The distinct value of occupational therapy lies in its comprehensive consideration of factors that influence a person’s level of independent functioning. The Model of Human Occupation (MOHO) is a holistic model that considers multiple factors that influence a person’s occupational performance (Kielhofner, 2008; Taylor, 2017). The model proposes that people are composed of dynamic interacting elements: volition, habituation, and performance capacity. These elements work together within a particular environment to influence the formation of a person’s occupational identity and affect his or her occupational performance (Forsythe et al., 2014). This study embraced the assumption that engagement in a meaningful task could help develop skills, build confidence, establish habits, and increase occupational performance.

The Model of Human Occupation has conceptualized three levels of doing (a) occupational participation or participation in occupational roles; (b) occupational performance or the doing of occupational forms/tasks, and (c) occupational skills or actions with a purpose that is necessary for the completion of occupational forms/tasks (Kielhofner, 2002, 2008; Haglund & Henrikkson, 1995).

Participation in occupation emerges from the constant interaction between persons’ performance capacities, habituation, volition, and the environment. Therefore, it is both personal and contextual. It is personal in that the types of dimensions of participation in which a person will engage are influenced by the individual’s unique motives, patterns of organization, and abilities and limitations. It is contextual in that the environment is part of a person’s participation, providing conditions for either enabling or restricting it (Kielhofner, 2008). These dimensions reflect the systems perspective within the Model of Human Occupation, which calls for an integration of different aspects of volition, habituation, performance capacity, and the environment when making sense of a person’s occupational participation (Taylor, 2017).

Law and colleagues (1996) broadly described the occupation as “activities and tasks done to accomplish a purpose”. Of relevance for older adults with chronic disease are food-related activities and occupations such as self-feeding, eating and swallowing, health promotion through nutrition, meal preparation, and cleanup, community mobility, finances and financial management, and shopping. The complex relationships between older adults with chronic disease and their environments represent why older adults may be particularly susceptible to food insecurity and have difficulty performing food-related activities and occupations. Through the lens of the MOHO model, occupational therapy practitioners are well-suited to address food insecurity with their older clients in order to enhance engagement in meaningful food-related activities.