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Guidelines for Occupational Therapy Interventions Based on Meaningful and Psychologically Rewarding Occupations

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Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to describe a newly developed set of guidelines for use of meaningful and psychologically rewarding occupations as therapeutic media in occupational therapy interventions for better therapy outcomes among occupational therapy service users. We begin with a report of the results from meta-analyses indicating that participation in and/or interventions based on meaningful and psychologically rewarding occupations have a positive effect on perceived health and well-being. Using these findings from meta-analysis as a foundation, we present step-by-step guidelines regarding how to evaluate a service user in order to identify personally meaningful and psychologically rewarding occupations; assess the occupational performance issues that are a priority for the service user; plan and implement evidence-based and theory-based interventions that are centered on personally meaningful and psychologically rewarding occupations; and evaluate therapeutic outcomes. Finally, we provide a case example to illustrate application of the intervention guidelines. We recommend that the guidelines be tested through clinical trials in order to determine their clinical effectiveness in typical occupational therapy practice settings.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Occupational Therapy Department, School of Health Sciences, University of South Dakota, Sanford Coyote Sports Center, 414 E Clark Street, Vermillion, SD, 57069, USA

    Moses N. Ikiugu, Whitney Lucas-Molitor, Diana Feldhacker, Cassidy Gebhart, Mallory Spier, Lauren Kapels, Riley Arnold & Rebecca Gaikowski

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  1. Moses N. Ikiugu
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  2. Whitney Lucas-Molitor
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Ikiugu, M.N., Lucas-Molitor, W., Feldhacker, D. et al. Guidelines for Occupational Therapy Interventions Based on Meaningful and Psychologically Rewarding Occupations. J Happiness Stud 20, 2027–2053 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-018-0030-z

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