OCCUPATIONAL

THERAPY
By: Amber Clees
What is an Occupational Therapist(OT)?
◦ OTs are experts at helping people perform the occupations they need and want to do every day. 1
◦ They help with activities of daily living, instrumental activities of daily living, health management, rest
and sleep, education, work, play, leisure, and social participation. 1
◦ They design intervention plans that include activities in order to enhance engagement in meaningful
occupations.1

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Educational Background
◦ To become an OT, each person must obtain a master’s degree
from an accredited occupational therapy program
◦ Or a Doctoral degree in occupational therapy
◦ Require fieldwork hours in order to sit for the licensure exam
◦ Must pass the National Board of Certification of Occupational
Therapy (NBCOT)
◦ It is required to be licensed to practice as an OT in every state 2

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OT Specialized
Care
◦ OTs provide specialized care in1:
◦ Occupation and activities - Eating, oral hygiene,
toilet hygiene, bathing, dressing, putting on footwear
◦ Interventions to support occupation - bed mobility,
transfers, toilet transfers, car transfers, ambulation,
ambulating curbs and stairs, operating a motorized
wheelchair.
◦ Education and training
◦ Advocacy interventions
◦ Group interventions
◦ Virtual interventions

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OTs Tests/Measures/Procedures
◦ OTs obtain a summary of the client’s occupational history and experiences, patterns of daily living,
interests, values, needs, and relevant contexts.1
◦ Section GG outcome measures are utilized in all post-acute care (PAC) settings for Medicare
beneficiaries to track progress across the continuum of care. 1
◦ This form allows OTs to record the status of activities such as eating, hygiene, dressing, transfers, and ambulation
on a dependency scale of 1-10 recorded at 3 stages (admission, goal, and discharge).

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Patient/Family Education
◦ Patient and family education is a crucial component of
occupational therapy to provide the best care to their patients and
caregivers
◦ Patient/family education includes:3
◦ Diagnosis
◦ ADL/IADLs
◦ DME
◦ Transfers
◦ Functional mobility
◦ Safety
◦ Caregiver body mechanics
◦ Resources
◦ Follow-up recommendations
Community
Programs
◦ OTs are active in advocacy
◦ Including issues such as health care reform,
Medicare part B advocacy, Medicaid advocacy,
and many others
◦ They also have “communities of practice”
which allow OTs to network and learn about
specific communities1
◦ Autism, early childhood, homelessness, and
many more.
 Management of the Complex Neuro
Patient?

◦ OTs can evaluate the patient and get an in depth understanding of the patient’s medical, social,
emotional, and vocational history.
◦ OTs that work with patients with brain injuries assess how the physical, cognitive, and
behavioral impairments affect the patient’s activities of daily living.4
◦ Work with other disciplines to form a treatment plan
◦ They would provide expertise with ADLs, IADLS, health management, education
◦ Ex: post-stroke patient’s – OTs can help with baseline ADLs for functional improvements.
How Can PT Support OT?
◦ PTs and OTs are very similar professions, and it allows them to work well together
◦ When working with patient’s, PTs typically focus on strength, ROM, endurance, gait, and balance and
the OT’s focus on implementing those aspects into the patient’s everyday life.
◦ Example: the PT wants to improve the patient’s LE strength and balance. The OT wants to improve
transfers to a car, toilet, and sit to stands. The PT and OT can work together easily because they have
similar goals they want to target with the patient.
◦ Patients post-stroke is a common diagnosis where PTs and OTs co-treat. OTs would focus more on ADLs
such as bathing and dressing where a PT would focus more on improving the patient’s strength, gait, and
balance.5

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Current Literature – Article 1
Effectiveness of paediatric occupational therapy for children with disabilities: A systematic review 6
◦ Summary: This systematic review consisted of 129 articles measuring the effectiveness of 52 interventions
across 22 diagnoses. They categorized interventions into green, yellow, and red light categories to determine
the effectiveness of the interventions. Some diagnoses included were ADHD, Autism, brain injury, cerebral
palsy, spina bifida, and many others. Many interventions were evaluated but 40 out of 135 were considered
“green light, do it” interventions. Some of these green light interventions were behavioral interventions, family
centered care, handwriting task-specific practice, parent education and many more. They also go into more
detail about more specific interventions within these categories. 
◦ Critique: This is a well written article with lots of detail. I would highly recommend this article to an OT that
has interest in or is treating the pediatric population. 
◦ Clinical relevance: This review provides occupational therapists with an in-depth summary of effective
pediatric interventions.

