What is ergonomics?

According to Caulton and Dickson (2007) ergonomics is to, “constantly make slight invisible adjustments to an activity to adapt to the needs of those taking part and ensure that it continues to work for its intended purpose” ( p.93)

In simple words, this means that when you engage in your chosen activity, you make sure that everything is going according to how you planned in order to acquire your intended outcome. For example, you have to be in the right mood, right environment, have the right equipment if needed. It is necessary to have everything in harmony to feel motivated enough to perform that activity. That is my understanding of ergonomics.

I have noticed that majority of the time I get up and do the cooking is when everything is just right. Engaging in this activity can be ergonomically viewed from three perspectives; person, environment and occupation.

As I mentioned in my previous post there are things that help or hinder my engagement in this activity. They can all be grouped according to person, environment and occupation. For example, what helps me cook mindfully include being in a good mood (person), clean and safe kitchen (environment), and cooking for others (occupation). The same can be applied to the things that hinder me from cooking. I feel that having an activity be ergonomically fit provides me with the motivation I need to engage in it, this can be said for all other types of activities.

Being aware of this process has helped me a lot; before I would give up when something was wrong i.e. mood, timing or environment. However being aware the principles of ergonomics, I know I can acquire the desired outcome simply by fixing or adapting to the current circumstances.

Reference:

Caulton, R. & Dickson, R.  (2007). What’s going on? Finding an explanation for what we do.  In J. Creek & A. Lawson-Porter (Eds.), Contemporary issues in occupational therapy (pp. 87-114).  Chichester: John Wiley & Sons Ltd

Cooking

My chosen activity for this post is cooking; I will explain what cooking means to me personally and as a future occupational therapist.

What cooking means for me personally...

Learning to cook at a young age is very important in my culture. Of course, once I learnt to cook, I found that to be a tedious task especially when it was my turn to cook. As I grew older¸, I acquired the drive to expand my horizon in terms of the types of dishes that I wanted to learn.  I was motivated to eat healthy, therefore my favorite past became searching for recipes in the internet. Learning a new recipe and making a dish out of it gave me a great sense of accomplishment. I found that my experience of cooking completely changed my outlook of engaging in such an activity. I found that I enjoyed myself more and found nothing tedious about it except on the days when I was not in the mood :)

What does cooking mean for me as a future OT?

As an occupational therapist, helping clients engage in their meaningful activities will be a priority. The task of making a meal will help in building rapport with clients¸ I feel that sharing my experiences and feelings while engaging in this activity is something that both the client and I can appreciate. One of the lessons I learnt in my fieldwork from my supervisor is that clients feel more comfortable with a therapist who shares a bit of themselves with them; of course, I know there are limitations to that but when it comes to this everyday activity, it is definitely something that I can share.

Words that I use to describe this activity are:

Relaxing

Fulfilling

Healthy

Satisfying

Life

Sustenance

Cultural

What will help me engage in cooking?

• Clean and safe environment – kitchen
• Having all the ingredients and recipe
• Being in a good mood – being mindfully conscious of what I am doing.
• Cooking for others.

What will hinder me engaging in cooking?

• Dirty and unsafe environment.
• Not having all the necessary ingredients.
• Feeling unwell or not being in a good mood.