Belonging, occupation, and human well-being: an exploration

Researchers identify the importance of belonging to human well-being and provide evidence-based support for occupation as a medium for expressing and achieving a sense of belonging and connectedness.

The purpose of this article is to highlight the imperative for occupational therapy theory and practice to address occupations concerned with belonging needs.

Dominant occupational therapy models emphasise doing self-care, productive, and leisure occupations, thereby ignoring occupations undertaken to contribute to the well-being of others, occupations that foster connections to nature and ancestors, collaborative occupations, and those valued for their social context and potential to strengthen social roles.

Belonging, connectedness, and interdependence are positively correlated with human well-being, are prioritized by the majority of the world's people, and inform the meanings attributed to and derived from the occupations of culturally diverse people. If occupational therapy is to address meaningful occupations, attention should be paid to occupations concerned with belonging, connecting, and contributing to others.