THE HELPING ENCOUNTER - OCCUPATIONAL THERAPISTS PERCEPTION OF THERAPEUTIC RELATIONSHIPS

The present paper deals with the art of occupational therapy in terms of therapeutic, helping relationships. The aim was to get a picture of how occupational therapists perceive the therapeutic encounter with t heir patients. Sixteen qualified occupational therapists, from various occupational areas, were interviewed and a qualitative approach was e mployed to analyze their description of therapeutic encounters in clin ical settings. The qualitative analyses were performed with sensitizat ion as the principle objective and a tentative theoretical model was f ormed, developed by three content categories; 1) Basic Professional-Or iented Helping; 2) Understanding-Oriented Helping; and 3) Action-Orien ted Helping. The relationships between these categories constitute a d ynamic complex pattern. One conclusion drawn from this model was that the therapists might have problems finding a balance between their asp iration for becoming professionalized and their belief in egalitarian patient-therapist relationships in the rehabilitation treatment sessio ns.