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The Promise of Occupational Science: A Developmental Assessment of an Emerging Academic Discipline

Background. In the late 1980s, occupational science was introduced as a basic discipline that would provide a foundation for occupational therapy. As occupational science grows and develops, some question its relationship to occupational therapy and criticize the direction and extent of its growth and development. Purpose. This study was designed to describe and critically analyze the growth and development of occupational science and characterize how this has shaped its current status and relationship to occupational therapy. Method. Using a mixed methods design, 54 occupational science documents published in the years 1990 and 2000 were critically analyzed to describe changes in the discipline between two points in time. Data describing a range of variables related to authorship, publication source, stated goals for occupational science and type of research were collected. Results. Descriptive statistics, themes and future directions are presented and discussed. Practice Implications. Through the support of a discipline that is dedicated to the pursuit of a full understanding of occupation, occupational therapy will help to create a new and complex body of knowledge concerning occupation. However, occupational therapy must continue to make decisions about how knowledge produced within occupational science and other disciplines can be best used in practice.