Interrater Reliability of the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM) Within Geriatric Rehabilitation

Background. The Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM) is used by occupational therapists (OTs) to identify problems in the occupational performance of patients, and its use is currently expanding within geriatric rehabilitation (GR). However, due to the complexity of the target group concerns have been raised regarding consistency of administration between OTs. Purpose. To assess the interrater reliability of the COPM in routine GR practice. Method. In two GR wards with patients aged 65 years and older, two different OTs administered the COPM to the same patient. We calculated the overlap in prioritized occupational problems, as well as the intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) of the COPM-Performance and COPM-Satisfaction scores. Findings. Twenty-six participants, mean age 79 (SD 7.6) with largely orthopaedic and neurological diagnoses, were assessed twice within 2-5 days (mean 3, SD 0.9). We identified a total of 355 problems, mostly in the domain selfcare (N = 222). For the 112 prioritized problems, two OTs had a 65% overlap. ICC values for COPM-Performance and COPM-Satisfaction were 0.566 and 0.567, respectively. Conclusion. In GR, the COPM has moderate IRR and a moderate percentage of overlapping prioritized occupational performance problems. Therapists should be aware of the potential scoring problem within GR and should invest in training.