USE OF ACTIVTY ANALYSIS AS AN OBSERVATIONAL ASSESSMENT TOOL AND ACTIVITY FOCUSED DOCUMENTATION

Background: Occupational and activity analysis are core occupational therapy skills. Many clinicians in Norway have reported a challenge to find an easy accessible tool to analyse observations of clients’ activity... [ view full abstract ]

Background:
Occupational and activity analysis are core occupational therapy skills. Many clinicians in Norway have reported a challenge to find an easy accessible tool to analyse observations of clients’ activity performance as well as a consistent way to document the assesments. The OT program in Oslo has developed an occupational analysis system (EVA) for use in teaching students analysis of activity and OT terminology. A multi-centre project was initiated to explore the EVA-system’s suitability as a clinical instrument for use in a variety of clinical settings.
Method:
Selected EVA forms were used to observe clients’ occupational performance and analyse motor, process, and communication and interaction skills, by 24 practitioners and 16 students during a 12 week period. Participants completed a questionnaire relating to their experience using the forms and a documentation template in their practice. Questionnaires were analysed together with protocols from group-work during evaluation seminars.
Evaluation:
The findings indicate that the selected EVA forms satisfy clinical utility criteria. EVA can be applied to a variety of activities and settings and contribute to uniform documentation and consistent terminology use among occupational therapists.
Application to practice:
Many occupational therapists in a wide range of practices in Norway now use EVA as part of their clinical practice for observations of patients’/clients’ activity performance and in documentation. A user manual has been developed to connect the theories from education to a clinical setting.