What Is The Importance Of Accurate Assessment In Occupational Therapy

Assessment is a crucial part of occupational therapy, as it forms the basis for all other aspects of the occupational therapy process. According to Christiansen and Baum, assessment is “the process of gathering sufficient information about individuals and their environments to make informed decisions about intervention”1. The following reflective paper will examine various aspects of the occupational therapy process in order to determine the importance of accurate assessment in occupational therapy. I will explore this topic by reflecting on my professional and ethical role as an occupational therapy student and future occupational therapy practitioner, and by considering the implications of inaccurate assessment for the client and the treatment

If the assessment of a client is inaccurate, the analysis of the assessment results will not accurately reflect the areas of the client’s occupational performance which are dysfunctional and, therefore, the intervention will most likely be unsuccessful and inappropriate for the needs of the client. In accordance with the ethical principle of beneficence, therapy should benefit the client and not be detrimental to his or her occupational performance4. As the inaccurate assessment of a client would result in the selection of an intervention plan and treatment goals which do not necessarily target or treat the client’s dysfunction, his or her occupational performance would not improve as a result of the intervention, and the treatment provided would therefore not be therapeutic or beneficial to the client. Thus, the inaccurate assessment of clients is

It is important that the need for occupational therapy services is based on an accurate account of the client’s current and past occupational performance5. Furthermore, an inaccurate initial assessment means that the results of subsequent reassessments – conducted after each treatment session – will not make sense in light of the improvement or regression expected of the client – in terms of his or her occupational performance – as a result of the treatment and/or other factors. Similarly, if the reassessments are not carried out accurately, the results of these reassessments, when compared with previous assessments, would not correspond to the actual improvement or deterioration of the client’s occupational performance. Reassessments are used by occupational therapists during the treatment process to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention plan and its implementation6. Thus, the occupational therapist cannot accurately determine the success of the treatment sessions in improving the client’s occupational performance and, therefore, will not be able to review and modify the treatment plan accordingly in order to ensure that the treatment is successful and benefits the client. As a result, the treatment may be unsuccessful in enabling the client to improve his or her occupational performance, and thus the ethical principle of