The Importance of Goal Setting in Occupational Therapy
Because occupational therapy is all about enabling a person to overcome their unique physical and mental challenges to achieve what they want in their everyday life, setting personal occupational therapy goals is an absolutely critical part of the process.
Goals guide the therapy process and help to motivate you to work on reaching those milestones.
There is no one-size-fits-all path to follow, so figuring out what’s important to you, what’s stopping you getting there and what solutions will work in your situation is the first step to achieving success in occupational therapy. This is where a client-centered approach becomes essential, as it ensures that the goals are meaningful and relevant to your individual needs.
Once you have your occupational therapy goals, your occupational therapist will work with you to tailor a program that will address your specific challenges. The Canadian Occupational Performance Measure(COPM) is often used in this context to document and measure your occupational performance across various domains such as self-care, leisure, and productivity.
Occupational therapy goals serve as a guide for the most appropriate therapy interventions, for tracking your progress, and providing insight for adjustments, alternative therapies, or discharge from therapy.
In this article we’ll look at how to get the goal setting process right so you have a great foundation for successful occupational therapy treatment.
Strategies for Developing Effective Goals
When you get started with an occupational therapist, usually they will do a functional assessment, which means they test and record what you are able to do independently and the things that are challenging for you in everyday activities.
The functional assessment is an important starting point because knowing where you are right now helps you to decide what your goals should be. It also means you have a baseline to record your progress against.
Getting started with occupational therapy goal-setting
In helping you to set your goals, your occupational therapist should be
Involving you in the process and prioritising what’s important to you
Developing goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART – more on this later)
Using your initial assessment to guide goal setting, and including outcomes measures to track progress
Considering your overall well being, cognitive skills, gross motor skills, fine motor skills and mental health when setting goals
Incorporate adaptive equipment and assistive technology into goal setting where appropriate.
Short and Long Term Goals
It’s also helpful to consider both long term goals and short term goals.
A long term goal gives you the big picture, helping you to envisage where you want to be. It inspires and motivates you.
A short term goal helps you to break the bigger goals down into smaller, more achievable goals that you can tick off on your way to achieving the big ones.
Without the short term goals, long term goals can feel unachievable and it can be hard to know where to start. Short term goals provide the ‘roadmap’ to get to the big and meaningful goals, and they help you to see your progress along the way.
Creating SMART Occupational Therapy Goals
You may have heard of ‘SMART’ goals before, as the ‘SMART’ framework is used in lots of different goal-setting environments, not just health.
SMART goals are well-defined, progress can be easily tracked, and timelines are reasonable.
Each letter of SMART stands for an attribute of a well-drafted goal:
Specific goals target a clear outcome, such as “write legibly for 30 minutes.”
Measurable goals can be objectively assessed, such as “complete morning routine in 1 hour.”
Achievable goals are realistic and attainable, taking into account the client’s strengths, challenges, and priorities.
Relevant goals align with the client’s values, needs, and priorities.
Time-bound goals have a specific deadline or timeframe for completion.
Using this method for goal-setting will help ensure you come up with appropriate goals that can effectively motivate you and keep you on track.
Examples of Occupational Therapy Goals
Occupational therapy can be used for such a wide variety of injuries, disabilities and developmental delays, that occupational therapy goals for different people and their different abilities can be vastly different! Here are a few examples of both long and short term goals:
Enhance gross motor skills through play-based activities to improve overall physical function.
Develop skills for independent living, such as self-care skills and social skills.
Improve fine motor skills and fine motor control through occupational therapy activities, such as puzzles and playdough.
Increase participation in daily activities, such as dressing and grooming, with minimal assistance.
Demonstrate developmentally appropriate engagement with siblings, without aversion 80% of the time.
Demonstrate improved divided attention to independently complete at least 6 hours of light duty office work with no errors, using compensatory strategies and assistive devices as needed, within 6 months.
Use adaptive equipment or assistive technology to improve time management skills, arriving on time to appointments 100% of the time.
Tie shoelaces independently.
Improve flexibility by being able to adapt to changes in plans and routines with occasional adult support, by the end of the year.
Perform upper body dressing with minimal assistance within 3 months to enhance independence in daily living activities.
Examples of school-based paediatric occupational therapy goals include improving handwriting, increasing participation in classroom activities, and developing social skills.
Determining the Effectiveness of Goals in Occupational Therapy Practice
Your occupational therapy session should include regular check-ins to see how you are progressing against your occupational therapy goals.
If you’re not making meaningful progress, your occupational therapist might change approach and try something different. Not every treatment or intervention works the same way for everyone, so trying different things is important, and there’s no need to feel disheartened if the first method doesn’t work.
It could also be the case that the goals wasn’t quite right, or that the situation has changed, so be sure to adjust your occupational therapy goals as needed to ensure they remain relevant and achievable.
And make sure you celebrate when you achieve your goals!
Conclusion
Occupational therapy goals are a crucial component of the therapeutic process, serving as a guide for therapy interventions, tracking progress, and providing insight for adjustments, alternative therapies, or discharge from therapy.
By keeping the approach focused on your personal situation and preferences, developing SMART goals, and incorporating outcome measures and initial evaluations, occupational therapists can create effective goals that improve your overall quality of life and participation in daily activities.
How can we help?
At Goal Coach, our occupational therapists are experts at helping you to come up with great occupational therapy goals and then getting you on the path to achieving them. We specialise in OT for children, people with disabilities, mental health and rehabilitation. With no waiting list, you can get started with Goal Coach occupational therapy right away, starting with a free 15-minute session so you can be comfortable that our service is right for you.
