The concept of occupational balance began gaining scholarly attention around 2012. Early discussions and collaborations with scholars began in Iran and continued through key gatherings such as the COTEC conference in Sweden and further engagements in COTEC-ENOTE in Galway. These efforts eventually led to the presentation of the first workshop on the model in Norway and expanded to other countries, as shown in the timeline below.
- 2012: Initial research into the concept of Occupational Balance
- Publication of early research reports on Occupational Balance
- 2014-2015: Exploration of the psychometric properties of initial OWQ version
- Initiation of the Occupational Wholeness (OW) development
- OT Show Keynote Speaker: Children’s Sense of Being, Belonging and Becoming
- 2016: Translation and validation of Norwegian version of the OWQ
- 2017: Publication of Introduction to the Model of Occupational Wholeness in ErgoScience
- Workshop on Occupational Wholeness at ISLO Met Univ.
- 2018: Further exploration of OWQ-II psychometric properties
- Presentation: From Occupational Balance to Occupational Wholeness at COTEC, Galway
- 2018-: Keynote Speaker: Sense of Belonging and Becoming
- Study: Being, Belonging and Becoming in people diagnosed with ME/CFS
- 2021-2023: Investigation into Being, Belonging and Becoming during COVID-19 isolation measures
- 2024: Community project: Refugees’ Sense of Belonging
- 2024: Publication of Occupational Wholeness
- 2024: MOW workshops and presentations — Leeds Beckett University, Belonging and Empowerment Project, First European OT Conference, Sweden/Iran/USA
- Ongoing international projects in Sweden, Iran, UK, Germany