A Study of Patient Motivation and Cooperation/Participation in Occupational Therapy

Abstract

This article reports the development of a model to explain patient motivation and cooperation / participation in occupational therapy and the findings of a descriptive study that examined the model using a survey design. The investigators' model, which was based on the health belief model, proposed that a patient's cooperation and participation in occupational therapy is based on his or her valuation of occupational therapy service. In turn, valuation is the result of the degree of concordance between the form of occupational therapy services received and the patient's expectations for recovery. Data from 338 physically disabled subjects were analyzed using the path analytic method. Results of the path analysis indicate limited support for the explanatory model. As hypothesized, valuation of occupational therapy is associated with cooperation and participation in therapy. However, the proposed determinants of valuation of occupational therapy were not supported by the results.