Cognitive Processes of Occupational Therapists in Psychiatric Occupational Therapy: A Text Analysis of Case Study Reports

抄録

Objective: Occupational therapy plays a crucial role in the promotion of social participation and functional recovery. Although case studies provide valuable insights into intervention processes, their findings are often fragmented and lack systematic analyses. This study aimed to elucidate the clinical reasoning processes of occupational therapists in psychiatric settings by analyzing the discussion sections of case study reports.

Methods: A total of 159 case study reports registered in the Japanese Association of Occupational Therapists' Case Report Registration System between 2014 and 2023 were analyzed using Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA). Text preprocessing was performed to standardize the terminology and the optimal number of topics was determined using perplexity scores and the ldatuning package in R.

Results: The analysis identified 19 topics, with prominent themes including “patient,” “occupation,” “intervention,” and “support.” Occupational therapists frequently describe patients' conditions, intervention strategies, and the role of occupational activities. These concepts align with the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health's “Activities and Participation” framework, indicating that therapists integrate clinical and contextual perspectives in intervention planning.

Conclusion: This study provides empirical insights into therapists' decision-making processes and contributes to a deeper understanding of psychiatric occupational therapy. Future research should incorporate patient perspectives and intervention outcomes to enhance the clinical reasoning from a more comprehensive perspective.