Human praxis as possible innovation for occupational therapy practice: An interpretivist description from people who enact praxis

Abstract

Introduction: The term 'human praxis' has been referred to in an array of theoretical frameworks: philosophy, institutional change, education, and critical theory. Broadly, human praxis denotes human agency towards personal and collective transformation in the wake of various kinds of constrictions, regardless of external interventions. If occupational therapy can understand the mechanisms of human praxis, it could be used as a potential therapeutic tool leading to the improvement of health and well-being within communities at large.

Method: Eight individuals actively living human praxis participated in semi-structured interviews. Purposive sampling, and eligibility criteria based on a description of human praxis synthesized from literature, were employed. Six researchers independently performed a manual qualitative thematic analysis of the transcribed interviews, which served as method triangulation.

Findings: Data analysis revealed that human praxis exists as a dynamic, and recursive two-phase process, consisting of initiators (Theme I), and continuous enablers (Theme II). In addition, seven categories (constituents) emerged from each of the two themes.

Conclusion: Human praxis can be applied in the conscious facilitation of the interdependence between the various constituents such as the individual and the collective, personal and ongoing shared responsibility, and between conditions of constraint and resilience toward self-determination and growth.

 

Keywords: Human agency, recursive, individual collective interdependent