The Work & Industry Special Interest Section (WISIS) developed the following timeline of important events and milestones in the practice area of work and industry over the past 100 years. 

1800s – 1900s

• ‍Work was used for restorative functions (Bond, 1925), increased self-esteem (Davis, 1945), and to meet unconscious needs (Medd, 1934)
• 1890: The rise of the arts and crafts era in occupational therapy (Reed & Peters, 2006)
• 1911: Workers’ compensation law passed in Wisconsin to cover medical expenses and lost wages of employees injured on the job (Guyton, 1999)

World War I

• 1914: Eleanor Clarke Slagle started the Community Workshop (Reed & Peters, 2006)
• Three categories of rehab: bedside occupations, curative workshops, and technical training (Spackman 1968)

1920s

• Workshops were created for OT treatment, providing competitive and graded work with minimal compensation (Hanson & Walker, 1992) 

1930s

• ‍1937: “employment therapy” was created
• Industrial workshops, work evaluation services, and vocational rehabilitation programs thrived (Marshall, 1985)

World War II

• ‍Focus on work as an intervention to return to employment (Johnson, 1971)
• End of the war resulted in increased demand for rehab for returning soldiers to return to work (Hanson & Walker, 1992)

1940s

• Therapists used “pre-vocational” work tasks to create preparatory skills for clients (Hanson & Walker, 1992)
• Occupation is recognized as being essential to human health (Caldwell & Watkins, 1936)

1950s

• ‍Maintenance tasks were performed by psychiatric patients in mental hospitals (Ivany & Rothschild, 1951)
• Work prescriptions were written by physicians, but coercion of patients to engage in non-therapeutic house-keeping tasks was not tolerated (Forrer, 1955)

1960s

• ‍Work related programs declined due to growing expenses
• Philosophy of occupational therapy began to return to humanism (Reed & Peters, 1986)
• Research on work: shared statistics on the working population, the effects and values of work ethic, information regarding new federal labor laws, and relationship between work and leisure (Marshall, 1985)

1970s

• Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970: Mandated employers to provide work environments that are free from hazards that cause death or injury (American Occupational Therapy Association [AOTA], 2017)
• Rehabilitation Act of 1973: Provided affirmative action in employment and nondiscrimination in facilities by federal grantees and contractors (Dorsey et al., 2016)
• Work hardening programs begin (Hanson & Walker, 1992)

1980s

• ‍Occupational therapy practitioners’ interest sparks in work aptitude assessments, work hardening, job evaluation, job skills, and industrial consultation (Reed & Peters, 1986)
• 1987: AOTA creates Work Programs Special Interest Section—later known as Work & Industry Special Interest Section (WISIS)

1990s

• ‍Work hardening is performed, mostly for laborers with back injuries (Hanson & Walker, 1992)
• School-to-Work Opportunities Act funded programs that helped students with disabilities transition into the workforce (Haworth, 2008)
• Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990: Provided individuals with disabilities equal protection in employment (AOTA, 2017)

2000s

• ‍2002: Occupational Therapy Practice Framework: Domain and Process identifies work as an area of occupation (AOTA, 2002)
• WISIS identifies high prevalence of older adults who work, and makes workplace recommendations in response to this trend (Ellexson, 2008)
• Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2014: Addresses workers with disabilities gaining skills needed for integrated employment (AOTA, 2017)

Today

• Occupational therapy practitioners aim to improve occupational performance through job and worker analysis (Braveman & Page, 2012)
• Occupational therapy practitioners serve as consultants to industry for wellness and prevention (Hanson & Walker, 1992)
• WISIS develops new practice framework (Jaegers, Dorsey, Ehrenfried, & Finch, 2015)

Future

• Work rehabilitation programs will develop strategies to address emerging areas/issues, such as total worker health (TWH), mental health in the workplace, cognitive work hardening, and chronic conditions, as well as the aging work force, the female work force, and temporary workers (Jaegers et al., 2015;Kaskutas, Gerg, Fick, & Dorsey, 2012)

Developed by: Maddie Koller and Mariah Bowers, Ithaca College OT Graduate students  

WISIS Committee members Julie Dorsey, Holly Ehrenfried, Denise Finch, Lisa Jaegers

View the reference list here (pdf).

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