Providing Vocational Assessment to Clients with Mental Health Conditions
Work Conditioning Referrals Increase With
Joule
Reporting Patients' Work Abilities: How the
Use of Standardised Work Assessments Improved
Volume: 67 Number: 3 Page: 129 -- 132
Publisher: The College of Occupational Therapists
Abstract: Reporting patients' work abilities accurately is essential in the rehabilitation
process. Work assessment and rehabilitation require occupational therapists to be skilled
in the use of valid and reliable assessment tools to support clinical reasoning. The aim
of this study was to ascertain if the use of two standardised work assessments (SWAs)
improved the quality of the information recorded about patients' work abilities.
Case note review using a local standard and audit tool was carried out before (n = 42)
and after (n = 41) use of the Valpar Component Work Samples and the Worker Role Interview.
Anecdotal evidence was also collected. The results demonstrated an improvement in the
reporting of most of the areas matched against the standard and the anecdotal evidence
was supportive of the use of SWAs. It was concluded that the use of SWAs by skilled
occupational therapists improved the reporting of patients' work abilities.
© British Journal of Occupational Therapy 2004