Locus of Control

    A locus is where something occurs. A person can have an internal locus of control or an external locus of control. This means that if you have an internal locus of control, you base your successes and failures on your own work and that you control your own life. On the other hand, those with an external locus of control believe the outside world and those around you control your successes and failures. While most individuals have characteristics of having both an external and an internal locus of control, a lot of the times they lean to one side. There are pros and cons to each side. 

    As future practitioners, it is important to understand which way we lean and understand that our colleagues and clients may have a different locus of control than us. Some of our clients may blame us or others on their own successes and failures, or they might completely take responsibility for those themselves, even if that is not the case. I think as future occupational therapists, we need to have an internal locus of control in that we need to take responsibility for our actions, but also have an external locus of control and understand that there are some things that are out of our control when working with clients and other practitioners. I think that being right in the middle and having aspects of both locus' of control will help us to be the best health care providers we can be. 

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