Occupational Therapist Perspectives on the Potential of Performance Profiling in Practice

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Client-centered practice is seen as vital to the occupational therapy profession. However, there are ongoing challenges to promote our professional values and meet the expectations of services and organizations. The complexity of the relationship between the practitioner and client is a consistent discussion theme within the occupational therapy profession. Research has questioned the disconnection between practitioners and client-centered intentions within practice that may impact client choice, resulting in disempowerment. Issues such as risk taking and cost reduction have been highlighted as being affected, reflecting the views of Hammell (2007), who reinforced the notion, stating, “occupational therapists fail to address or even acknowledge the practical and ethical implication of serving two masters, their clients and the service which we are employed” (p. 264). There is still a significant shift needed from therapist led sessions to truly collaborative therapy (Sumsion & Law 2006). As a result, the research introduced an alternative method in the form of performance profiling to occupational therapy. Performance profiling (Butler 1989) was devised as an application of Kelly’s (1955) personal construct theory to sporting psychology. This predicates on the notion people use their experiences to interpret the world, a process called construing. Performance profiling offers a systematic method to enhance the understanding of how athletes rate their physical, psychological and technical skill development to achieve optimum performance. This supports collaboration to build prime interventions based on the athlete’s own perception of need. The technique provides understanding and quantifying perceptions of both the client and therapist. The research intention was to understand from expert occupational therapists the perception of Performance Profiling application to occupational therapy.

METHOD: The research used a social constructionist methodology to investigate expert occupational therapists’ perceptions of the potential of Performance Profiling. Perceptions were investigated during social lines of enquiry with relevance to previous experiences of occupational therapy.METHOD: Ethical approval was granted by the University of Cumbria, UK. The methods included a workshop on Performance Profiling followed by either a focus group or an unstructured interview depending on the number of participants. Participants were asked two questions 1. To share their thoughts about Performance Profiling and 2. Whether they thought it could support OT practice. The data were analysed thematically. RESULTS:Four major themes were found: theoretical perspectives, practice settings, promoting communication and education. There was agreement that Performance Profiling had potential to support occupational therapy practice though enhancing communication with clients. The participants expressed they felt the performance profile method enabled the therapist to understand the clients’ perspective alongside recognising their own view upon the client decision making. Participants agreed that there is an opportunity to utilise the method within occupational therapy education, to promote reflection of their occupation as a future occupational therapist. The Performance Profile may enable us to move with the shifting sands of the profession and context in which we are placed. CONCLUSION:The research has now developed into a doctoral research study using grounded theory approach to consider the international application within the United states and the United Kingdom. The research allows reflection upon our position as occupational therapists and derived expectations of our clients from a policy service and theory perspective.

References

Butler, R., & Hardy, L. (1992). The performance profile: Theory and application. Sport Psychologist, 253–264.

Hammell, K. (2007). Client- Centred Practice: Ethical Obligation or Professional Obfuscation. British journal of Occupational Therapy,70(6).

George, K. (1955). The psychology of personal constructs (Vol. 1). NewYork: Norton

Sumsion, T., & Law, M. (2006). A review of Evidence on the Conceptual Elements informing Client Centred Practice. Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy,73, 153.