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The use of coaching in occupational therapy: An integrative review
Author(s) -
Kessler Dorothy,
Graham Fiona
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
australian occupational therapy journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.595
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 1440-1630
pISSN - 0045-0766
DOI - 10.1111/1440-1630.12175
Subject(s) - coaching , psychological intervention , occupational therapy , psychology , evidence based practice , limiting , empirical evidence , applied psychology , clinical psychology , psychotherapist , medicine , alternative medicine , psychiatry , mechanical engineering , philosophy , epistemology , pathology , engineering
Background/aim Coaching has been identified as a core enablement skill of occupational therapists. Occupational therapists have begun to embrace the use of coaching as a therapeutic tool to promote client‐centeredness in their practice. As the use of coaching becomes more popular it is important to examine and evaluate coaching use in occupational therapy practice to clarify what is meant by coaching and inform future research and practice in this area. Methods An integrative literature review was conducted to examine how coaching is being used by occupational therapists, identify the similarities and differences between coaching interventions and to identify the empirical evidence for the use of coaching in occupational therapy. Results The literature search resulted in 24 articles describing 11 different interventions that reported use of coaching methods by occupational therapists with various populations. Similarities among interventions included goal setting, problem solving and an educational component. Differences in the directiveness of the occupational therapist were evident. The level of research evidence for individual interventions ranges from low to moderate. Conclusions Differences are evident in the coaching theories and methods used in occupational therapy. While evidence of effectiveness of these interventions is promising, study designs used to date are vulnerable to bias and have had small sample sizes, limiting the strength of evidence. More research using clear descriptions of the coaching approach and more robust research methods is needed to better inform clinical practice.