We were Meant to go Down One Road, but Now We Have Rerouted : A Phenomenological Inquiry into the Experience of Aging Out-of-place

In an age of globalization, the experience of aging in a foreign land is part of the late-life experience of many older adults. However, studies of aging and migration have largely failed to conceptualize the unique resettlement experiences of immigrants entering North America as older adults. This dissertation asked, “What is the experience of aging out-of-place?” Specifically, this research question aimed to understand how late-life immigrants relate to, and connect and engage with places through aging processes, and the essentiality of daily occupations within such engagement. An interpretive paradigm and a hermeneutic phenomenological methodology guided this inquiry. The hermeneutic phenomenological method informed by the work of van Manen (1990, 1997) informed the study processes. A phenomenological interview and a photo-elicitation interview were conducted with ten Sinhalese late-life immigrants who immigrated to Canada within the last 10 years. The essence of the aging out-of-place experience was captured through three essential themes. Late-life immigrants 1.) negotiate new and familiar ways of aging, 2.) mitigate loss through everyday occupation, and 3.) live between two worlds. Wilcock’s Occupational Perspective on Health (2006; 1998a) and the transactional perspective on occupation, informed by Dewey’s theory of transactionlism, were integrated in the discussion of this dissertation. From this work, I posit two key conclusions. First, late-life immigrants renegotiate ways of doing, being, becoming and belonging in the post-migration context. Second, late-life immigrants engage in continual transactions, through integrating elements from their past and present, within everyday occupations and places. By examining the nexus of ageing and immigration, this study addresses acknowledged gaps in literature concerning aging out-of-place from an occupational perspective, and the scarcity of literature examining the experiences of late-life immigrants from such a perspective

Applying ‘cultural humility’ to occupational therapy practice: a scoping review protocol

Introduction Cultural humility is becoming increasingly important in healthcare delivery. Recognition of power imbalances between clients and healthcare providers is critical to enhancing cross-cultural interactions in healthcare delivery. While cultural humility has been broadly examined in healthcare, knowledge gaps exist regarding its application in occupational therapy (OT) practice. This scoping review protocol aims to: (1) describe the extent and nature of the published health literature on cultural humility, including concepts, descriptions and definitions and practice recommendations, (2) map the findings from objective one to OT practice using the Canadian Practice Process Framework (CPPF), and (3) conduct a consultation exercise to confirm the CPPF mapping and generate recommendations for the practice of cultural humility in OT.Methods and analysis We will search Ovid Medline, Ovid Embase, Ovid PsycINFO, Ebsco CINAHL Plus, ProQuest ASSIA, ProQuest Sociological Abstracts, ProQuest ERIC, WHO Global Index Medicus, and Web of Science databases. Published health-related literature on cultural humility will be included. There will be no restrictions on population or article type. Following deduplication on Endnote, the search results will undergo title, abstract, and full-text review by two reviewers working independently on Covidence. Extracted data will include descriptors of the article, context, population, and cultural humility. After descriptive extraction, data describing cultural humility-related content will be descriptively and interpretively analysed using an inductive thematic synthesis approach. The data will also be mapped to OT practice through deductive coding using the CPPF. Occupational therapists and clients will be consulted to further critique, interpret and validate the mapping and generate practice recommendations.Ethics and dissemination Ethics approval was not required for this scoping review protocol. We will disseminate the findings, which can enhance understanding of cultural humility in OT, facilitate cross-cultural encounters between occupational therapists and clients and improve care outcomes through publications and presentations

Understanding the Use of the Term “Weaponized Autism” in An Alt-Right Social Media Platform

Background: The term “weaponized autism” is frequently used on extremist platforms. To better understand this, we conducted a discourse analysis of posts on Gab, an alt-right social media platform. Methods: We analyzed 711 posts spanning 2018–2019 and filtered for variations on the term “weaponized autism”. Results: This term is used mainly by non-autistic Gab users. It refers to exploitation of perceived talents and vulnerabilities of “Weaponized autists”, described as all-powerful masters-of-technology who are devoid of social skills. Conclusions: The term “weaponized autism” is simultaneously glorified and derogatory. For some autistic people, the partial acceptance offered within this community may be preferable to lack of acceptance offered in society, which speaks to improving societal acceptance as a prevention effort