1. Adolf Meyer
and
George Barton

2. Adolf Meyer: Background
Born on September 13, 1866 in Niederweningen, Switzerland
1892:
Received his medical degree from the University of Zurich
Emigrated to the United States
Wrote The Philosophy of Occupational Therapy in 1922
Died March 17, 1950 at his home in Baltimore
--prominent psychobiologist in the United States

3. Connection to OT

4. Influence on OT One of the founders of occupational therapy
Healthy living is a blend of “work and pleasure”
Occupation is therapeutic
The “work cure”

5. Major Contributions Mental problems are “problems of living”
Fundamentals of Life: “Work and play and rest and sleep”
“Our role consists in giving opportunities rather than prescriptions. There must be opportunities to work, opportunities to do, to plan and create, and to use material.” (Gordon, 2009).

6. George Barton: Background
Born Brookline, MA
Died 1923
To recap, many events were taking place during the early 1900s and during Barton’s life, such as World War I, industrialization, the efficiency movement, which was meant to increase societal efficiency, and the arts and crafts movement. As a result of World War I and industrialization, there was an increase in disability , tuberculosis and mental illness, which created a growing need for a field like OT.

7. Connection to OT Architect Boston Society of Arts and Crafts
Little formal medical experience
Experience through personal illness, nursing, and independent study
First exposure to OT in Clifton Springs Sanatorium- Reverend Elwood Worcester
-Barton was originally an architect. He studied in London and was taught by leaders of the arts and crafts movement there.
-He helped create the Boston Society of Arts and Crafts and was their first secretary. He believed that in order to advance a profession, a professional organization should be established. This belief influenced his role in the OT field.
-He had little experience or education in the medical field, however, he did have some experience with nursing and through independent study in nursing
He gained the majority of his medical knowledge when he was stricken with tuberculosis in 1901; this condition would recur throughout his life
In 1912, he was working on a project to determine the extent of the famine had effected the farmers along the Kansas-Colorado border. His left foot froze, developed gangrene, and he had to get his toes amputated. After the surgery, Barton developed hysterical paralysis of the left side of this body. He could barely stand and had almost no movement in his left hand or arm. In 1913, he went to Clifton Springs Sanatorium in upstate NY to recuperate
Barton was typically very active, but as a result of the paralysis, he could not do even the most simplistic tasks and the physicians that treated him were very discouraging. They did not think he would make a recovery and did not think he should be working.
While he was at the Sanatorium, he was exposed to OT in classes that were held by Revered Elwood Worcester of the Emmanuel Church in Boston. Barton was taught to find inspiration in life by helping others like himself; he decided to dedicate his life to helping “the sick and crippled”

8. Influence on the Profession
1914- Consolation House
Work as rehabilitation: “He used his own body as a clinic to work out the problem of rehabilitating himself” (Quiroga, 1995, p. 118).
Grading occupations, energy conservation strategies, efficiency
1915- coined the term “occupational therapy”
“If there is an occupational disease, why not an occupational therapy?” (Reed & Sanderson, 1999)
1917- NSPOT- President and chair of Committee on Research and Efficiency
Treat the “whole person”
Occupation as a drug
He created his own Consolation House in 1914, which acted as a school, workshop, and agency for vocations, and whose main goal was recovery. He used ideas from the arts and crafts movement to put art work all over the house and created a warm and comfortable environment for those that came. The consolation’s house mission was to help its patients recreate healthy, meaningful and productive lives. He wanted the Consolation House to be a place where people could create new lives with new possibilities for work . Many of his friends sent people they new to the consolation house.
While at the Consolation house, he also worked in the fields, and in the studio. He studied the progress he himself was making through work to learn more about rehabilitation. He also took classes at Clifton Springs Sanatorium Training school and talked to other practitioners, such as William R. Dunton and Susan E. Tracy
By studying independently and with others, he learned the importance of grading occupations and of using energy conservation strategies, such as working for 10 minutes and resting for 15 to eventually increase the amount of time that he could work. He gained this knowledge by working with experts in the efficiency movement- Also used ideas from the efficiency movement to encourage his patients to be productive as a way to rehabilitate themselves so that they can eventually be independent and provide for themselves
He collaborated with William Dunton and adopted his terms to coin “occupational therapy”
He also worked with Dunton to create the NSPOT- National Society for the Promotion of Occupational Therapy , which was held at the Consolation House on March 15, The goal of NSPOT was to establish OT’s role in health care and to create a society to promote occupation as therapy
Members included familiar names: William Dunton, Eleanor Clarke Slagle, Adolph Meyer, Susan Johnson, Thomas Kidner, Isabel G. Newton (Barton's secretary who later became his wife), and Susan Tracy.
Organization flourished through the 1920s and 1930s until the Great Depression
Now known as the American Occupational Therapy Association
As president of NSPOT, Barton insisted that therapy was in the title of the organization to make it sound that it was related to medicine and medical science- He also wanted medical language to be a part of OT to relate it more to health care
Barton was president that year and also the chair of the Committee on Research and Efficiency – As the chair of this committee, he collaborated with foreign efficiency engineers, who helped rehabilitate wounded soldiers, so he helped establish the connection between OT and physical rehabilitation
- He also had unique ideas about evaluations. He always asked about the patient’s education, present status, habits, ambitions and expectation. He sought to improve the physical, mental and spiritual aspects of the patient. He thought it was essential to view patients from both a medical and occupational perspective. Considering this would help uncover occupations that are meaningful to the patient.
He believed every occupation could have the healing effect equivalent to a drug

