Sweden National OT News

News from Sweden, 2019

Our national conference Arbetsterapiforum took place in April 2-3, 2019. Arbetsterapiforum is the largest, and most visited, meeting place for Swedish occupational therapists. It is the place where occupational therapists learn from each other and where new research and development are presented. This year the conference had almost 1000 participants and consisted of a total of 85 oral presentations, eight workshops and a total of 58 posters were presented. During this conference 13 specialist lectures were held, read more about our Specialist standards for Swedish Occupational Therapists.

The opening ceremony, characterized by the fact that the Occupational Therapy in Sweden celebrates 75 years, was led by Ida Kåhlin, President of the Swedish Association of Occupational Therapists. One of the key note speakers was the Minister of Health and Social Affairs Lena Hallengren.

Code of Ethics for Occupational Therapists in Sweden, that is one of the union’s most important documents, has presently been reviewed. It provides guidance by specifying obligations that the occupational therapist must relate to in the profession. The biggest changes in this revised version are that the profession’s objectives, basic assumptions and tasks have been given another writing that better harmonises with other important documents such as the WFOT’s Code of Ethics.

What does digital competence mean for occupational therapists?

The new Competence Descriptions for Occupational Therapists has been updated and the now version includes digital skills for occupational therapists. The translated English version is not updated yet.

New online-course in English

In May 2019, The Swedish Association of Occupational Therapists launched their first online course in English. The purpose of the course is to teach occupational therapist to use the questionnaire Everyday Technology Use Questionnaire (ETUQ), which is a questionnaire used in a structured interview that focuses on everyday technical objects and services such as remote control, mobile phones and ticket machines. Follow the link for more information.

ETUQ captures what everyday technologies that is relevant for the person, which everyday technology the person uses or does not use and if there are difficulties in using the technology.

Nordic President meeting

In August, The Swedish Association of Occupational Therapists hosted the yearly meeting for the presidents/vice presidents of the Nordic occupational therapy associations.

On the agenda was important issues as UN convention CRPD, cost effectiveness, OT and digitalization, Nordic collaboration, as well as sharing challenges and achievements from the different countries.

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