Assessments are an integral part of occupational therapy practice. Assessment is defined as “the process of gathering sufficient information about individuals and their environments to make informed decisions about intervention.”
1 It serves as the foundation for an occupational therapist’s decisions, professional opinions, interventions, and recommendations. Assessments can incorporate standardized, non-standardized, and informal assessments. and other data gathering sources. Assessment is an ongoing process throughout service delivery and is to be completed with clinical changes or as new conditions arise.
The College uses the term “client” to refer to the individual(s) who receive occupational therapy services from an occupational therapist. Under the
Regulated Health Professions Act, 1991, the term “patient” is used to refer to the recipient of health care service provided by a regulated health professional. For the purpose of the Standards for Assessments, the term “client(s)” is used; this term is also used in reference to “patient(s)”.
The scope of occupational therapy is broad. Some occupational therapists work as solo practitioners, while others may function within multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary team-based environments. The type and format of assessments may vary due to many factors including: the purpose of the assessment, service delivery model, practice setting, and available resources. All assessments involve a comprehensive, consistent, and collaborative process. Occupational therapists are expected to apply evidence-informed relevant and current practices throughout the assessment process, and draw on their knowledge, skills, judgement, and experience to determine the most suitable approach.
This means that the approach used to conduct assessments can differ between individual occupational therapists depending on the client’s physical, social, cognitive, emotional, behavioural, environmental, spiritual, cultural and communication needs.
The Standards for Assessments reflect the most common approach to assessments conducted virtually or in-person and are based on core occupational therapy principles outlined in the
Essential Competencies of Practice for Occupational Therapists in Canada, 3rd edition. The purpose of these Standards is to ensure that occupational therapists in Ontario are aware of the minimum expectations for the assessment component of their practice.
1 Christiansen & Baum, 1992, pg. 376.