2022 Volume 18 Issue 1 Pages 199-207
Introduction: Occupation-based practice (OBP) is seldom performed for people with severe acute cerebrovascular accidents (CVA). This study aimed to explore the conditions and situations in which occupational therapists (OTs) provide OBP to patients with severe acute CVA.
Methods: Semi-structured interviews with eight OTs were conducted to determine OBP for patients with severe acute CVA. The participants were OTs who had conducted OBP for patients with CVA in an acute care setting. Data were analyzed using inductive analysis. The procedures were: (i) to create verbatim records, (ii) to separate the verbatim records by context and to code while comparing the differences and commonalities of each code, (iii) to create subcategories, and (iv) to create categories by grouping together the subcategories with concepts that have similarities.
Results: The participants (OTs) reported that they have performed OBP for patients with severe acute CVA patients when (1) environments are available to perform occupations, (2) OTs establish good quality teamwork with multi-disciplinary professionals, (3) OTs emphasize patient-centered practice, (4) patients express their wishes to do occupations, (5) patients and families are getting to ready to resume occupation, (6) patients' occupations are actionable and meaningful.
Conclusion: The OTs' belief, the supportive environment, the client and family oriented toward occupations, and the identification of actionable and meaningful occupations were critical for the OTs to implement OBP for the severe acute CVA patients. These results could provide OTs with insights for promoting OBP in acute settings, especially working with patients with severe acute CVA.
