Wellness:

The American health care system has gone through various stages of development over the past decades. The stages range from a physician dominated medical model to the currently emerging Wellness era in which alternative delivery systems are being designed. These changes in the direction of health care are designed to reduce health care costs and also to promote healthier life styles. Wellness, however, is not a new concept. Occupational therapy has espoused and practiced its principles since its inception as a profession over seventy years ago. This paper looks at the historical development of the health care system and relates the growth of the wellness movement to occupational therapy practice. It suggests that the profession was a forerunner to current wellness activity. Finally, it explores research projects and the creation of occupational therapy positions and curricular alterations to meet the needs of the current wellness movement.