The use of coaching in occupational therapy: an integrative review

Coaching has been identified as a core enablement skill of occupational therapists. Occupational therapists have begun to embrace the use of coaching as a therapeutic tool to promote client-centeredness in their practice. As the use of coaching becomes more popular it is important to examine and evaluate coaching use in occupational therapy practice to clarify what is meant by coaching and inform future research and practice in this area.

An integrative literature review was conducted to examine how coaching is being used by occupational therapists, identify the similarities and differences between coaching interventions and to identify the empirical evidence for the use of coaching in occupational therapy.

The literature search resulted in 24 articles describing 11 different interventions that reported use of coaching methods by occupational therapists with various populations. Similarities among interventions included goal setting, problem solving and an educational component. Differences in the directiveness of the occupational therapist were evident. The level of research evidence for individual interventions ranges from low to moderate.

Differences are evident in the coaching theories and methods used in occupational therapy. While evidence of effectiveness of these interventions is promising, study designs used to date are vulnerable to bias and have had small sample sizes, limiting the strength of evidence. More research using clear descriptions of the coaching approach and more robust research methods is needed to better inform clinical practice.