Dr. Wendy Wood - 2018
Envisioning the Environment, Time, and Occupation The concepts of environment, time, and occupation permeate the literature of occupational science. Authors of this literature have envisioned each one of these concepts as ginormous in its own right, plus inextricably entwined with the other two. Authors have also envisioned these concepts as spider web like in their myriad linkages to other ginormous concepts of interest in occupational science; concepts like living a meaningful life, human resilience and wellbeing, globalization and ecological sustainability, and occupational justice and social justice to name a few. Such richly elaborated ‘envisionings’ of the environment, time, and occupation have advanced knowledge and theory in occupational science. Their collective intellectual reach is daunting, however, and difficult to tether in a collective fashion to concrete particularities of everyday life. The purpose of this lecture is consequently to use an inductive approach to envisioning the concepts of environment, time, and occupation as reflected in three real-life stories: the story of a young chimpanzee who lives with her family in a zoo, of an old man who tries to make the best of each day in a locked dementia unit, and of a beloved horse whose work it is to help enrich the days and lives of people. Each story is based on extensive research of what living beings do in the here and now of a given space and time, and how their doings do or do not transform as time moves on and ecological features—of which they are invariably part and parcel—remain static or fluidly shift. Envisioning the environment, time, and occupation as reflected in these stories both reveals areas of congruence with previously articulated perspectives and generates new perspectives of potential value to occupational science. Presenter Biography: Wendy Wood, Ph.D., OTR, FAOTA, is Professor of Equine Sciences and Occupational Therapy and Director of Research of the Temple Grandin Equine Center at Colorado State University. A dedicated educator, Dr. Wood has played leadership roles in establishing two new Ph.D. programs, one in occupational science at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and the other in occupation and rehabilitation science at Colorado State. She has also published extensively on issues of leadership, professionalism, and education in occupational therapy and served as an Associate Editor of the American Journal of Occupational Therapy. In 1998, Dr. Wood was admitted to the Roster of Fellows of the American Occupational Therapy Association for her professional leadership as a scholar and writer. In 2017, AOTA recognized Dr. Wood as one of 100 influential people in occupational therapy’s first 100 years. As an occupational scientist, Dr. Wood was an early leader in the establishment of the Society for the Study of Occupation: USA. She has also extensively studied intersections among environmental features and patterns of time-use and well-being of captive nonhuman primates and institutionalized older adults with dementia. The Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists conferred its 2018 Golden Quill Award on Dr. Wood and four of her graduate students for a paper they authored that drew upon this research in occupational science to introduce an empirically based dementia-specific conceptual practice model in occupational therapy. Presently, as Director of Research of the Temple Grandin Equine Center, Dr. Wood and her graduate students are studying equine-assisted interventions for people who face daunting life challenges, with an emphasis on children with autism and older adults with dementia, as well as their care partners.
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