The Qu.E.S.T. (Quality of Experience Spending Time): Developing Content for a Self-Report Assessment

Background: The use of self-report assessments ensures that clients’ perspectives are obtained when planning OT intervention and evaluating outcomes (Backman, 2005). To ensure relevance to clients’ daily lives, persons for... [ view full abstract ]

Background:
The use of self-report assessments ensures that clients’ perspectives are obtained when planning OT intervention and evaluating outcomes (Backman, 2005). To ensure relevance to clients’ daily lives, persons for whom the assessment is designed should participate during its development (Brody, Tesler & Christiansen, 2009). The objective of this qualitative descriptive research was to identify content for the QuEST, an assessment designed to measure a person’s experience of occupying time.
Method:
The research occurred at a USA organization that provided services for community-living, low-income clients experiencing HIV/AIDS and physical/mental health conditions. Ten participants, 40-65 years old, were recruited who were not working; the majority identified as male. Participants were interviewed 4 times over 6 months about how they occupied their time. Qualitative content analysis, which involves minimal interpretation, was used to analyze the transcribed audio-recorded data.
Results:
A narrative description of their experiences emerged, characterized by two broad themes. Spending time specifically reflected engaging periodically with particular people, in certain activities, and within different places. Spending time generally reflected engaging over time in active, rewarding, and desired manners.
Conclusion:
This research led to the creation of items for the QuEST that reflected the multifaceted experience of occupying time from the participants’ perspective.
Application to Practice:
Developing a self-report assessment that directly reflects clients’ daily lives serves to facilitate client-centred practice.