Clinical reasoning in occupational therapy: an integrative review

The occupational therapy literature has been comprehensively reviewed to identify various theoretical answers to the question of what is clinical reasoning. Authors to date have two primary answers to this question, which we labeled scientific reasoning and narrative reasoning. Additional literature addresses the influence of personal and practice contexts on clinical practice. These are labeled pragmatic reasoning and are proposed to be an integral part of clinical reasoning. Pragmatic reasoning considers issues such as reimbursement, therapists' skills, and equipment availability. To be comprehensive, further study of clinical reasoning should include these contextual issues as an inherent part of the clinical reasoning process.