Presentation/History

The Master's Course in Occupation Studies (CPGEO) at Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais was approved by the University Council in 2018, according to Resolution No. 10/2018, of June 5, 2018. The Course was also approved by CAPES in 2018, with the first class of masters starting in August 2019. CPGEO was the second academic master's degree in the field of Occupational Therapy in the country and in area 21.

Its mission is to train qualified human resources to deal with occupational issues in a systemic way, considering their biological, social, economic, historical, anthropological and cultural aspects.

Considering current scientific production and debates about theories of occupation and functionality that tend to present disability as a result of an interaction between biological factors and social structure, there is the challenge of understanding the complex relationship between biological and social aspects, deepening the analysis functionality based on the perception of the body as a biological and social phenomenon.

In this context, the pedagogical proposal, as well as the curricular structure of the Graduate Studies Course in Occupation Studies are anchored in an expanded approach, articulating a sociological and biological perspective of occupation. The academic activities that make up the curricular structure are complementary and offer immersion in pertinent, current and essential themes for the training of researchers in the field of human occupation, fundamental for the academic institutionalization of research and graduate studies in Occupational Therapy.

The Course has a field of study (Occupation, Participation and Inclusion) and two lines of research (Occupation, Care and Functionality; Occupation, Public Policies and Social Inclusion), in which research projects, as well as the intellectual production of the course are linked.

The aim is, therefore, to bring together academics, professionals and researchers in the field of occupational therapy and other areas of knowledge around fundamental issues of Human Occupation in a proposal based on the articulation of different areas of knowledge that contribute to the advancement of interdisciplinary knowledge on the study of Occupation through the search for innovation in terms of scientific work and collaborative research.