Staff Profile
Professor Chris Mayers
Emeritus Professor (Occupational Therapy)
PhD., MSc., T.Dip COT., FRCOT
1968: Diploma of Occupational Therapy- British Association of Occupational Therapists
1975: Teaching Diploma- British Association of Occupational Therapists
1985: Master of Science, in Community Health- Trinity College, Dublin
1996: Doctor of Philosophy- University of Leeds
2011: Fellowship- Royal College of Occupational Therapists, UK
I have been involved with occupational therapy practice, education and research for over 40 years in London, Dublin and York; 25 years of this at York St John until I retired in 2010.
I have also been very involved with European occupational therapy education and research development at all levels.
- School – School of Science, Technology and Health
- Email – c.mayers1@yorksj.ac.uk
Further information
Research
* Development of ...
- the Mayers' Lifestyle Questionnaire (1) for people with problems related to physical disability.
- the Mayers' Lifestyle Questionnaire (2) for people with mental health problems.
- the Mayers' Lifestyle Questionnaire (3) for people with problems related to older age.
These are user-centred assessments, completed by the user to indicate his/her quality of life priorities. Once the Mayers' Lifestyle Questionnaire is completed, the occupational therapist goes through this with the user and together they approach the quality of life priorities.
The Mayers' Lifestyle Questionnaires have been translated into French, Norwegian, German, Dutch and Greek. These can be obtained directly from chrismayers2000@gmail.com
* Development of a working definition of Mayers spirituality.
This definition is used widely within occupational therapy practice and other healthcare professions.
Teaching
Not so relevant now I am retired but still lead workshops on spirituality and person-centred practice.
Professional activities
- I have presented at many national and international conferences including giving the Casson Memorial Lecture in 2000
- Awarded the Fellowship of the Royal College of Occupational Therapists in 2011
- Externally examined PhD., MSc and undergraduate students; validated many MSc and undergraduate programmes
- Initiated the development of research and a PhD profile for OTs in Europe
- mentor for European occupational therapists undertaking PhDs
- Member of the Research and Development Board at York Hospital
- Member of the British Association of Occupational Therapists
- Member of the Council for Allied Health Professions Research (CfAHPR)
- Member of the European Co-operation in Occupational Therapy Research & Occupational Science (ECOTROS)
- Reviewer for the British Journal of Occupational Therapy; the International Journal of Therapy & Rehabilitation; the Australian Journal of Occupational Science
- 2009 to 2014 - Visiting Professor: Oslo and Akershus University College, Norway
- 2012 - Visiting Professor: University of Applied Sciences, Tirol, Austria
Publications
Publications
Mayers CA (1975) Review of Domiciliary Occupational Therapy Services in Ireland and
Survey of Projected Needs. Occupational Therapy, AOTI
Mayers CA (1986) Occupational Therapy - referral patterns to the Eastern Health Board.
Forum, 2 (9)
Mayers CA (1990) A Philosophy Unique to Occupational Therapy. British Journal of
Occupational Therapy, 53 (9), 379-380
Barnitt R & Mayers CA (1993) Can Occupational Therapists be both Humanists and
Christians? A Study of Two Conflicting Frames of Reference. British Journal of
Occupational Therapy, 56(3), 84-88
Mayers CA (1993) A Model for Community Occupational Therapy Practice, Stage 1.
British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 56 (5), 169-172
Mayers CA (1995) Defining and Assessing Quality of Life. British Journal of Occupational
Therapy, 58 (4), 146-150
Mayers CA (1998) An Evaluation of the use of the Mayers’ Lifestyle Questionnaire. British
Journal of Occupational Therapy, 61 (9), 393-398
Mayers CA (2000) The Casson Memorial Lecture 2000: Reflect on the Past to Shape the
- British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 63 (8), 358-366
- British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 63 (12), 591-597
Mayers CA (2000) Quality of Life: Priorities for People with Enduring Mental Health
Mayers CA (2003) The Development and Evaluation of the Mayers’ Lifestyle Questionnaire (2). British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 66 (9), 388-395
Mayers CA (2003) Philosophy of Occupational Therapy and its Relevance to Client-Centred Practice in the 21st century. Ergoterapeuten, 46 (9), 20-25
Mayers CA (2004) Editorial: Towards Understanding Spirituality. British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 67 (5), 191
Mayers CA (2004) The Dr Casson Memorial Lecture 2000. In Casson Lectures 1973-2004.
