The Canadian

Occupational
Performance Measure

Hanan I. Madi, MSc, BSc, OTR

Methods of OT Treatment for Mental

Health Disorders
 History of the COPM
In the early 1980s, Health Canada and the Canadian
Occupational Therapists (CAOT) developed quality
assurance guidelines for the practice of occupational
therapy in Canada. As part of this work, in 1988, the
National Health Research Development Program and
the Canadian Occupational Therapy Foundation jointly
funded a project to develop an outcome measure of
occupational performance.

It has five editions right now

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History of the COPM
The outcome measure to be developed was to:
 focus on performance in self-care, productivity, and leisure

as the primary outcome;

 consider the client’s environment, developmental stage, life

roles, and motivation;

 be sensitive to clinical change relevant to occupational

therapy goals;
 not be diagnosis specific;

 be usable in terms of format, time, ease of scoring, client

acceptability, and be able to be scored numerically;

 incorporate measurement properties of reliability,

responsiveness, and validity.

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 ?What is the COPM
 A semi-structured interview can be administered
within 30 minutes.
 The COPM is used over 40 countries & has been

translated into 35 languages. Moreover, it can be

used across many CULTURES.
 This tool can be used with all ages and different

conditions like physical or psychological ones.

Cresswell et al. (1998) have said that COPM is clinically

effective and efficient tool for mental health populations

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 ?What is the COPM
COPM is:
 A client-centered assessment tool;
 Derived from the Canadian Model of

Occupational Performance (CMOP) principles;

 Used to enable a patients to identify their

priorities and restrictions in everyday life &

assess occupational performance areas of life;
 Initially developed to assist therapists in

evaluating their intervention ( it is an outcome

measure)

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the Canadian Model of Occupational
Performance (CMOP)

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?What is the COPM
Performance Areas

Self-Care Productivity Leisure

Paid/unpaid Quiet & active

Personal care
work recreation

Functional Household
Socialization
mobility management

Community
School& play
management
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 The clinical use of the COPM

 Rated patients’ priorities

 Assesses Performance and Satisfaction
 Sensitive to patient’s point of view
 Conducted at the beginning of therapy and

throughout the therapy (pre & post intervention).

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Procedure

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Procedure

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Procedure

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Procedure

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STEP ONE

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STEP TWO

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STEP THREE

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STEP FOUR

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STEP FIVE

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Advantages of the COPM
 The COPM provides information that cannot
be obtained using current standard health
measurement tools.
 It provides an individualized perspective of

the patient’s preferences, values, and

judgments regarding their occupational
performance.
 It facilitates the ability for clinical decision-

making and monitor functional progress, and

communication within multidisciplinary team.

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Advantages of the COPM
 The COPM interview enables a patient to name
and frame his or her problems.
 The COPM is useful in managing more tasks after

achieving the rehabilitation intervention, based

on being more involved in goal-directed
interventions.
 The COPM enables patients to had higher ability

in identifying, recalling goals, and remember

their treatment goals.
 The COPM enables patients in agreeing on the

treatment, and being active in decision making.

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Disadvantages
 Individuals with MD tended to answer with
scores at the extreme ends of the point scale.
 Cognitive level.
 In-patient vs. out-patient.
 Social environment.

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ANY QUESTION ?

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