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On World Occupational Therapy Day, the University of Malta community would like to reiterate the message that it is thankful to all those who dedicate their career to enhancing children and adults’ abilities in their daily lives.

The role of Occupational Therapy within this community includes Outreach towards staff and students through the Access Disability Support Unit (ADSU), supporting children through the University programme as well as its participation in collaborative research projects with other departments.

A recent initiative is the DIGICLAP Project, with a team led by Prof. Philip Farrugia, that participated in the MedTech Expo held on the 19 and 20 October 2023.

DIGICLAP is a smart wearable that will be helping increase the motivation of children with Cerebral Palsy (CP) during therapy sessions, helping them habilitate their upper limb functionality, which will ultimately improve their quality of life.

Dr Nathalie Buhagiar, Lecturer within the Department of Occupational Therapy, said “Through their knowledge of Occupational Science, Occupational Therapists support the participation of individuals cross the life span in their daily occupations in order to promote health and wellbeing, prevent ill health and intervene to support those persons who have experienced some life changing event, forcing them to lose their independence and participation in what they need to do and want to do to lead a happy and fulfilled life. In a nutshell, Occupational Therapy is about assisting persons to participate in the occupations they choose to engage in order to lead happy and successful lives.”