Abstract
This article aims to analyze the historical processes that allowed and promoted the creation of occupational therapy in Latin America. For the identification of the collaborators, the countries that are members of the Latin American Confederation of Occupational Therapy (Clato) were listed, the representatives in that organization were contacted and invited to collaborate, in order to be possible an initial survey of documents and subjects involved with such processes in different countries. In relation to the collection and organization of data, was made a historical delimitation of the first ten years in which was identified the beginning of the first programs in occupational therapy in Latin America, namely between 1956 and 1966. The countries whose programs were created in those decades were: Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Venezuela, Chile and Colombia. As part of the results, it was possible to identify that the histories of occupational therapy and the creation of programs in Latin America include, among other things, the antecedents related to poliomyelitis epidemics and to the history of psychiatric care, as well as the presence of international cooperation movements, the hierarchy of professional careers and the processes of subordination of the female gender, as regards the insertion of women in work activities.
Keywords:
Occupational Therapy; Occupational Therapy/History; Occupational Therapy/Latin America