AOTA

Salvador Bondoc, OTD, OTR/L, BCPR, CHT, Holly Alexander, OTR/L, CDRS and Valerie Hill, MS, OTR/L

Earn .1 AOTA CEU (1 NBCOT PDU/1 contact hour)

ABSTRACT
Outcome measures represent different things for different fields and areas of practice. In general, we may define outcome measures as a collective term for tools that measure the output of a systematic process related to a goal or aim. In occupational therapy, the intervention process is directed toward “supporting health and participation in life through engagement in occupation” (American Occupational Therapy Association [AOTA], 2008, p. 652). Related to this aim are interconnected domains of health and occupational performance made explicit through the Occupational Therapy Practice Framework: Domain and Process, 2nd Edition (Framework-II; AOTA, 2008). These domains include health-related quality of life, participation, performance patterns, performance skills, and client factors. We delineate change in these domains that are a direct result of occupational therapy interventions as clinical outcomes, as opposed to system outcomes that are born out of organizational processes designed to improve quality and efficiency of service delivery (Bondoc & Burkhardt, 2004). In this article, we will focus primarily on the application of clinical outcome measures as an essential component of evidence-based physical rehabilitation practice.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After reading this article, you should be able to:
1. Recognize the significance of outcome measures to physical rehabilitation practice.
2. Select applied outcome measures used in the domain of occupational therapy.
3. Define general clinometric properties of outcome measures.
4. Identify pragmatic considerations in selecting outcome measures.

Learning Level: Entry

Target audience: Occupational therapists and occupational therapy assistants

Content: Category 2: Occupational Therapy Process: Evaluation; Category 3: Professional Issues: Contemporary Issues and Trends

Reference Information:
Bondac, S., Alexander, H., Hill, V., (2011). Using Outcome Measures To Improve Occupational Therapy Practice in Physical Rehabilitation. OT Practice, 16(06), CE-1–CE-8.

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