User:LikeGrantTookRichmond/Michael Iwama

Michael K. Iwama Is an American social scientist and influential occupational therapy theorist who rose to prominence for his emphasis on culturally relevant practice. He is best known for his conceptual practice model, which is internationally known as the Kawa Model("Kawa" is the Japanese word for River which serves as the metaphor in his model.) The model was originally published as a series of articles in The American Journal of Occupational Therapy by Iwama and others in the early 2000's and made clear in the publishing of his first book in 2006. The model has continued to evolve and found broader application throughout his career and is disseminated in numerous books and articles. He has lectured across all six continents, finding international acceptance. Iwama has spent his later career focused on improving Occupational Therapy degree programs and his model is used in over 600 health profession education models worldwide.

Iwama's main theoretical contribution is his idea that different cultures, especially those who place a greater focus on collectivism rather than individualism, may respond differently to methods and reasoning used in Occupational therapy models at his time. His model stands as a broad construction to be adapted to various domains within OT, and adapted differently amongst cultures globally. He expresses that the realization of his model occurred mostly by accident at first as he realized that some of his explanations the occupational frameworks he had been using in Canada and the United States were not well received on his trips to Japan. The Kawa model seeks to acknowledge all client narratives are connected to their environment and things that may exist outside of their control. The model itself originally uses the metaphor of a River, with the rocks, river walls, driftwood, and water all representative of different client centered issues. Iwama's work is widely cited and his model stands among the most influential theoretical contributions in the history of occupational therapy, especially in regard to cultural occupations.

Personal life and education
Iwama was born in Okinawa, Japan, the youngest of three boys to Japanese parents. In Japan he attended an American school located near a U.S. Military base, as a teenager his family moved to Vancouver, Canada where he attended high school at Killarney Secondary School.

Kawa Model
Developed in Japan in the late 1990's, the Kawa (river) Model was an attempt in OT to develop a more culturally sensitive treatment model, using culture-near concepts. Doing so allows better articulation of medical concepts in broader world anthropologies.

Major publications

 * Iwama, M. K. (2006). The Kawa Model: Culturally Relevant Occupational Therapy. Switzerland: Churchill Livingstone Elsevier.