London: College of Occupational Therapists
Hoyland M and Mayers CA (2005) Is Meeting Spiritual Need within the Occupational Therapy Domain? (Short Report) British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 68 (4), 177-180
Johnston D and Mayers C (2005) Spirituality: a Review of How Occupational Therapists
Acknowledge, Assess and meet Spiritual Needs. British Journal of Occupational Therapy,
68 (9), 386-392
Ridout A and Mayers C (2006) Evaluation of the Implementation of the Single Assessment
Process and its Impact on Occupational Therapy Practice. British Journal of Occupational
Therapy, 69 (6), 271-280
Mayers CA (2007) Editorial: Practice and research: Discovering what people need. British
Journal of Occupational Therapy, 70 (5), 183
Mayers CA, Lundgren Nilsson A, Stamm T, van Nes F, Voigt-Radloff S (2008) Survey of occupational therapy / occupational science research being undertaken with the European Community. British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 71(1), 17-22
Mayers C and Johnston D (2008) Spirituality – the emergence of a working definition for use within healthcare practice. Implicit Religion, 11 (3), 265-275
Cronin-Davis J, Butler A, Mayers C (2009) Occupational therapy and interpretative phenomenological analysis: comparable research companions? British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 72 (8), 332-338
Bursell J and Mayers C (2010) Spirituality within dementia care: perceptions of health professionals. British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 73 (4), 144-151
Mayers C (2012) A personal experience of living with type 1 diabetes for 56 years.
Practice Nursing, 23 (12), 610-612
Presentations 1992 to 2006
‘A Model for Community Occupational Therapy - Stage 1’:
April 1992 European Occupational Therapy Conference, Ostend
July 1992 International Occupational Therapy Conference, Dublin
‘Defining and Assessing “Quality of Life”’
April 1994 Congress of the World Federation of Occupational Therapists, London
‘The Lifestyle Questionnaire - an evaluation of its use’
July 1995 College of Occupational Therapists, 19th Annual Conference, Edinburgh
‘Development of a Client-Centred approach for Community Occupational Therapy Practice:
A National Survey’
October 1995 Research Forum, The College of Occupational Therapists, London
‘Spiritual well-being... is this part of our role?’
July 1996 College of Occupational Therapists Annual Conference, Leeds
‘The Role of Fieldwork within Degree Classification’
October 1997 Occupational Therapy Tutors’ Group meeting, Derby
‘Spiritual well-being... is this part of our role (2)?’
June 1998 World Federation of Occupational Therapists Conference, Montreal
‘Study with People with Enduring Mental Health Problems’ (2 workshops)
March 1999 OTMH Annual Conference, Oxford
‘Quality of Life...Priorities for People with Enduring Mental Health Problems’
July 1999 Annual College of Occupational Therapists’ Conference, Liverpool
‘Philosophy of Occupational Therapy’ (keynote speaker)
October 1999 ENOTHE Conference, Ljubljana, Slovenia
‘Identifying quality of life priorities for clients with enduring mental health problems’
May 2000 Conference on Qualitative Evidence-based Practice, Coventry
‘Collaborative Research: Students and Practitioners’
July 2000 Annual College of Occupational Therapists’ Conference, Keele
Casson Memorial Lecture 2000: ‘Reflect on the Past to Shape the Future’
July 2000 Annual College of Occupational Therapists’ Conference, Keele
‘Philosophy of Occupational Therapy and its Relevance to Practice in the 21st Century’
October 2000 Keynote speaker, 30th Anniversary of Occupational Therapy programme in Helsinki, Finland
‘Using the Mayers’ Lifestyle Questionnaire (2) with people with Enduring Mental Health problems: a Pilot Study’
July 2001 Annual College of Occupational Therapists’ Conference, Swansea
‘The use of the Mayers’ Lifestyle Questionnaires within client-centred practice’
June 2002 Annual Conference of Occupational Therapists’ Conference, Brighton
‘The Development and Evaluation of the Mayers’ Lifestyle Questionnaire (2)’
July 2002 World Federation of Occupational Therapists Congress, Stockholm
‘The Use of the Mayers’ Lifestyle Questionnaire (1) and (2): ‘tools’ to enable user-centred practice (workshop – invited speaker)
March 2003 Association of Occupational Therapists of Ireland Annual Conference, Killarney
‘The use of the Mayers’ Lifestyle Questionnaires within person-centred practice’, October 2003 ENOTHE Conference, Prague
‘Identifying the Quality of Life Priorities of People with Early Dementia’
February 2004 Invited speaker: School of Health Studies, University of Bradford
‘The use of the Mayers’ Lifestyle Questionnaire (2) within client-centred practice’
March 2004 Invited speaker: Annual Conference, Association of Occupational Therapists in Mental Health, Nottingham
‘Spirituality DOES matter within occupation: a discussion on terminology and approach’
June 2004 Annual College of Occupational Therapists’ Conference, Harrogate
‘Initiating user-centred practice with the Mayers’ Lifestyle Questionnaires (1) and (2)’ workshop with Kari Opsahl, University College, Oslo – discussing our collaborative research.
September 2004 European Congress of Occupational Therapy, Athens
‘Defining and Exploring Spirituality’ and ‘Occupational Therapy and Spirituality’, invited speaker to lead two workshops.
