Analysis of the Occupational Therapy Process and Its Applications

This report provides a comprehensive overview of the occupational therapy (OT) process, emphasizing the role of OT in enabling individuals to achieve life satisfaction through participation in daily activities. It begins with an introduction to OT, its historical development, and the unique role of occupa...Read More

Occupational Therapy
OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY
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31-Aug-24

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Introduction
Restoring the client’s ability to work is the fundamental aspect of occupational therapy.
OT is a client-centred profession that takes a holistic approach in the promotion of the clients’
health and well-being in their specific occupation. The principals that underpin the OT
profession focuses on enabling the clients to participate in their daily activities. To achieve these
goals, OT practitioners work in collaboration with other partners such as health professionals in
other health professionals and communities. For instance, OT has been incorporated in health
settings to effectively manage symptoms and enhance the functional performance of the patient.
For instance, when a victim of an accident or a different condition reaches a point where the
patient’s leg or hand would be amputated, OT practitioners help the patient to adapt to the health
status in their work environment. In understanding the scope of OT, this paper intends to discuss
various concepts of OT. The paper begins with a general understanding of OT and then moves to
discuss other areas such as OT historical development, and the unique role of OT practitioners.
Further the paper analyses core skills, and the nature of the OT setting. The paper finishes by
going through the OT process.
Occupational Therapy
The role of occupational therapy (OT) is to enable individuals to achieve their life
satisfaction in a holistic approach that encompasses health and wellbeing as they participate in
their daily activities (College of Occupational Therapists[COT], 2017). The concept of OT has a
background in occupational science (OS) which is the study of the relation between people and
occupations (Crepeau et al., 2014). Since the OS focuses on scientific and theoretical foundation,
scientists consider it a part of the social science such as psychology, sociology or anthropology

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(Crepeau et al., 2014). Therefore, and understanding of OT requires epistemological reflection
particularly on the key aspects of economic, political and social dimensions.
Historical Development of OT Profession
While different scholars provide different accounts for the historical development of OT,
all of them inform that OT began as an intervention for the moral treatment for the mentally ill
(Jacobs et al., 2014; Bryant et al., 2014). The idea was to provide the mentally ill persons with an
intervention that takes into account their dignity as human beings. Prior to these earliest OT
interventions, mentally ill persons were thought to be possessed by supernatural powers (Jacobs
et al., 2014; Bryant et al., 2014).
In the US, OT was used as a form of mental intervention. However, this was a
development in the 19th century within the Arts and Crafts industry. At the time, John Ruskin
stated that reliance on machines caused deterioration of health. In the UK, Dr Elizabeth Casson
led the development of OT in Britain by working alongside John Ruskin (Bryant et al., 2014).
World War I created demand for OT for those with physical disabilities and the wounded
soldiers. In the post-war period, the economic boom of the 1920s resulted in an increased in the
demand for OT which also led to the drafting of the Smith-Bankhead Bill of 1920 in the US.
However, the great depression caused a decline in funding for the profession (Schell and Gillen,
2019). World War II again led to an increase in the demand for OT practitioners in the
rehabilitation of war veterans. The rehabilitation movement of 1942 to 1960 advocated for more
recognition of OT (Bryant et al., 2014). With medical advances in the 1970s and the late 20th-
century occupational therapists quickly noted the value of working outside of the medical
system, and the shift toward the community model began. In the UK, OT was registered as a

