Occupational Science

Group Leader(s): Dr Leisle Ezekiel, Dr Jackie Parsonage-Harrison

About us

As an academic discipline, occupational science seeks to explain and evidence the relationships between what people do in their everyday lives and their well-being. Occupational science contributes to the scientific and research base for Occupational Therapy practice.

“Occupational science is the study of the human as an occupational being... over the lifespan" Yerxa (1991 p6.)

Our vision is to deliver health-related, occupation-centred research which expands the occupational science knowledge base and develops clinical practice, supporting the use of occupational therapy in real world settings.

Children playing outside

Part of

Related courses

Occupational Therapy (Pre-Registration) (MSc)
Occupational Therapy (BSc (Hons))

Leadership

Dr Leisle Ezekiel

Senior Lecturer in Occupational Therapy

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Dr Jackie Parsonage-Harrison

jparsonage@brookes.ac.uk

Elizabeth Casson Research Fellow

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Membership

Staff

Name	Role	Email
Dr Johnny Collett	Senior Lecturer in Clinical Exercise and Rehabilitation	jcollett@brookes.ac.uk
Professor Helen Dawes	Honorary Professor	hdawes@brookes.ac.uk
Dr Patrick Esser	Reader in Sport and Rehabilitation Technology	pesser@brookes.ac.uk
Dr Gail Eva	Senior Lecturer in Occupational Therapy	geva@brookes.ac.uk
Mrs Ka Yan Hess	Lecturer in Occupational Therapy	khess@brookes.ac.uk
Dr Liana Nagy	Senior Lecturer & MSc Subject Coordinator	lnagy@brookes.ac.uk
Dr Tanya Rihtman	Principal Lecturer in Occupational Therapy; Occupational Therapy Programme Lead	trihtman@brookes.ac.uk
Dr Farzaneh Yazdani	Senior Lecturer in Occupational Therapy	fyazdani@brookes.ac.uk

Students

Name	Thesis Title	Supervisors	Completed
Avril Dillon	MenFAS Study: Understanding Mental Fatigue After Stroke	Professor Helen Dawes	Active
Helene Eisenhut	Exploring the barriers and facilitators for volunteering as an intervention for those with chronic conditions	Dr Farzaneh Yazdani, Dr Johnny Collett	Active

Core research themes

Working in partnership with Occupational Therapists, service users, stakeholders and other professional groups at a local, national and international level, to co-create, co-design and implement clinically relevant occupation-centred research across the lifespan for those who have developmental, physical or mental health conditions.
Understanding how people’s engagement and participation in everyday activities to support their health and wellbeing.
Contributing to and developing evidence-based interventions to enable engagement in meaningful occupations.

Key Publications

2020

Parsonage, J., Naylor Lund, K., Dawes, H., Almoajil, H. & Eklund, M. (2020). 'An exploration of occupational choices in adolescence: A constructivist grounded theory study'. Scandinavian Journal of Occupational Therapy, doi:10.1080/11038128.2020.1839965.

2018

Ezekiel L, Collett J, Dawes H, Mayo NE, Pang L, FIeld L., 'Factors associated with participation in life situations for adults with stroke: a systematic review.' Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (2018) ISSN: 0003-9993 eISSN: 0003-9993 Abstract Website
Ritter VC, Yazdani F, Carstensen T, Thorrisen MM, Bonsaksen T, 'Psychometric Properties of an Instrument Derived from the Intentional Relationship Model: the Self-Efficacy for Recognizing Clients’ Interpersonal Characteristics' British Journal of Occupational Therapy 6 (2) (2018) ISSN: 2168-6408 eISSN: 2168-6408 Abstract

2017

Yazdani F, Harb A, Rassafiani M, Nobakht L, Yazdani N, 'Occupational therapists’ perception of the concept of occupational balance' Scandinavian Journal of Occupational Therapy 25 (4) (2017) pp.288-297 ISSN: 1103-8128 eISSN: 1103-8128 Abstract Website