The demise of diffidence: an agenda for occupational therapy.

Professionalization of occupational therapy will require a number of activities which have previously not been incorporated systematically into occupational therapists' view of themselves and their professional obligations. This paper presents a conceptualization of professional activities as three layers of necessary labor which include, but go well beyond, clinical practice. The implications of this conceptualization of occupational therapy's necessary activities and related agenda to effect professionalization are discussed. These implications include a need for clarification of the nature of the occupational therapy service, increased clinical and basic research, identification and support for the basic values of the profession, and organization of the knowledge-base of the field around a single unifying concept of occupation.