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profession under the Professions Supplementary to Medicine Act, 1960 (Turner and Alsop,
2015).
The 21st century began with the society giving more focus on prevention of diseases and
health promotion (Jacobs et al., 2014). The WHO definition of health as once the ability to
pursue a productive life despite societal or physical limitations gave more validation of the
therapeutic interventions (Jacobs et al., 2014). The need for OT has since then been recognized
in clinical interventions and in educational institutions in the form of degrees, masters and PhDs.
The Unique Role of An Occupational Therapist
There are various factors that make OT unique from other professionals. Firstly, OT-
based models which are the key to defining the unique role of OT focus on the relationship
between the patient, environment, and their occupational engagement (Jacobs et al., 2014).
These models also enlighten OT practitioners on the ways of preventing occupational
disruptions. Also unlike other health professions, OT health assessment is based on work, the job
and its environmental aspects (Keponen and Launiainen, 2008). A good use case is a 14-year-old
girl who has been involved in a car accident. Due to a failure to use a seatbelt, the accident
leaves her with right hemiparesis and a right hemiparesis. In such an example, the general
medical practice will focus on treating her face, trauma, a tracheostomy to help with breathing or
even a gastrostomy feed tube. On the other hand, OT will wait until the girl recovers, and then
start assessing her on self-care, productivity, and leisure among others.
When gathering information, OT practitioners focus on information that helps them
understand the client’s daily activities (Boniface et al., 2012). OT professionals must understand
the client’s professional values, domain concerns and philosophical assumptions. Also, unlike
other health professionals, OT treatment plan prioritize on eliminating the anticipated

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professional obstacles of dysfunctions (Robinson et al., 2016). Again, considering the above case
of a girl, assessment in general care could have been examination on bleeding, relieving pain,
and breathing assessment among others. On the other hand, OT examination will look at whether
she can walk comfortably, whether she can eat, dress, bath, and groom among others.
In OT, the term function refers to the patient’s ability to execute tasks in their profession
as opposed to other health professions who would define function terms of patient’s body
capacity such as an elbow or a kidney function (Duncan et al., 2014). Health in OT refers to the
patient’s interaction with their work which differs from other health professions who would
consider health in terms of the stability of the body such as blood pressure. OT communicates
with the clients in terms of their occupation. The main focus is the client’s ability/inability to
execute certain tasks that affect their health or identity (Morrison et al., 2017). OT professions
talk with clients about their work, career goals, and performance. It also looks at the client’s
personal characteristics that affect work such as physiological, neurobehavioral, spiritual,
cognitive, and psychological (Creek, 2009). Besides, OT looks at environmental characteristics
that affect the client’s performance. Recovery in OT focuses on improving the client’s
occupational performance.
Core Skills of An Occupational Therapist Are.
According to Creek (2009), occupational therapists are persons who are flexible,
responsible and innovative. To achieve such characteristics, they possess a range of skills which
some are in other fields, while others have been developed for the practice. These skills are;
 Collaboration: This one helps the therapists in not only working with a team but
also creating a therapeutic relationship with the client (Creek, 2009).

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 Assessment: This skill enables the therapists to identify and explore factors that
affect the client’s functional state such as the limitations involved or the
environmental conditions (Jacobs et al., 2014).
 Enablement: This one involves helping clients control their lives by focusing on
their professional goals and identifying a solution for the obstacles (Creek, 2009).
 Problem-solving: This one involves helping the clients come up with the
strategies that would improve their occupational performance (Turner and Alsop,
2015).
 Ability to use clients’ activities as therapeutic tools: What this means is that a
therapist’s assessment and analysis are client-centred on their work (Creek, 2009).
The assessment is about the client’s activity and profession.
 Group work: This skill involves the therapist’ ability to plan, organize, lead and
evaluate activity groups.
 Environmental adaptation: Therapists must be able to understand and feel the
client’s functional environment in order to modify the characteristics that are
obstacles to the client’s performance (Bryant et al., 2014).
Occupational Therapy Practice Setting That Differs from Other Health and Social Care
Professionals.
Unlike other professions, OT focuses on occupation-based models that explain the
relationship between the person, the environment, and occupational performance. Basically, this
approach follows the OT contemporary paradigm (Joosten, 2015). OT brings an analysis of the
components such as range of motion or cognition in the assessment and intervention to determine
the barriers that the client is facing in the occupation (Jacobs et al., 2014). Kielhofner (2009)

