Reasoning

Foreword

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disseminated the initial key theoretical findings from this important research, I was encouraged that we had begun to answer Schön’s question about what competent OT practitioners know and do. Collectively, the articles introduced language to describe the reasoning practitioners utilize to enact the philosophical core values of our profession, “often invisible to the uniformed observer” (Cohn, 1991, p. 969). Each article highlighted and encouraged the value of reflecting on and evaluating the reasoning processes of everyday practice. Years later, based on accumulating evidence and new theoretical frameworks on clinical and professional reasoning, I urged OT practitioners to demonstrate our “competence with confidence.” When we give voice to our reasoning, we can con fidently communicate the power of occupation to support people to engage in the occupations that give their lives meaning. We now have rigorous scientific evidence to support our competence and, based on that evidence, we are well prepared and positioned to embrace the power of meaningful occupation as a strength, as an asset to our profession (Cohn, 2019 Slagle lecture). Thanks to Schell and Schell’s third edition of Clinical and Professional Reason ing in Occupational Therapy , we have an updated text that consolidates contempo rary theories and research seeking to answer Schön’s question regarding the kind of knowing and action in which competent practitioners engage. This compendium provides a coherent conceptual resource for all OT practitioners, worldwide, to explain, examine, reflect on, teach, and further research the complexity of our ex traordinary practice in which we enable others do the ordinary that they cannot do without OT intervention. Schell’s Ecological Model of Professional Reasoning (EMPR) builds on earlier conceptualizations of reasoning by highlighting the trans actional role of context, the personal and professional lenses of both the therapist and clients. This edition has something for everyone—it is applicable for an inter national audience of OT students, faculty, fieldwork supervisors, and managers, as well as others from related disciplines who are interested in clinical and profes sional reasoning. This is an essential book for OT students. Throughout the book, each of the 30 chapters provides a foundation for students to understand the reasoning pro cess of OT practitioners and gain metacognitive skills to develop, articulate, and evaluate their professional reasoning. This is also an essential book for all educa tors of future OT practitioners. The entire book reinforces Schön’s proposition that standard theories applied to straightforward situations are insufficient to prepare practitioners for the complexities of practice. The chapters highlight the complexity of our reasoning processes that enable educators to teach others a “process” for striving to understand what really matters to those who seek intervention designed with an OT practitioner. The vivid examples of the thought and action described in case situations throughout the text enable readers to reflect on and examine the reasoning nuances specific to each contextual setting. As our world changes and our practice evolves to address the complex nature of human occupation, our reasoning processes will continue to evolve. The scholars who have contributed to this edition provide comprehensive insight into current state of clinical and professional reasoning. This book provides essential answers to the question of how OT professionals think in action. The evidence provided in these chapters continues to name what we do, to frame what we do, and provides a foundation to enable OT practitioners to confidently assert the power of occupation to be a meaningful agent of change.

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