Aim & Scope

In 1993 the Journal of Occupational Science: Australia was launched by Dr. Ann Wilcock and her colleagues at the University of South Australia and the Auckland Institute of Technology. The stated aim of the Journal was to “give voice to the unique experiences, concerns and perspectives of the study of humans as occupational beings”. It was “designed to provide opportunities to publish articles of interest to many disciplines such as: anthropologists, ethnologists, ethologists, human geographers, philosophers, psychologists, occupational therapists, sociologists and social biologists”.

The Journal of Occupational Science will accept discussion papers, qualitative and quantitative research articles of international standard on widely different topics that have a humanistic perspective and contribute to the study of occupation. In this context, occupation refers to all purposeful activities of humans. The following topics are a guide to authors seeking to publish in the journal.

• Evolutionary perspectives on occupation, such as how human occupation took on personal and cultural meaning, the biological necessity for occupation, or the relationship between occupation, health and species survival
• Developmental perspectives on occupation such as how engaging in occupation develops human capacities, how infants learn strategies for interacting with the physical and social environment through occupation, or how occupation supports health in older age
• The subjective experience of occupation, including occupation as an expression and experience of spirituality and how attitudes and beliefs influence performance
• How occupation is structured and organised with social groups and cultures, including how this is negotiated within family, peer, work and other groups.
• The relationship between occupation and the environment in which it is performed, such as how factors in the physical or human environment influence people’s choices about what to do, and how and where to do it
• The influence of sociopolitical and historical context on occupation
• Patterns of occupation across populations, and how and why these change/have changed over time
• The personal and social meanings of occupation, including identity meanings
• The function of occupation in terms of its intended and actual outcomes
• The process of engaging in occupation including how intentions for performance are formed and modified, how performance is monitored and modified while the performance is in progress
• The relationship between occupation and learning, including factors that help or hinder learning through occupation
• The skillfulness of occupational performance, including how skillfulness is perceived and monitored by self and others
• The relationship between occupation and culture, such as occupation as a vechicle to convey cultural meanings or a venue to develop, challenge, modify and/or maintain cultural understandings
• Philosophical perspectives such as occupation as an expression of post-modernism or of cultural ideals such as freedom
• Discussion about the of the field of occupational science per se, such as its status, development or directions