Running Head: FINAL OCCUPATION-BASED PRACTICE REFLECTION

Final Occupation-based Practice Reflection

Shantel Bishoff
Touro University Nevada

FINAL OCCUPATION-BASED PRACTICE REFLECTION

Occupation-based practice is demonstrated in numerous ways throughout each artifact
within my professional portfolio. Throughout my time at Touro University Nevada I have gained
an immense amount of appreciation towards incorporating occupation-based practice within
treatment plans to influence beneficial gains within the client. My introduction to occupationbased practice during semester one began with an in-depth look into the Occupational Therapy
Practice Framework, which would soon be known to me as the OT bible. Throughout the
semester I was able to learn how to analyze occupations by breaking them down into task and
activity components. Although I felt confident in my ability to grasp this concept, I struggled
with the fact that it took an extremely long time to perform this type of analysis and I was
concerned of being able to do this for each of my clients on a timely and consistent basis.
Something I really enjoyed about the activity analysis assignment was the fact that I was able to
look at an occupation from a completely different view. I was able to simplify each component
that influenced my clients ability to perform an activity and it was intriguing and interesting to
understand the many aspects that contributed to successful participation.
As each semester progressed I found myself being able to incorporate the many aspects
of occupational analysis within each assignment, specifically within clinical and practical
scenarios to further increase my knowledge and understanding during development and
implementation of occupational intervention strategies. These case studies helped prepare me for
practical application of these similar learned strategies throughout my fieldwork placements to
increase holistic and client-centered practice when developing an occupational profile on a client
to further determine an appropriate intervention application. It was during this time I truly began
to understand the importance of client-centered care by fully understanding that the clients

FINAL OCCUPATION-BASED PRACTICE REFLECTION

wants and needs should always be at the center of any treatment plan in order to increase
success.
During third semester I was able to translate learned knowledge gained throughout my
didactic coursework to develop an innovative assistive device to help a child participate in his
everyday activities. I began this assignment by searching for an individual that was struggling
with successful participation in the everyday activities that brought him joy. My client of interest
was a young child who experienced a transradial upper limb amputation secondary to a traumatic
motor vehicle accident. He had just started first grade and his parents were extremely worried
about his health and well-being due to the fact that he struggled with all play activities during
recess time at school. This client did have a prosthetic device, but his parents had reported that it
bothered him and he did not like the way it looked and set him apart from other children. This is
where my analysis of occupations, tasks and activities truly came into play. I was able to gain an
appropriate occupational profile on my client to further understand his desires and the things that
brought him happiness in life. It was also disheartening to learn that the many activities that he
enjoyed doing, he had stopped, due to his amputation. I wanted to develop a simplistic device
that could help him participate in his many recess activities with ease of use, so he did not need
help to don or doff the device as well as a naturalistic look as to not set him apart from the other
children. I was able to develop a strap that transformed to adapt to various activities including
playing baseball, swinging on the swing set, jumping rope and playing jacks. Developing this
device on a budget helped me to further understand my ability to incorporate cost-effective
strategies to further increase ease of use and accessibility for these families.
As I have grown throughout my scholastic and educational experiences I have found the
application of occupation-based practice to come almost as if it were second nature. Throughout

FINAL OCCUPATION-BASED PRACTICE REFLECTION

my level two fieldwork experience I was able to apply my learned knowledge of the
occupational profile, analysis and intervention planning to further increase my ability to develop
and implement appropriate treatment strategies that were fitting and applicable to achieving my
clients goals. I feel very confident in my ability to grade specific activities in order to reach the
just right challenge for each client as an individual due to the skills and knowledge I have gained
throughout each progressive semester. I also understand when it is necessary to modify and adapt
an activity to increase successful, independent participation for a client of interest due to the
assignments which served as building blocks to ensure my understanding of the bigger picture. I
am confident that this learning process has provided me with the necessary information to be
able to treat a client in the most holistic and efficient way possible.