Background: The substance addiction and rehabilitation situation in the Philippines is a complex health and social crisis that has plagued individuals, groups, and communities in the past decades. While pluralistic and critical approaches to address the drug demand reduction issue are available, hegemonic practices continue to eclipse evidenceinformed approaches underpinned by resiliency and occupational justice perspectives. Methodology: This case study utilized a qualitative and interpretive approach to describe the practice processes of localized community-based drug rehabilitation programs in selected Filipino communities and to propose concrete practice processes to improve the development and implementation of the local community-based drug rehabilitation. Two independent focus group discussions were conducted. Participants were health care professionals, community workers, and citizens who have an affinity to the substance addiction rehabilitation setting. Framed by the Participatory Occupational Justice Framework, specifically the practice process “engage collaboratively with partners,” qualitative data extracted from the focus group discussions were thematically analyzed. Results: Three themes emerged: (1) Changing perspective: starting from the community; (2) Better together: collaboration and coordination in substance addiction and rehabilitation; and (3) “Juan for All, All for Juan”: contextualized strategies in substance addiction and rehabilitation. The findings in the case study reaffirm the value of shifting from an individualistic (symptom-eradication) to populational (social and systemic interventions) perspectives in developing community-based drug rehabilitation programs. Conclusion To reify occupational justice and resiliency approaches, proposed strategies include understanding drug use from critical and occupational perspectives, enacting social modeling and mentorship, promoting inter-agency and inter-professional collaborative practices, and infusing culturally appropriate strategies in the development and implementation of local community-based drug rehabilitation programs.
Occupational Therapy

Background: The Philippines was renowned for its reputation as one of the leading countries in the world, holding notable contributions for supplying the global laborers including occupational therapists alongside other healthcare professionals. The importance of occupational therapists in the healthcare industry was progressively being acknowledged, as they offer rehabilitative care to Filipinos in need within the country. With the continual advancement of knowledge, occupational therapists were fast becoming in-demand professionals locally. However, there appeared to be a dearth of practicing registered occupational therapists in the Philippines, owing to their inclination towards overseas employment as seen by their migration to affluent countries driven by push factors, which are unfavorable circumstances in the place of origin that reinforce migration, and pull factors, which are things that attract the migrant to move to the destination country. Objectives: This study explored the factors influencing the Filipino occupational therapists towards selecting a working environment, prevailing factors that contributed to the decision of Filipino occupational therapists to work overseas, and significant differences between the working conditions domestically and internationally. Methods: The study utilized a qualitative descriptive study to conduct a comprehensive exploration, studying the subtleties and complex nature of Filipino occupational therapists' migration. Researchers conducted semi-structured online interviews with 10 participants currently working as occupational therapists abroad across four countries including Australia, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, and United States of America. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the qualitative data, resulting in the identification of seven themes that described the factors on why Filipino occupational therapists went beyond the borders. Results: There are seven themes that describe factors why occupational therapists work abroad. These factors include (a) Labor Provisions, (b) Financial Motivations, (c) Organizational Camaraderie, (d) Presence of Career Progression, (e) Vast Resource Modalities, (f) Individualized Gains, and (g) Political Apathy. Conclusion The study stipulated the parameters aimed at improving occupational therapy working conditions and encouraging proactive initiatives to alleviate the shortage and reverse the brain drain among occupational therapists in the Philippines’ healthcare system.
health workforce