December 2004 Occupational Therapy Service and Northumberland Mental Health Promotion Steering Group, Morpeth
‘Assessing Quality of Life Priorities for Older People with Mental Health Problems’
March 2005 Hull & York Medical School Research Conference, York
‘Going for a PhD in Europe’ and ‘Options and Challenges’: co-leader of two workshops presented by the European Co-operation in Occupational Therapy Research & Occupational Science (ECOTROS) project group
September 2005 Akademie fur Ergotherapie, Vienna
‘A pilot study to initiate validation of a working definition of spirituality’ (poster)
June 2006 Annual College of Occupational Therapists’ Conference, Cardiff
‘Spirituality: defining the concept and meeting spiritual need’:
July 2006 World Federation of Occupational Therapists Congress, Sydney
‘Finding Partners and Funding for Research’: co-leader of workshop presented by the European Co-operation in Occupational Therapy Research & Occupational Science (ECOTROS) project group.
October 2006 Hacettepe University, Ankara
Presentations 2007 to onwards
‘Developing European Research Collaboration within Occupational Therapy’:
July 2007 Faculty Research Conference, York St John University, York
‘The emergence of a working definition of ‘spirituality’’
September 2007 Sport & Spirituality Conference, York St John University
‘Mentoring: helping you to meet your needs as a PhD student, now and in the future’: facilitator of workshop presented by the European Co-operation in Occupational Therapy Research & Occupational Science (ECOTROS) project group.
October 2007 ENOTHE Conference, University College, Cork
‘Experiences of staff and student collaboration within International Research, Teaching & Learning’
January 2008 Internationalising the Student Experience Conference, York St John University
‘Defining ‘spirituality’ and meeting spiritual need’ and
‘Exploring a potential European research agenda’ (workshop – co leader)
May 2008 8th European Occupational Congress: Hamburg
‘Investigating the quality of life priorities for older people’
June 2008 Annual Conference of the College of Occupational Therapists, Harrogate
‘Research in occupational therapy and occupational science in Europe’ and facilitator of two workshops ‘Towards more synergy and long-term strategies in European research’
September 2008 ENOTHE Conference, Alice Salomon Fachhochschule, Berlin
‘Client centred Outcome Measures’
October 2008 Invited speaker at the College of Occupational Therapists’ National Workshop on SNOMED CT subsets: Occupational therapy Outcomes: London
‘The importance of a person-centred approach within Occupational Therapy practice’
October 2008 Invited speaker at Northern & Yorkshire BAOT regional student conference:
York St John University
‘Defining and assessing spiritual need within healthcare practice’: one day workshop
November 2008 Faculty of Health, Medical Sciences and Social Care, University of Cumbria
‘The Development of the Mayers’ Lifestyle Questionnaire (3)’
November 2008 Invited speaker at the College of Occupational Therapists’ study day on older people: Glasgow Caledonian University
Internationalisation Conference, York St John University: ‘Facilitating an ERASMUS funded Intensive Programme: March 2009
‘Valuing the spirituality of individuals within our practice’
April 2009 Keynote speaker at the AOTI conference, Kilkenny
‘Spirituality within dementia care - the perceptions of health professionals’, joint presentation with Jen Bursell
June 2009 College of Occupational Therapists Annual Conference, Brighton
‘Enhancing ‘Knowledge Translation’ by user-friendly summaries of critically appraised research articles: the development, co-operation and future’: workshop with Dorien Schuerhoff & Chris van der Molen
October 2009 ENOTHE conference, A Coruna, Spain
‘Spirituality within healthcare practice’ (keynote speaker)
October 2010 NW Occupational Therapy regional group, Salford University
‘The Spiritual domain of Occupation’ (keynote speaker) and co-facilitator of two workshops: ‘Organising and hosting an Intensive Programme’
October 2010 ENOTHE Conference, Stockholm
‘The spiritual significance of walking as a chosen occupation – older people’
June, 2011 College of Occupational Therapists’ Annual Conference, Brighton
‘Meeting spiritual needs within occupational therapy practice’
July 2011 Conference on ‘Spirituality: Sharing Good Practice’, Durham
‘Sharing Research Activity and developing Ideas for Future Collaboration’ – co facilitator of two workshops
November 2012 ENOTHE Conference, Lithuania
‘Life with Insulin – an insight’ November 2012 Conference on Diabetes Care, Leeds
‘Exploring the relationship between spirituality, religion and health’ December 2012 Durham University
‘Assessing spiritual needs within healthcare practice’ (keynote speaker)
August 2013 Conference on Spirituality and Mental Health, Melbourne, Australia
‘Well Carer Project –working together for carer well being’ (funded research)
June 2015 co-presenter of seminar with Alicia Ridout at COT Annual Conference, Brighton
