Carers' Perceptions of Community Occupational Therapy: Short Report

Abstract

This paper reports on the experience of informal carers whose family members have received occupational therapy. The qualitative study focused on one city. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with six carers and the interviews were analysed using thematic analysis. The carers were generally satisfied with the occupational therapy that the care recipient received. The carers felt involved in the occupational therapy, although some had a lengthy wait for this. There were limited examples to demonstrate that carers received support in their own right during assessment and intervention. These findings highlighted the need for a timely occupational therapy service and the potential need to expand occupational therapists' role with carers.