Occupational therapy aims to enable those suffering from physical, mental, or cognitive disabilities to develop, restore, or maintain life and work skills. These disabilities are often interrelated and induced by multifaceted causes. Therefore, occupational therapy adopts various treatment frameworks, such as sensory integration training, neural development, cognitive behavior, daily activities, and psychology, to name but a few. However, traditional methods and interventions cannot effectively improve the quality of life of service objects or boost their participation in daily activities, owing to the weaknesses in environmental adaptation, task adjustment, skill training, and individual/family education.

In recent years, new-generation information technology, which mainly includes big data, artificial intelligence, Internet of things, blockchain, and cloud computing, has penetrated every corner of everyday life. Sitting invisibly behind a wide range of medical services (physical and psychological), health care, and education, new-generation information technology holds great potential to make hospitals, schools, communities, and families more efficient and effective. The introduction of new generation information technology to occupational therapy will bring new application scenarios and treatment methods, especially in the following aspects: personalized evaluation, intervention strategy/treatment scheme, evaluation and treatment of applied skills, guidance and training of family members, recommendation of equipment, teaching aids or supplies. Following these applications with new generation information technology, numerous innovative clinical instruments and assistive technologies will emerge.

To unleash the full potential of occupational therapy, this Special Issue intends to report the latest theoretical and practical achievements on the integration between occupational therapy and new-generation information technology. We welcome the original research and review papers on theories and applications, which effectively apply new-generation information technology to occupational therapy. Considering the interdisciplinary nature of occupational therapy, the attempts of multiple approaches are highly valued, namely, surveys, evidence-based analyses, psychometric studies, meta-analyses, and cross-sectional studies.

Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:

• Assistive technology based on new-generation information technology
• Clinical instruments of occupational therapy based on new-generation information technology
• Occupational therapy education based on new-generation information technology
• Occupational therapy interventions based on new-generation information technology
• Occupational therapy practice is based on new-generation information technology
• New approaches to occupational therapy based on new-generation information technology