Occupational Analysis and

Activity Analysis
OT 603 Foundations of OT Practice
OT Evaluation
 Occupational Profile

2014 OTPF: Summary of the clients occupational history

and experiences, patterns of daily living, interests,
values, and needs

 Analysis of Occupational Performance

2014 OTPF: Act of doing and accomplishing a selected

action, activity, or occupation that results from the
dynamic transaction among the client, the context, and
the activity
Why is this necessary?
 To understand the complexity of an activity

 To understand the meaning it has to the client

 To identify performance strengths and barriers

 To identify the therapeutic potential

Taking Two Perspectives…
 Activity Analysis

 Occupational Analysis

W&S, Ch. 21. page 236 Words Matter: Defining Activity and
Occupation
Activity Analysis
2014 OTPF: Analysis of “typical demands of an activity, the range
of skills involved in its performance, and the various cultural
meanings that might be ascribed to it”

Activity:

• Purposeful, occupational, functional

• Typically smaller units of behavior

• Includes actions and use of objects

• May or may not result in a product

• Is goal directed
Occupational Analysis
Occupation:

• Personally experienced and goal directed

• Fills/ occupies time

• Provides meaning

• Is recognized by the culture

• Contributes to health and well-being

• Reflects culture and cultural values

Occupational Analysis
 Occupational Analysis places the person in the
foreground by taking into account the particular
person’s life experiences, values, interests, goals.

 Occupational Analysis may be focused:

a. On a particular task such as using a keyboard on the

computer or brushing one’s teeth, or…

b. On a broader scope of how individuals orchestrate

numerous aspects of occupational performance into

daily life, such as being an effective worker

Occupational Analysis and
Meaning
 OT practitioners must continually remind themselves
that meaning is:

1. individually constructed and interpreted

2. is central to human existence

• OT Practitioner is obligated to understand the meaning

of occupations from the client’s persoective

* Be careful of the assumptions you bring to the analysis

process: roles, culture, values and context
Occupation as Therapy
 Grading

 Scaffolding

 Fading

 Adapt and Modify

 Grading: Sequentially increasing demands to stimulate
the person’s function or reducing the activity demands
to respond to client difficulties

 Scaffolding: Helping the client by doing parts of the

task that are too hard, but allowing the client to do the
rest

 Fading: Withdrawing supports as clients develop or

improve their skills, so that the task demands increase
until the person is doing the whole task or occupation
independently
 Coaching: Providing verbal expectations and support
designed to help the individual engage in and sustain
growth or changes

 Adaptation: Changing the demands of the occupation so

they are congruent with the person’s ability level

 Modification: Changing the occupation itself by reducing

its demands, using assistive devices, or changing the
physical or social environment