Challenges and Experiences of Occupational Therapists in Disasters

This book is the result of a final project for the Occupational Therapy course at the University of Brasilia, which aimed to report on the role of the Occupational Therapist in situations of emergencies, risks and disasters. This is a qualitative, exploratory study, approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Health (CEP/FS-UnB). Semi-structured interviews were conducted with four Occupational Therapists. The results presented explored the Occupational Therapists’ discourses and were subsequently categorised into themes: Disasters: disruption of the routine, the way things are done and negligence on the part of the State; Care strategies; Occupational Therapy’s actions; Initial care during critical events; and The dimension of suffering.