Occupational Therapy Program Student Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Occupational Therapy

Copyright Statement

All rights reserved. This publication is intended for use solely by faculty, students, and staff of Nova Southeastern University. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, now known or later developed, including but not limited to photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author or the publisher.

Department

College of Health Care Sciences – Occupational Therapy Department

First Advisor

Wendy Stav

Second Advisor

Elise Bloch

Third Advisor

Donna Colaianni

Publication Date / Copyright Date

2021

Publisher

Nova Southeastern University

Abstract

Occupational therapy practice is intended to reflect the core construct of occupation throughout all aspects of service delivery. In pediatricoccupational therapy, there is insufficient evidence examining regularly selected assessment tools and the occupational constructs ofselected assessment tools. A mixed methods research study was conducted to examine the most regularly selected assessment tools by pediatric occupational therapists and the resultant effects on service delivery specific to goal writing, intervention planning, length oftreatment, materials used in practice, and the context of service delivery among other practice outcomes generated by therapist participants. The primary assessment tools utilized by pediatric occupational therapists reflected a skill-based approach despite the profession’s foundational constructs in occupation. Therapists were also unable to correctly classify assessment tools as occupation-based, resulting ininconsistent integration of occupation-based assessment tools across pediatric clinical practice. The completion of semi-structured interviews further reflected a need for the profession to integrate occupation-based assessments with decreased opportunities secondary to training, available supplies, lack of awareness of foundational constructs, and facility expectations. The importance of occupation-basedassessment tools and resultant effects on clinical practice were highlighted with an emphasis to integrate occupation into all facets ofpediatric occupational therapy service delivery.

Disciplines

Occupational Therapy

Keywords

Assessments, Occupation-based assessment Tools, Occupation-based practice, Occupational therapy, Pediatrics

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