Gary Kielhofner

Gary Wayne Kielhofner (February 15, 1949 – September 2, 2010) was an American social scientist and influential occupational therapy theorist who rose to prominence as a scholar during his time as Professor and Wade-Meyer Chair of the Department of Occupational Therapy at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He is best known for his conceptual practice model, which is known globally as The Model of Human Occupation (MOHO). The model was first published as a series of articles in ''The American Journal of Occupational Therapy'' by Kielhofner and others but later extensively developed over Kielhofner's career and disseminated in numerous books and articles. Kielhofner lectured widely and consulted regularly in the United States and abroad, particularly throughout Scandinavia, the United Kingdom, (including Scotland), Ireland, Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Japan, Hong Kong, Israel, and Central and South America. An active network of proponents across the international occupational therapy community continues to study and evolve his model through the MOHO Clearinghouse maintained at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC).

Kielhofner's main theoretical contribution was his idea that a complete understanding of the complex manner through which human occupation is initiated, pursued and completed necessarily requires systems approaches that rely upon research in the biological, psychological and social sciences. He was among the first theorists in his field to use general systems theory and later dynamical systems theory to describe the complexities of his model, which described the iterative, interactive relationships between a person's volition, habituation (roles and habits), performance capacity, and the social and physical environment. He was also the first theorist to clearly explain the importance and relevance of the temporal dimension to occupational therapy practice. Kielhofner's work is widely cited and his model stands among the most influential theoretical contributions in the history of occupational therapy. Provided by Wikipedia