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states that within the OT paradigm, conceptual practice models clearly address the unique
practice challenges and circumstance while still developing specific practice resources. The
frames of reference help in guiding the plan of action that is specific to the client’s occupation
(Christiansen et al., 2015). Lastly, the occupation profile serves to provide the therapist with
information that that helps to understand the client’s history.
Occupational Therapy Process.
The OT process is a systematic approach that OT practitioners undertake when providing
services to their clients. The process is client-centred and includes systematic steps aimed at
achieving the targeted outcomes (Christiansen et al., 2015). It is worth understanding that they
are dynamic interactions between the therapists, the client, and the function aspect of the client’s
occupation. Therefore, the OT process is regarded as dynamic and an evolving process which is
focused on enhancing the client’s safety, independence, and quality of their functional state in
their occupation (Fawcett, 2007).
Individual Components
Step 1: Referral or reason for contact. This is the first step where the therapists meet the
client for the first time (Christiansen et al., 2015). In most cases, it is the referrer who provide
some information about the client.
Step 2: Information gathering. Since the referrer’s information is not all-inclusive, the
therapist must do an initial assessment to gather the most relevant information. The information
provided in a referral is not always sufficient (Bryant et al., 2014).
Step 3: Initial assessment. Assessment involves a screening where the therapist
determines the main cause of the problem (Bryant et al., 2014). An in-depth assessment is also
conducted that helps in setting measurable goals.

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Step 4: Goal setting. Both the therapist and the clients define goals as the expected
outcome of the intervention.
Step 5: Action planning. After setting the goals, the therapist helps the client come up
with a plan which will help in achieving the desired goals.
Step 6: Action. Since OT interventions involve working with other professionals and
carers among others, the therapist would need to negotiate with them the right actions. The
therapist may also engage in activities to offer guidance in the process.
Step 7: Ongoing assessment and revision of action. The therapist continues to monitor the
client’s progress to measure whether the client is achieving the desired goals.
Step 8: Outcome and outcome measurement. This step is concerned with analysing
whether the client finally achieved the desired goals.
Step 9: End of intervention or discharge. This step involves making an arrangement for
the termination of the intervention.
Step 10: Review. This step involves an evaluation of the effectiveness of the
interventions. Basically, it serves to analyse whether the intervention was fit for purpose.
How Occupational Therapists Use The Occupational Therapy Process To Guide Their
Practice.
The OT process is a systematic approach that the therapist uses to as guidance towards
improving the client’s outcome (Fawcett, 2007). The significance of the process to the therapist
is that each the phases are follows conceptual frameworks laid out for maximum engagement
with the client. Therapists measure the outcomes which are end-results that tell the efficacy of
the therapy and inform the therapist on areas for the improvement.

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The evaluation and problem definition phases are important to the therapist as they get to
know their client’s background, and formulation of the client’s profile (Christiansen et al., 2015).
Also, therapists use intervention planning to come up with the strategies for improving the
client’s problems since the process is client-cantered. The process also enables a therapist to plan
the desired outcomes. As the process is theory-based and data-driven, it makes it easier for the
therapist to plan and forecast the outcome depending on the client’s performance (Keponen and
Launiainen, 2008). Finally, through the process, therapists also get a chance to understand their
client’s occupations, the barriers they meet, and their desired goals.
Conclusion
Helping clients go through the difficulties in their occupations is the fundamental aspect
of occupational therapy practice. Occupational therapy focuses on repeated assessments of the
client’s performance. The assessment involves using standardised procedures, interviewing the
client, documenting client’s history to create a profile, and monitoring the process to evaluate the
efficacy of the intervention. At some level, occupational therapy’s interventions are different
from those of the general medical accounts. The difference arises from the meaning of the
terminologies used, the skills required, and even the setting itself. For instance, function in
occupation therapy means patients’ abilities to execute tasks and activities. When looked in other
medical definition, the function would be in relation to the performance of a body organ like a
kidney or a heart. By analysing the scope of occupational therapy, this paper was able to discuss
its concept and development through history. The paper also discussed the unique core skills and
the nature of occupational therapy. Also, the paper looked into different areas such as
occupational therapy practice setting. The paper finished by discussing the occupational therapy
process, and how practitioners use this process in fulfilling their career goals.

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References
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