Use of the term ‘family occupation’ in occupational science and occupational therapy literature: A systematic mapping review study

The term ‘family occupation’ is used across occupational science and occupational therapy literature when describing various aspects of family life. This systematic mapping review examined the use of the term in the occupational science and occupational therapy literature, its definition, descriptions of family occupation, and opportunities for future research. Following established methods for systematic mapping reviews, databases were searched for English and French language articles using the term family occupation. Eighty-five articles were identified for final data extraction and analysis. Findings showed that the term family occupation mapped primarily to articles describing early family experiences and often experiences with a child with developmental disability. Across the included articles, there were different uses of family occupation; however, descriptions frequently focused on the participants, temporal aspects, and varied purposes and outcomes of family occupation. The findings of the review suggest categories or focused topics about family occupation that researchers may explore through future scoping and integrative review studies or empirical research.