Dr Farzaneh Yazdani

PhD, MSc, MA, BSc

Senior Lecturer in Occupational Therapy

Department of Sport, Health Sciences and Social Work

Role

  • Teaching in Occupational therapy programme
  • Research in collaboration with the University of Iran Medical Sciences  

Areas of expertise

  • Therapeutic reasoning
  • Therapeutic use of self
  • Children and mental health OT
  • Culture, diversity and their implication in practice
  • Qualitative study design; focus group, indepth interviewing, thematic analysis
  • Assessment tool development
  • Developer of the Model Of Occupational Wholeness

Teaching and supervision

Courses

Modules taught

  • Therapeutic use of self
  • Occupational therapy across the life span
  • Occupation disruption
  • Health promotion
  • Transformative Occupational Therapy
  • Advancing Occupational Therapy Practice 
  • Dissertation 
  • Theories and models that are used or have been developed within OT including: cognitive behavioural, client centred, MOHO, CMOP, IRM
  • Occupational therapy working with children, young people and their families (use of CO-OP, Play, therapists playfulness, group, family oriented app in children's settings)
  • Cognitive approaches skill development and motor function 
  • Therapeutic use of self; skills training for individual and group work; applying CBT and MOHO
  • Advance theraputic reasoning, therapeutic relationship reasoning

Supervision

  • MSc OT dissertation 
  • PhD thesis 

Research Students

Name Thesis title Completed
Helene Eisenhut Exploring the barriers and facilitators for volunteering as an intervention for those with chronic conditions Active

Research

Farzaneh Yazdani's current research is in line with the Model of Occupational Wholeness, a model she developed based on needs theories and occupational science theories in combination with research findings in this area.

The 'model of occupational wholeness’ (MOW) or the ‘3 Bs of doing’ has been developed based on the needs theories and occupational science theories in combination with research findings in this area. The MOW explains how doing as an intermediate need motivates human beings to spend time and energy in order to meet their needs for being, becoming and belonging.

The MOW helps to conceptualise why human beings are motivated to do things that can help them survive, be part of their world and evolve towards what they value. The MOW explains how obstacles in doing what can fulfill a person’s valued needs can cause dissatisfaction with occupational life. The importance is not only meeting the needs but also the needs as they are valued by the person.

In light of the environmental and personal barriers or enablers, opportunities for doing, self and environmental awareness can help people to have a realistic understanding of who they are and what their environment is. The model aims to provide a reflective tool to help people to enhance their understanding of themselves and their own world. The strategies that would help improve the match between who people are and who they want to be within a realistic view of themselves and their world could be borrowed from several compatible theories and frames of reference. The aim of this ongoing study, therefore, is testing these theoretical views in different contexts and with different populations.

The current areas of focus in her research are as follows:

  1. Exploring the construct of ‘Belonging’ from perspectives of different populations; people with ME, refugees, asylum seekers and vulnerable migrants
  2. Exploring the experience of Being, Belonging, Becoming and overall Occupational Wholeness among Health Care Professionals and students, people in a caring responsibilities and general public
  3. Choice and meaning making for refugees asylum seekers and vulnerable migrant (RAVM) women in the context of their past and current sense of Belonging.

Research grants and awards

  • ME research UK for research project: Investigating sensory processing and cognitive function in people with ME and its impact on their day to day living
  • Elizabeth Casson Trust Travel grant
  • MOHO clearning House, UIC visiting scholarship
  • Nabil Barakat award for distinguished PhD thesis 
  • McGill University, Faculty of Rehabilitation travel grant 

Groups

Publications

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Professional information

Memberships of professional bodies

  • WFOT
  • RCOT

Conferences

Consultancy

  • Iran Medical University PhD thesis 

Further details

Other experience

  • Occupational therapy lecturer and practitioner (1994-2000) Iran University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences 
  • Establisher, assistant professor and head of department of the OT department at the University of Jordan (2000-2008)