The technological revolution, occupational therapy practice and research: How are we responding?

Technological innovation shapes our everyday life. Technology is ‘the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes, especially in industry … machinery and devices developed from scientific knowledge’ (Oxford English Dictionary, 2016a). Occupational therapists are concerned with those technologies that enable function and participation in everyday life. This includes technologies we would traditionally call ‘assistive’ – machinery, equipment and devices that enable physical components of tasks or roles to be independently or safely performed. It also includes information technology, ‘The study or use of systems (especially computers and telecommunications) for storing, retrieving, and sending information’ (Oxford English Dictionary, 2016b). It is information technology that is my focus for the first part of this Editorial.