Contextual aspects of the emergence of occupational therapy in Argentina

This paper aims to characterize some contextual aspects before and after the opening of the first educational institution for Occupational Therapy in Argentina, the National School of Occupational Therapy in the historical period that runs from 1946-1965. This article was written based on our work as scholars in the framework of a research project led by Mariela Nabergoi and comprised by a team of teacher researchers from the Institute of Rehabilitation Sciences and the Movement of The National University of San Martín. To meet the proposed objective we performed an analysis of secondary sources which describe the political-economic, social, educational and health contexts in Argentina during the period studied and which address the issue of the emergence of Occupational Therapy in Argentina. Re!ecting on the contextual factors that allowed the emergence of OT in the country, we can state that the polio epidemic of 1956 was, as pointed out in much of the literature on the history of OT relieved in our country, a situation triggering the need for social care to form human resources to attend to the effects of the disease. However, we emphasize the importance of avoiding conceiving the epidemic in terms of cause and effect with respect to the creation of vocational training in OT, because it cannot be isolated from the broader political-economic, social, educational and health contexts.