Abstract

The author collaborated with a home health occupational therapist in Western Washington. The therapist’s research question was, “What evidence is there to support strengths-based therapy interventions effective in supporting positive role identity in adults with physical disabilities who are receiving home health or outpatient rehabilitation services?” Home health practitioners may not account for a client’s mental health challenges that impact role identity. A client’s sense of role identity can influence re-engagement in meaningful activities that support quality of life. The evidence review found that role identity concepts, like autonomy, are considered to be important, but often measured as secondary outcomes.

In response to the occupational therapist’s interest in understanding her clients’ different psychosocial and emotional factors that facilitate continued engagement in meaningful occupations after discharge from occupational therapy (OT), the author presented an in-service on strengths-based interventions, followed by instruction in using the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM) to identify activities that clients personally value and to gauge their satisfaction with performance in such activities. To monitor the impact of the in-service and use of the COPM in practice, the therapist was interviewed before the in-service and after using the COPM for three weeks. She found using the COPM to be helpful in identifying goals that are meaningful to clients, but had limited amount of time with each client. She would like to continue to use the COPM in a non-standardized way to inform her evaluations and goal setting conversations.

Publication Place

Tacoma, Washington

Publisher

University of Puget Sound

Project Chairperson

Kirsten Wilbur, EdD, OTR/L

Project Chairperson

Publication Date

5-2021

Genre

Capstone Project

Format

PDF

Language

English

Degree Program

Occupational Therapy

Degree Level

Master of Science

Discipline

Occupational Therapy

School

University of Puget Sound

Download

Share

COinS