Development of an Occupational Therapy Practice Perspective in a Homeless Shelter: A Fieldwork Experience

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Abstract
This paper describes the lived experience of a student occupational therapist at a homeless shelter. This phenomenological experience was captured through journal entries, used initially as a communication tool with the supervising therapist. Retrospective content analysis of the journal revealed a dual search for meaning: by the residents, as they sought for meaning in their chaotic lives; and the student as she searched for meaning in the role of the occupational therapist. Key themes included the importance of rapport, and the residents' innate drive towards purposeful activity. The student developed activity opportunities for people identified as lower functioning, with concommitant psychiatric difficulties. The restraints of the physical setting did not discourage people with significant dysfunction from involvement. Positive changes in psychosocial functioning also were observed. This lived experience indicates the potential of occupational therapy as an ideal profession for addressing the myriad of problems associated with the shelter population.

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