Meaning and misunderstanding in occupational forms: a study of therapeutic goal setting.

OBJECTIVE

This study examined occupational therapists' use of the occupational form of goal setting as therapy and its impact on clients.

METHOD

The study method was qualitative, using participant observation and interviewing as the main source of data.

RESULTS

The findings illustrated that therapists work both to give substance to the occupational form and to create the context of an implied narrative that imbues it with particular meanings. Simultaneously, clients' experience of meaning is influenced by a personal volitional narrative. When the two narratives do not coincide, therapists' efforts to maintain the occupational form intensify as they encourage clients toward attitudes and performances that do not resonate with the clients' experience of reality.

CONCLUSION

The findings underscore the importance of recognizing that occupational forms are embedded in social processes and perspectives that inevitably come into play when occupational forms are used as therapy.