Case study and narrative inquiry as merged methodological frameworks can make a vital contribution that seeks to understand processes that may explain current realities within professions and broader society. This article offers an explanation of how a critical perspective on case study and narrative inquiry as an embedded methodology unearthed the interplay between structure and agency within storied lives. This case narrative emerged out of a doctoral thesis in occupational therapy, a single instrumental case describing a process of professional role transition within school-level specialized education in the Western Cape, South Africa. This case served as an exemplar in demonstrating how case study recognized the multiple layers to the context within which the process of professional role transition unfolded. The embedded narrative inquiry served to clarify emerging professional identities for occupational therapists within school-level specialized education in postapartheid South Africa.

The paper offers an introduction to an emerging construct, professional role transgression, which is theorised as a form of occupational consciousness, an occupational science construct. Professional role transgression provide insights on how individuals respond to oppressive structures within professional spaces. The construct emerged from a study that explored how occupational therapists navigate professional role transitions within specialised education in the Western Cape, in post-apartheid South Africa, and provides a unique lens in naming how occupational therapists respond to structural power. The overall objectives of the study were to describe how occupational therapists navigate the process of professional role transition, negotiate power, and craft appropriate identities in a constantly shifting policy terrain. A case study approach, merged with narrative inquiry, was used. Data were collected from multiple sources: narrative interviews with participants; document analysis of basic education policies and archival records on specialised education; written reflections on participants’ thoughts, feelings, and perceptions about their trajectories as occupational therapists in specialised education; and researcher observations within special school environments. Narrative interviews were the primary source of data. Data analysis followed a three-level inductive approach, which generated five themes that highlight professional role transition as an embodied repositioning requiring agency and, sometimes, subversion towards new ways of practice.

Transitions are important landmarks in the educational career of youths, as successful transitions prepare them for adult life. When youths with disabilities leave school, the transition to post-school life is accompanied by several challenges. To our knowledge, there is currently limited information about how parents of youths with severe intellectual disabilities in South Africa experience this transition process. The study reported on here aimed to describe parents’ experiences of the transition of their child with severe intellectual disability from special school to post-school in a small town in the Western Cape, South Africa. A qualitative descriptive study using in-depth semi-structured interviews was conducted with 5 parents of youths with severe intellectual disability. Inductive analysis of the transcripts yielded 2 themes: “It really hit us hard”, and “adjustment to post-transition life.” The findings indicate that the meanings that parents attribute to their experience of transition are influenced by their personal responses and coping strategies within the context in which they find themselves during the transition period. Occupational therapists can assist in providing smoother transitions for youths with disabilities. Recommendations include addressing transition services on policy level.

Background: Professional identity represents a person's philosophy of their profession. This identity defines what it means to be and act as a professional. Aim: This paper will describe the factors that shaped the professional identity of students in Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy and Communication Sciences Disorders during their four years (2015 - 2018) of studies in the Faculty of Health Sciences in a higher education institution. Methodology: A descriptive qualitative design was used to describe the factors that emerged. Seven participants were purposively selected from the Faculty of Health Sciences. Individual interviews and a focus group with participants were conducted. Data were analysed inductively. Findings: The results generated the theme 'The curriculum and experiences within practice and professional environments shape professional identity'. The findings highlighted how critical events in higher education may have influenced the participants to develop a professional identity. Conclusion: The curriculum played an integral role in defining how the narrative for each participant was played out and how professional and practice environments greatly shaped the students' developing professional self.

With a shift in moving towards the 4^th industrial revolution, digital storytelling has been identified as a novel way of facilitating teaching and learning. This paper will be aimed at offering an understanding of the experience and perspective of occupational therapy students in using digital storytelling as a reflective tool as an assignment as part of their undergraduate and masters occupational therapy curriculum at a university in South Africa. A descriptive qualitative study was undertaken, and five participants were purposively recruited. Individual semistructured interviews were conducted as well as a focus group with participants. An inductive analysis revealed two themes: Reflections on relevance within the occupational therapy curriculum and Is technology the new direction? The findings conclude that digital storytelling as a medium to showcase reflections on identifying formation was an innovative and novel way of documenting the reflective experiences of occupational therapy students.

South Africa has the highest reported prevalence of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) worldwide. This paper describes the contribution mothers make to engage their children with FASD in occupations through ‘doing together’. It draws on the findings of a qualitative descriptive study to provide an understanding of the diverse ways in which mothers used co-occupation to facilitate the occupational engagement of their children with FASD. Nine mothers were purposively and incrementally sampled in line with the sampling principle of maximum variation. Semi-structured and photo elicitation interviews (PEI) were used to gain descriptions of the ways that mothers scaffolded their children’s participation during occupations they did together. Data were transcribed verbatim and inductively analysed. The theme ‘Doing together’ captured the primary way in which mothers fostered opportunities for their children to engage in and develop their participation in occupations. Nested in the theme were five categories, each describing particular ways of scaffolding during co-occupation: casual inclusion, flexible expectations, grading support, maximising opportunities and involving others. The findings revealed that mothers continued to invest in fostering occupational engagement, even when their children became adults. The specific scaffolding strategies these mothers used are discussed in relation to occupational scaffolding and co-occupation literature, highlighting the dynamics of person-context relations in an underdeveloped rural community. Study findings reveal mothers expertise in supporting the development of their children as occupational beings.