ASSESSMENT HOME SAFETY AND THE COGNITIVE PERFORMANCE TEST: A DISCONNECT IN PRACTICE OR PURPOSE?

摘要

Home safety is crucial for older adults. Occupational therapists use performance-based assessments (PBAs) to predict clients’ occupational capacity and provide recommendations for needed supports to ensure safety. Occupational therapists face barriers with using PBAs in practice due to their complexity and variability. The Cognitive Performance Test (CPT) is a widely sourced standardized PBA, regularly utilized with the older adult population, and is reportedly challenging to administer and score. Currently there is a lack of knowledge about challenges associated with the use of PBAs. This study will explore occupational therapists’ perspectives on challenges they experience when using the CPT, and aim to produce strategies to remediate the disconnect of the CPT’s use in practice. Six occupational therapists, from various clinical programs at a geriatric hospital, participated in scoring of a recorded CPT administration and an audio-recorded focus group. Participants discussed the challenges and strategies associated with the CPT in practice. Using multiple analyst triangulation, the transcribed recordings underwent thematic analysis to uncover main themes. Clinicians expressed personal qualities influencing their practice of “being” an occupational therapist, influences of the environment affecting their use of the CPT and identified patterns that they noticed while participating in the occupation of “doing” the CPT. The knowledge gained from this study can enhance clinician awareness of challenges associated with using the CPT and provide opportunity for occupational therapists to reflect upon their fit as clinicians within their practice environment, while utilizing a standardized assessment to help with the significant challenges that often accompany discharge.