Muslim Considerations for a Self-Care Evaluation

In the United States the profession of occupational therapy was established in 1917 and in the UK it was established in 1922 but in Arab countries, like Jordan, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Palestine, Kuwait, and others, occupational therapy was established less than 40 years ago. And most Arab countries saw the establishment of occupational therapy within the last 25 years.

Of course, as the profession grew in Arab nations, theories, and models were brought in from Western countries that emphasized practices that had been developed in very different contexts.  These ideas about human occupation and its connection to health and wellness had to be translated and made to fit into the Arab culture.  These theories and models stem from the well-educated, privileged social positions, able-bodied, white Anglophones, who identify with Judeo-Christian cultural backgrounds.

When Dr. Razan Hamed was studying occupational therapy at the University of Jordan, she noticed that some occupational therapy evaluations were missing some important aspects of Muslim life while holding onto items that were irrelevant in Jordan.  She set her sights on the Performance Assessment of Self-Care Skills or PASS and created the A-PASS, the Arabic Performance Assessment of Self-Care Skills