Salomėja Burneikaitė
Abstract
The article acquaints with the practice of creating textile puppets, purposefully used at the work of occupation therapist. It is one of the application technique of puppet therapy. The work is based on the experience of extramural students of Continuing Studies Institute of Klaipeda University while doing assignements on internship locations for the subject of expressive psychotherapy method. The analysis of the works observing and comparing how creation of textile puppets impact the state of patients during the process of rehabilitation, completed by the students of occupation therapy, is presented.
The creation of a puppet as a spiritualized object from the textile materials helps to enter into and maintain long-term contact with a patient. This activity stimulates emotions, grants the possibility to a patient to express oneself, enter into conversation, and the occupation therapist receives delicate information about the patient‘s condition. Creation of puppets together with patients helped students to maintain humane relations, to perceive them deeper, and experience new emotions out of this experience. The stronger motivation to achieve the goal was observed when the puppet, created and produced by the patient, was dedicated to another person. The students of the occupation therapy program were convinced practically that by involving creative activity while creating a spiritualized object- a puppet, it is effective to maintain relation with a person. They enriched the skills for the use of occupation therapy methods and means.
Keyword(s): Occupation therapy; textile puppets; spiritualized object; fine motor skills
DOI: 10.5200/sm-hs.2013.014
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