Panter Tante Sissel Horghagen tar "den bleke piken" til Sverige, Umeå og Stockholm. Se: http://www.viper.upc.umu.se/?p=190

“The pale girl lying in her bed at the hospital she didn’t die, she started to weave”

Learning from the past while shaping the future; the use of craft and creative activities as occupational therapy intervention.

This presentation is based on the article The use of craft activities as an occupational therapy treatment modality in Norway during 1952-1960 (Horghagen, Josephsson, Alsaker, 2007)1.

The purpose of this study is to explore the use of craft activities as occupational therapy treatment in Norway during the period 1952-1960. The data is obtained through in-depth interviews with six occupational therapist pioneers and their experiences in using crafts. Data is analyzed through textual analysis and resulted in four themes; craft activities identified as therapeutic tool, ambivalence in how to frame the intervention, practice relative to power relationships, and occupational therapists and patients as equals.

The presentation is an artistic presentation of the scientific paper. I want to tell you a story: Do you remember the little pale girl; the one that was lying in the ward at the hospital; suffering from tuberculoses? She asked the doctor if she could go home to her mother. Maybe, he said, we’ll wait and see. She asked again just before Christmas. He was not able to answer. She died just before the snow was falling in the winter. There was more than one pale girl at the hospital. Some of them were invited to the occupational therapy department and being placed at the table to weave while exercising the respiratory muscles. Some experienced the joy of beautiful colours of the wool yarn. Some wanted to produce materials for new curtains at the institution or just being occupied while everyday life was quite boring at the hospital? This is what I am going to tell you more about.

1 Occupational Therapy International 14(1): 42-56(2007). Wiley InterScience

Sissel Horghagen, Reg.OT, Msc.OT, Sør-Trøndelag University College, Trondheim, Norway

ENOTHE , Coruna – October 2009