Occupational therapy and homelessness

Uvod: Brezdomstvo je problematika, ki obstaja že od nekdaj, vendar se v zadnjih letih zaradi spremenjenega načina življenja povečuje. Brezdomci so odrinjeni na rob družbe in velikokrat ne vidijo izhoda iz položaja, v katerem so se znašli. V tujini za pomoč tem osebam obstajajo zdravstveni timi, v katere se vključujejo tudi delovni terapevti. Vendar je delo delovnih terapevtov na tem področju tako za javnost kot tudi za nekatere delovne terapevte in druge zdravstvene delavce še dokaj neznano. Namen: Proučiti najnovejšo literaturo o tem, kaj je do sedaj znanega o delovni terapiji na področju brezdomstva. Metode dela: Izveden je bil pregled literature. Iskanje je potekalo od decembra 2022 do januarja 2023 v petih podatkovnih bazah NUK-ovega mrežnika: CINAHL, Web of science, PubMed, OTseeker in COBISS. Pri iskanju smo uporabili različne ključne besede, ki so se navezovale na delovno terapijo in brezdomstvo. V končno analizo so bili vključeni članki od leta 2012 naprej, ki so omogočali dostop celotnega besedila in so bili zapisani v angleškem ali slovenskem jeziku. Rezultati: Končno število člankov, vključenih v pregled, je bilo 11. S pomočjo tematske analize smo oblikovali štiri glavne teme: vloga delovnega terapevta kot člana zdravstvenega timauporabljeni teoretični modeli in orodja, ki jih delovni terapevti uporabljajo pri svojem delurezultati delovno terapevtskih intervencij/izboljšanje na področjihpomen in napotki delovno terapevtske stroke za delo z brezdomno populacijo. Razprava in zaključek: Delovni terapevti imajo pomembno vlogo pri delu z brezdomno populacijo in so nepogrešljiv član zdravstvenih timov. Za delo z brezdomno populacijo so pomembni zaradi svojega edinstvenega pogleda na človeka in kreativnosti pri svojem delu. Večina pregledanih člankov se navezuje na pomembnost vloge delovnega terapevta, le nekaj člankov pa omenja tudi dokaze o izvedenih intervencijah in uspešnosti le-teh. Ugotovljeno je bilo, da pri svojem delu uporabljajo ocenjevalna orodja in modele, ki se uporabljajo pri različni populaciji. Veliko avtorjev je v svojih delih podalo napotke za nadaljnje delo delovnih terapevtov in pomembnost zbiranja dokazov o izvedenih obravnavah. Ker v Sloveniji literature na to temo še ni, lahko ugotovitve pregleda pripomorejo in so v pomoč slovenskim delovnim terapevtom pri obravnavah z brezdomnimi uporabniki.Introduction: Homelessness is a problem that has persisted for centuries, but has been increasing recently due to the lifestyle and progression of the society. Homeless people have been marginalised and they often do not know how to escape the situation they have found themselves in. Abroad, these people are assisted by medical teams including occupational therapists. However, the participation of occupational therapists in this field remains, both to the public and some occupational therapists and other healthcare workers, still quite unknown. Aim: The aim of this paper is to examine the most recent literature on occupational therapy in the field of homelessness. Methods: A literature review was conducted. Literature sources were sought in the period between December, 2022, and January, 2023, across five databases from Slovenia’s National and University Library netbook: CINAHL, Web of science, PubMed, OTseeker and COBISS. In the search, different keywords associated with occupational therapy and homelessness were used. The final analysis included articles published since 2012, accessible in full text and written in English or Slovenian. Results: The final number of articles included in the review was 11. By conducting a thematic analysis, we looked at four main topics: role of an occupational therapist as a member of a medical team, framework models and tools used by occupational therapists in their work, results of occupational therapy interventions and improvement in these fields, importance and guidelines of occupational therapy professionals for the work with the homeless population. Discussion and conclusion: Occupational therapists have an important role when it comes to working with the homeless population and represent an indispensable part of medical teams. From this perspective, they are important because of their unique view of people and their ability to be resourceful in their work. The majority of articles examined underline how important the role of occupational therapists is, and only a few articles include evidence on the performed interventions and their effectiveness. It was determined that occupational therapists use assessment tools and models, which are used with many different populations. Several authors provide guidelines for further work of occupational therapists and stress the importance of gathering data about the therapies performed. With the lack of literature on this topic in Slovenia, conclusions from this review may contribute to and assist Slovenian occupational therapists when conducting therapies with homeless users