Abstract
Background Observation is an important method for occupational therapists (OTs) to gather information on people’s occupational performance; yet, not much research has been conducted on OTs’ descriptions of doing observations in their practices. Aims This study aimed to explore community OTs descriptions of doing observations during the assessment of persons with cognitive impairments. Material and Methods Nineteen OTs participated in focus group interviews. Thematic analysis with an inductive approach was performed. Results Three themes were revealed during analysis, the value of doing unstructured observations, the importance of doing observations in familiar contexts, and the importance of experience, structure and competence when doing observation. Conclusions and Significance This study showed that the participants regarded observation as one of OTs’ core competencies, and they described doing observations in different ways. The results emphasised the importance of doing unstructured observations in persons’ familiar contexts when assessing persons with cognitive impairments. However, the participants highlighted the need for increasing OTs structure and competence through implementing more occupation-based standardised assessment tools for OTs in community services to facilitate evidence-based practice.
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