The performance of occupational therapy in primary health care: a literature review

• Main Authors: Larissa Rebecca da Silva Cabral, Marília Meyer Bregalda
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade Federal de São Carlos 2017-03-01
• Series: Cadernos de Terapia Ocupacional
• Subjects: Occupational Therapy; Primary Health Care; Family Health Strategy; Review.
• Online Access: http://www.cadernosdeterapiaocupacional.ufscar.br/index.php/cadernos/article/view/1466/831

Introduction: The primary health care comprises a set of individual and collective actions to protect and promote the health of users, and occupational therapy, in this context, acts in fostering social participation of individuals, families and communities, focusing on their projects of life and occupations that are meaningful to them. Objective: This work consists of an integrative review about the acting of occupational therapists in primary care in order to identify and synthesize the knowledge available in the literature on the subject. Method: Publications were surveyed in the 2004-2015 period, at the Occupational Therapy Notebooks from UFSCar and at the Occupational Therapy Journal of USP. It was identified 25 publications about the theme in the first and 26 in the second periodical, being selected 15 articles specifically about the said operation. Results: It was found that the groups and therapeutic workshops, home visits and matrix support has been presented as the most frequent forms of action from these professionals in the field. Regarding the Centers of Support for Family Health, difficulties are identified based in their actions, due to their own ignorance about the Family Health Strategy and the lack of resources made available for professional performance. Conclusion: It is necessary the increase of publications about the theme, in order to systematize, share and disseminate actions and technologies developed by occupational therapists in this field, especially regarding to its performance from the Centers of Support for Family Health.