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Current Literature – Article 2
Occupational therapy for people with dementia and their family carers provided at home: a systematic review and
meta-analysis7
◦ Summary: This systematic review included fifteen randomized controlled trials that compared occupational
therapy treatment in the home for patients with dementia and their caregivers. Usual occupation therapy care or
attention control occupational therapy resulted in improvements in overall ADLs, IADLs alone, behavior and
psychological symptoms, and quality of life. Also, the caregivers reported, less hours assisting the patient, less
distress with behaviors, and improved quality of life. 
◦ Critique: This is an informative article that relates the importance of occupational therapy and its benefits;
however, it lacks specific interventions of occupational therapy that could further benefit the occupational
therapist when determining an intervention plan. 
◦ Clinical relevance: This study recommends referring patients to occupational therapy for patients with dementia
and their caregivers to improve the patient's ability to carry out everyday activities and improve their quality of
life while living at home. 

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Current Literature – Article 3
Efficacy of Occupational Therapy Task-oriented Approach in Upper Extremity Post-stroke Rehabilitation 8
◦ Summary: This study evaluated the functional impairment efficacies of the occupational therapy task-
oriented (TO) approach on the affected upper extremity post-stroke. They measured shoulder flexion,
abduction, and elbow flexion and extension and recorded each at baseline, cross over, and at the end of
the study. The TO intervention showed statistically higher functional change scores.
◦ Critique: This study was well-developed however; I would have liked to see comparison interventions to
the TO approach to get a better understanding of how It is more beneficial compared to other
interventions.
◦ Clinical relevance: This study determined that the TO approach is an effective UE post-stroke
rehabilitation approach including clinically meaningful improvements. OTs can use this study for
evidence-based practice.

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Resources
1. American Occupational Therapy Association. (2020). Occupational therapy practice framework: Domain and process (4th ed.).
American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 74(Suppl. 2), 7412410010. https://doi.org/10.5014/ajot.2020.74S2001 
2. Occupational therapists : Occupational outlook handbook. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/occupational-therapists.htm. Published April 18, 2022. Accessed June 15, 2022.
3. Stromsdorfer byS. 10 family education topics for occupational therapists. myotspot.com. https://www.myotspot.com/family-
education-for-occupational-therapists/. Published September 6, 2016. Accessed June 15, 2022.
4. SuVitas A. Role of occupational therapy in neuro rehabilitation. SuVitas. https://suvitas.com/what-is-the-role-of-occupational-
therapy-in-neuro-rehabilitation/. Published October 3, 2020. Accessed June 15, 2022.
5. How pt, OT work together to help Memorial Regional Health Patients heal. Memorial Regional Health.
https://memorialregionalhealth.com/health-topics/primary-care-general-health/pt-ot-work-together-help-memorial-regional-health-
patients-heal/. Published May 23, 2018. Accessed June 15, 2022.
6. Novak I, Honan I. Effectiveness of paediatric occupational therapy for children with disabilities: A systematic review. Aust Occup
Ther J. 2019;66(3):258-273. doi:10.1111/1440-1630.12573
7. Bennett S, Laver K, Voigt-Radloff S, et al. Occupational therapy for people with dementia and their family carers provided at home:
a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMJ Open. 2019;9(11):e026308. Published 2019 Nov 11. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2018-026308

8. Almhdawi KA, Mathiowetz VG, White M, delMas RC. Efficacy of Occupational Therapy Task-oriented Approach in Upper
Extremity Post-stroke Rehabilitation. Occup Ther Int. 2016;23(4):444-456. doi:10.1002/oti.1447