Caring About Care: The Paradox of Self-Care in Occupational Therapy

ImportanceSelf-care is increasingly promoted in occupational therapy as a response to practitioner stress, burnout, compassion fatigue, and professional exhaustion. Although self-care may support practitioner wellbeing, it may also individualize problems that are partly produced by organizational and systemic conditions.ObjectiveTo examine self-care in occupational therapy as a paradoxical extension of the care imperative and to develop a reflexive, paradox-oriented understanding of self-care practice.DesignConceptual analysis drawing on form theory and systems-theoretical observation. The analysis examines how self-care becomes observable through the distinction between self-care and non-self-care and how this distinction shapes professional expectations.FindingsThe paradox of self-care lies in its attempt to relieve the burden of care by extending the care imperative to practitioners themselves. Self-care supports recovery and professional sustainability, yet it may also add another layer of responsibility by requiring practitioners to care for their own capacity to care. In doing so, it can individualize exhaustion and background the organizational and systemic conditions that make self-care necessary. Self-care can therefore function both as a necessary resource and as a problem-generating solution that stabilizes stress as an expected feature of occupational therapy work.Conclusions and RelevanceA paradox-oriented understanding does not reject self-care but keeps its ambivalence visible. Occupational therapy practitioners, educators, and organizations should approach self-care not only as an individual competency but also as information about the conditions under which care work is performed. Reflexive self-care includes caring for oneself, questioning when care has become too expansive, and setting limits to the care imperative itself.