Ocupación y desastres: la formación de terapeutas ocupacionales para la prevención y la reducción del riesgo

Disasters are a current and relevant issue in Latin America and worldwide. This article introduces an occupational subject analysis, made by the participants of the international postgraduate online-course: Occupational Therapy Intervention in Disasters and Emergencies, initiated by the research team of ‘Occupational Therapy Intervention in Disasters’ of the Universidad Nacional del Litoral in Santa Fe, Argentina. An empirical investigation was made throughout the course. The category of ‘occupation’ was analyzed by considering the changes that emerged from disasters such as changes in roles, routines, and contexts, and the participants’ experiences. The participants identified a new scenario of professional intervention, and its unavoidable political position, when considering occupation as a right, occupational justice, and the many forms of occupational injustice such as occupational apartheid, that occur and drift from disaster situations. Proposing services and actions for each situation was possible through an understanding of the main characteristics of occupations in different stages of the cycle of the disaster. Proposals for intervention emphasized a local approach. This article contributes to strengthen the professional identity focused on the value and potentiality of occupations, and the recognition of them as a necessity and a human right.