OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY IN ROMANIA – THE HISTORY OF A NEW BEGINNING

Abstract

In this article the authors wanted to emphasize the difficulties of implementation process of a new profession in Romania: occupational therapy. Even the need of this profession was identified in Romania since 2002, when the European Commission strongly recommended to the Ministry of Health and to Romanian authorities for disabled people to include it in the multidisciplinary team of health services, and 22 Centers for integration trough Occupational Therapy (CITO) started the activities without specialists, the process of higher education grows slowly. The complex analyzes of the involved factors relive the fact that philosophy of occupational therapy is closed to approach of social assistance, medicine and psychology. The interest in specific concepts is often dimmed because of self-sufficient attitude of specialists, who considers the know-how already existent. The conclusions of the authors are that the education could be better accepted if the specialists became more open for the new information concerning the good practice in Europe for increasing the quality of life, meaning the real satisfaction of individuals trough independent life.