My purpose was to investigate the use of reproductive justice (RJ) in occupational therapy (OT) through a self-study syllabus.
Student name: Kate Finley
Name of Mentor: Nora Simmons, MSW, MPH
School: Washington University in St. Louis
Setting and location: Baltimore Abortion Fund, Baltimore, MD
Virtual / In-person / Hybrid: Hybrid
Method/Design/Approach:
A self-study syllabus was created to walk the reader through the concepts of RJ, overlaps with OT and occupational justice, history in the U.S. of reproductive injustice, and contemporary articles examining intersectionality within RJ. Reading prompts throughout encourage the reader to consider the topics from an OT lens.
Results/Outcomes:
Existing OT theory, documents, practice, and research complement and align with the RJ framework.
Conclusions:
RJ is ideally suited to be used by OT and could benefit our field by linking together many OT areas under a common theory.
Ideas for next steps to build on this topic:
This project serves as an invitation to consider the relevance of the RJ framework to OT. Future projects could expand on this by explicitly applying RJ to OT research, programming, or clinical care.
2-3 tips for students undertaking a similar project:
- Reach out to both OTs and non-OT professionals working in related topic areas.
- Look into non-OT resources, including the fields of advocacy, social work, public health, psychology, and medicine to round out your research.
Deliverable:
Self Study Syllabus on Reproductive Justice and Occupational Therapy
