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Methods of assessing clients' priorities: a survey of adult physical dysfunction settings
1Occupational Therapy Department, University of New Hampshire, Durham 03824, USA.
Objectives:
Recent clinical reasoning literature has identified a collaborative model of treatment--one that responds to clients' perceptions of their illness and disability experiences--as central to occupational therapy practice. Assessing clients' priorities on admission is essential to that model.
Method:
Surveys from of a convenience sample of 269 occupational therapy directors in adult physical rehabilitation facilities throughout the United States (70.2% response rate) were analyzed to see whether occupational therapists in those settings are assessing clients' priorities on admission, and if so, how.
Results:
The majority of occupational therapists are using informal interview to determine clients' priorities on admission. Client goals obtained from these interviews are vague and do not specify meaningful occupations; this finding suggests that therapists are setting treatment goals without specific input from clients about their valued activities.
Conclusion:
Occupational therapists have not yet successfully translated their values about client-therapist collaboration into a formal set of procedures for practice.