Australian Occupational Therapy Journal

(2001)

48

, 148

Blackwell Science Asia

B o o k R e v i e w

000000Graphicraft Limited, Hong Kong

QUICK REFERENCE DICTIONARY FOR OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY

Karen Jacobs, Ed. (1999), Second Edition,* 326 pp., US$22.00

SLACK Inc., Thorofare, USA

The second edition of the

Quick Reference Dictionary

for Occupational Therapy

is a compact publication offer-ing information on a wide variety of terms, concepts andresources associated with occupational therapy practice.Those familiar with the first edition may be interested toknow that, according to the publisher’s notes, the secondedition has a considerably expanded dictionary and a moresubstantial set of appendices than its predecessor.

The dictionary, which comprises one half of the book,provides definitions of a wide array of terms, from anatom-ical and pathological through cognitive and neurologicalto theoretical and research-related. The list is quite com-prehensive for a book of this size. The definitions areappropriately simple and succinct.

The second half of the book is given over to a set ofappendices, 35 in all. Amongst the more useful appen-dices are: 10 pages of suggested readings in occupationaltherapy; AOTA Uniform Terminology for OccupationalTherapy; illustrations of splints and ranges of motion;Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disordersclassifications (4th Edition); diagrams of body muscles,bones and cranial nerves, along with descriptions of bodyreflexes; and an overview of several frames of referenceused by occupational therapists.

In her introduction, the editor has suggested that her bookaddresses, among other things, the need for occupationaltherapists to be ‘globally aware’. Regrettably, the book is

firmly set in an American mould, with the appendices,in particular, focusing on the information needs of anAmerican audience. Thus, we find appendices devotedto such issues as the American Occupational TherapyAssociation’s organizational structure, past presidents,core values and mission statement, along with a list ofaddresses of occupational therapy licensure boards in allAmerican states, and so forth. A publication respondingto the needs of a globally orientated readership wouldsurely offer much more information, for example, on theWorld Federation of Occupational Therapists than asingle line describing the WFOT acronym. Similarly, itwould not devote its 10 pages of suggested readings foroccupational therapists to texts that are exclusivelyAmerican, with the single exception of a reference tothe World Health Organization’s International Classifica-tion of Impairments, Disabilities and Handicaps. Where,for example, are key references to recent work byCanadian, Australian or British occupational therapistson issues such as client-centred practice, occupationalperformance measurement and occupational science?

Despite these shortcomings, this is a book that couldbe of interest to occupational therapy students. Indeed,several of my senior students who browsed through itdeclared it to be a helpful reference tool for under-graduates, and possibly for new graduates, because ofits diversity of clinically related information in an easilyaccessible format.

Michael Lyons

Discipline of Occupational Therapy,

University of Newcastle, Newcastle,

New South Wales, Australia

*The third edition is now available.

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