Scandinavian Journal of Occupational Therapy

Although the basic ideas of occupational therapy formulated in the early nineteen hundreds are continuously valid, the profession is also in steady transformation. Society and its institutions and populations change, new methods for assessment and intervention are developed, and the profession’s knowledge base is steadily growing. This Article Collection sets focus on recent advances in mental health occupational therapy.

This topic is important since the occupational therapy profession and its methods cannot be static, but need to be transformed to meet the changes taking place in the environment and thus contribute to people’s mental health.

Any topics addressing everyday occupations and mental health in a changing society will fit into this Article Collection. Some examples are:

• Exploring how use of social media affect everyday occupations and mental health.
• Identifying occupational needs in populations previously less focused on in mental health occupational therapy, including but not limited to people aging with mental illness, refugees and immigrants, people with substance use disorders, and offenders with mental health issues.
• Development of new interventions to meet the occupational needs of people with mental health issues in a changing society.
• Applying existing methods for new target groups.
• Using occupational therapy to prevent mental health issues.
• Addressing the impact of contextual meso and macro level factors on mental health from an occupational therapy perspective.

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All manuscripts submitted to this Article Collection will undergo desk assessment and peer-review as part of our standard editorial process. Guest Advisors will not be involved in peer-reviewing manuscripts unless they are an existing member of the Editorial Board.

Please review the journal scope and author submission instructions prior to submitting a manuscript.

The deadline for submitting manuscripts is 21 June 2024.

Please contact Millie Powell at [email protected] with any queries regarding this Article Collection.

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About the Guest Advisor

Prof. Mona Eklund has been working in mental health occupational therapy for 45 years – initially in clinical practice but then predominantly with teaching and research. Several years of research were devoted to exploring and describing the needs and wants of people with mental health issues with respect to quality of life and satisfaction with everyday occupations, as a basis for developing best possible evidence-based support. Her main contributions to the field of occupational therapy are the development of occupation-based group interventions for persons with mental health issues, and the construction of instruments for assessing subjective perceptions of everyday occupations. Twenty-four PhD students, whom she has supervised to completion, have been instrumental in these developments.

Instructions for AuthorsSubmit an Article