Patients’ perceptions of home health occupational therapy

Home health occupational therapy plays an important and growing role in patients’ recovery. Home health treatment is unique in that the therapist is a visitor in the patient’s home environment. A phenomenological approach was used to examine perceptions of five individuals who were interviewed twice to collect their impressions of home health occupational therapy. Participants’ goals for therapy as solicited by home health occupational therapists and participants perceived goals were not always pursued collaboratively. Therapeutic and compensatory occupations were incorporated less often than purposeful exercise. Participants valued those occupations engaged in, despite limited physical recovery. Participants’ perceptions of occupational therapists were generally positive. Participants were unprepared for discharge, which was perceived as significant and they as helpless to prevent it despite desire for continued services. Few occupations reported in their treatment coincided with participants’ difficulty distinguishing between occupational and physical therapies. Continued research focused on patients’ perceptions of home health occupational therapy would be useful in further examining this phenomenon and would enlighten home health occupational therapy practice.