Introduction: Number of people diagnosed with an eating disorder worldwide is on the rise. People with eating disorders face troubles with many aspects of everyday life. Additionally, eating disorders greatly affect occupation participation. Treating eating disorders needs a multidisciplinary team, in which occupational therapists can have an important role, mainly because of their unique knowledge and understanding of correlation between occupation, health and well-being. Purpose: To examine the role of occupational therapy for people with eating disorders. Methods: A qualitative methodological approach was used, a review of the literature on the topic of the role of the occupational therapist for people with eating disorders was made. The literature was collected with the help of online databases: DiKUL, Web of Science and CINAHL. The search was conducted with the following keywords: occupational therapy, occupational therapist, eating disorder, eating disorders, anorexia, bulimia. The analysis included articles published between 2010 and 2021, in English, that include occupational therapy approaches and eating disorders. Results: Nine scientific articles were included in the final analysis, of which two quantitative and seven qualitative. Qualitative data synthesis provided three topics for discussion: occupational therapy process for people with eating disorders, occupation focused occupational therapy intervention for people with eating disorders, the role of occupational therapy for people with eating disorders. Discussion and conclusion: Research findings confirm the important role of occupational therapists in treating people with eating disorders. Occupational therapists differ from other multidisciplinary team members in their unique understanding of the meaning of occupation for an individual and their knowledge, client-centeredness, ability to adapt and change occupations. Moreover, they have skills for finding suitable occupations based on person’s needs and wants. Occupational therapists use different methods with which they can evaluate person’s skills, roles and set goals. They help people with eating disorders to reintegrate into society, participate in important occupations and achieve functional success in carrying out daily occupations. Occupational therapists are well-established in the field of mental health, but in the specific field of eating disorders they often have a sense of lower professional identity. More research is needed to demonstrate the role of occupational therapists in treatment of people with an eating disorder.
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