Functional assessment and intervention in occupational therapy.

TOPIC

Occupational therapists consider the person, the environment and the occupation (personally meaningful activities) in the assessment and intervention process with the ultimate goal being occupational performance.

PURPOSE

This paper describes functional assessment and intervention from the perspective of the occupational therapist with specific examples of assessment instruments and intervention approaches. A scenario of a person in recovery with a particular occupational performance goal is woven throughout the paper to apply the concepts of functional assessment and intervention to a specific situation.

SOURCES USED

CINAHL and PubMed databases; Existing assessment manuals and research on these instruments.

CONCLUSIONS

Occupational therapists are just one discipline of many within psychiatric rehabilitation. Multidisciplinary teams can be most effective when they work collaboratively and maximize the expertise of all contributors. By describing the occupational therapy process, providing a scenario, and offering suggestions for collaboration, it is hoped that this paper fosters dialogue among occupational therapists and others involved in psychiatric rehabilitation.