadvantage; and it is well developed in Brazil (Barros, Ghirardi, Lopes, 2005). In a society with pervasive inequity, the research on inequity that has been used to develop Social Occupational Therapy emphasizes interprofessional practice, including occupation-based interventions, connecting the personal level and macro level. The claim in Social Occupational Therapy is that a politically and ethically framed perspective is essential for researchers to understand contemporary social issues and to use research knowledge to improve living conditions, to enable inclusive entitlements and social and occupational rights. Statement of purpose: This research poster will consider if occupational justice is an applicable concept in Brazil. In order to consider this international use of an occupational science concept, a research project is underway, for which the main question is: What are the possibilities of theoretical dialogue on occupational justice ideas as conceptualized in occupational science and the foundations of Brazilian Social Occupational Therapy? In other words, one of the steps in this project is to understand the realm of knowledge on occupational justice and analyze the applications that are possibile in Brazilian Social Occupational Therapy. Methods: The paper will present a scoping review using occupational justice and Social Occupational Therapy as the main key words, in Portuguese and English. Peer reviewed and grey literatures have been included. Narrative analysis will be done (Levac, Colquhoun & O’Brien, 2010) to reveal trends, similarities, contradictions, and conceptual tensions in the data. Much attention will be given to the contexts in which the literature has been published. Discussion of the scoping review will reflect on how to advance the understanding of what content is widely translatable and what is not, in the different circumstances. Contribution of the study to occupational science: It is expected that the outcomes of this literature review will contribute to a deeper understanding of occupation and its underpinnings and the assumptions of Social Occupational Therapy. As well the literature review will shed light on the potential implications for the use of occupational science and justice knowledge in the education of occupational therapists who practice in macro environments. The learning objectives are to deepen understanding of occupational justice and Social Occupational Therapy. This paper will stimulate discussions on interprofessional education and the translation of knowledge in occupational science across international contexts, indicating others interlocutors to dialogue in Occupational Science. Keywords: Occupational Justice, Social Occupational Therapy, Social issues