Doris Pierce, Ph.D., OTR/L, FAOTA is Eastern Kentucky University’s Endowed Chair
in Occupational Therapy. She has been a pediatric therapist for 35 years and is an
internationally known researcher, theoretician, and visionary within occupational science.
She has persuasively argued in print for the importance of sleep as a foundational
occupation to all other daily experiences over the last 20 years. She has keynoted in
Ireland, France, Japan, and throughout the United States. Her textbooks in print include
Occupation by Design and Occupational Science for Occupational Therapy. Her most
recent research used mixed methods to describe and document highly significant life skill
outcomes of occupational therapy transition services to secondary students with
disabilities. Dr. Pierce has also completed extensive qualitative research, including
internationally comparative research on elder women’s leadership of annual holiday food
traditions in Kentucky, Thailand, and New Zealand. Her teaching focuses on design
process and occupational science. Dr. Pierce is a wife and the mother of an occupational
therapist. Her favorite leisure occupations are singing, writing, sleeping, and party
planning.
Sleep related publications:
Pierce, D. (2012). Promise. Journal of Occupational Science, 19(4), 298-311. doi:10.1080/14427591.2012.
Pierce, D., & Summers, K. (2011). Sleep: An exciting new frontier in occupation-based practice. In T. Brown and V. Stoeffel (Eds.), Occupational therapy in mental health: A vision for participation (pp. 736-754). Philadelphia: F. A. Davis. (new edition in press)
Pierce, D. (2001). Occupation by design: Dimensions, creativity, and therapeutic power. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 55, 249-259.
Howell, D., & Pierce, D. (2000). Exploring the forgotten restorative dimension of occupation: Quilt use and quilting. Journal of Occupational Science, 7, 68-72.
