Occupational intersectionality: Introduction, contextualisation, and relevance to occupational therapy practice.
Ted Brown, Diane L Smith, Aiko Hoshino, Risa Takashima
A conceptual paper proposing the term 'occupational intersectionality' and mapping it onto existing OT frameworks.
No participants, no data, no outcomes — a discussion starter, not evidence.
What this paper is
This is a conceptual review that introduces the term 'occupational intersectionality' — the idea that a person's multiple overlapping identities (race, gender, disability, class, sexuality, and others) compound to shape their daily occupations and participation. It reviews the existing literature on intersectionality, maps the new concept against three occupational therapy frameworks (COTIPP, TMO, POJF), and includes a single illustrative vignette of a man with autism, a gay partner, and two children. It reports no participants, no data collection, no analysis, and no outcomes. The authors state that ethics approval was not required because the manuscript did not involve any human participants. There is nothing here to change your practice on; it is a starting point for discussion, not evidence.
Declared interests
The authors declare no conflict of interest with respect to the authorship or publication of this article.
The easy way to misread this
Do not cite this paper as evidence that an intersectional approach improves patient outcomes or that a particular intervention works. It proposes a new term and reviews existing frameworks; it contains no participants, no data, and no measured effect, so it cannot support a claim about what works in practice.
Summarised by AI from the full paper, without a clinician reviewing it. Check it against the source before it changes what you do. Read it on PubMed →