Housing adaptations from the perspectives of Swedish occupational therapists.

AIM

The aim of this study was to investigate how occupational therapists in Sweden administer housing adaptation cases, how they perceive the housing adaptation process, and which improvements they consider necessary.

METHODS

A total of 1 679 occupational therapists employed by the county councils or the local authorities (and involved in housing adaptations) participated in a web-based survey. The survey targeted issues related to referral and needs identification, assessment, certification, case progress feedback, and evaluation.

RESULTS

Less than half of the occupational therapists systematized the assessment prior to intervention and very few conducted any evaluation afterwards. Feedback from workmen or grant managers to the occupational therapists on each case's adaptation progress was often asked for but rarely given. The majority of the participants were satisfied with the housing adaptation process in general, while at the same time they indicated a need for further improvements in the process. Differences between occupational therapists related to employer and year of graduation were found on the majority of the targeted issues.

CONCLUSIONS

To conclude, to a very large extent housing adaptations seem to be based on non-standardized procedures for assessment, and only a few of them are evaluated systematically.