9. front row; L to R, Susan Cox Johnson, George Edward Barton, Eleanor Clarke Slagle. Back row; L to R William Rush Dunton, Isabelle Newton, and Thomas bessell Kidner

10. Major Contributions
Rehabilitation can be achieved through work and productivity
Used OT to work with the physically disabled
Energy conservation practices
Founded NSPOT
He also believed in the importance of self-help and craft work to cure illness
-Used OT to work with the physically disabled, not just mental illness
- From his experience collaborating with experts on the energy conservation movement, he learned techniques to promote energy conservation and incorporated them into OT
-Now OT does not just focus on work and productivity, but it also focuses on the importance of “doing” and occupation

11. Additional Accomplishments
Cured his paralysis
Consolation House
“He wanted to ‘raise the cry that it is time for humanity to cease regarding the hospital as a door closing upon a life…’” (Reed & Sanderson, 1999)

12. Value of OT
Medicine only healed illness and patients left hospital completely dependent- OT gives people a purpose
Productive and meaningful activity speeds recovery
A good occupation is one that “promoted physical improvement, clarified and strengthened the mind and could become the basis or the corollary of a new life upon recovery” (Peloquin, 1991).
Injury or illness does not mean life is over. Work can create a new meaningful and purposeful life.
In the past, medicine was typically just a way to heal illness and patients would leave the hospital completely dependent. However, OT is a way to give people a purpose and to improve their lives.
Having something productive and meaningful to do helps recovery
A good occupation is one that “promoted physical improvement, clarified and strengthened the mind and could become the basis or the corollary of a new life upon recovery.”
Becoming injured or ill does not mean that one’s life is over. Work should be used to create a new meaningful and purposeful life.

13. End of Life 1918-Resigned from presidency 1918- married
Continued as chair of Research and Efficiency Committee of NSPOT
1923- died from tuberculosis
A year after the first meeting of NSPOT, he resigned from the presidency and did not attend the next annual meeting, either because he was too sick to travel to NYC, where it was being held or because he was upset it was being held in NYC and not at the Consolation house, or perhaps because he had just gotten married
1918- got married to Isabel Newton and had a son
even though resigned from NSPOT, still worked as chair of Research and Efficiency Committee
Died in 1923 from tuberculosis

14. References
AOTA: A historical perspective. (2009). In the American occupational therapy
association, inc. Retrieved from
Bing, R. (1981). Occupational therapy revisited: A paraphrastic journey. American
Journal of Occupational Therapy, 35, 499–518. Retrieved from org/ Practitioners/Resources/Slagle/1981.aspx
Founders image. (1917). Retrieved November 9, 2009, from:
Gordon, D. M. (2009). The history of occupational therapy. In E. B. Crepeau, E. S. Cohn, &
B. A. Boyt Schell (Eds.), Willard & Spackman’s Occupational Therapy (11th ed.) (pp ). Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Peloquin, S.M. (1991). Looking Back--Occupational Therapy Service: Individual and Collective Understandings of the Founders, Part 1. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 45, Retrieved from abstract.asp?IVol=45&INum=4&ArtID=9&Date=April%201991
Quiroga, V.A.M. (1995). Occupational therapy: The first 30 years Maryland: The American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.
Reed, K. L., & Sanderson, S. N. (1999). Concepts of occupational therapy (4th ed.).
Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
 image of adolf meyer