Occupational creativity: Reconstructing the therapeutic occupation through John Dewey’s philosophy

This theoretical discussion develops a conceptual account of the therapeutic occupation by addressing the unresolved relationship between everyday occupations and arts-and-crafts occupations in occupational science and occupational therapy. Although both have long been regarded as therapeutically meaningful, the underlying dimension that connects them remains poorly theorized. Drawing on John Dewey’s philosophy of habit, experience, and esthetics, I conceptualize ‘occupational creativity’ as a reconstructive dynamic inherent in occupation itself. Using an interpretive philosophical methodology, this study reconstructs Dewey’s account of habit as a dynamic coordination between organism and environment, emphasizing its dual character of stability and transformation. From this perspective, occupation is understood as a process through which habits are continuously reorganized in response to disruptions or changing conditions. Thus, everyday and arts-and-crafts occupations are reframed as different modes within a single experiential continuum. The analysis further proposes a cyclical model of occupational creativity in which habit, obstacle, intelligence, and re-coordination interact to generate new patterns of action and meaning. Therapeutic potential is not inherent in specific occupations but emerges when an occupation is recruited into this reconstructive process. This article offers a unifying conceptual basis for understanding the creative, esthetic, and therapeutic dimensions of occupation in everyday life.