Using the Occupational Performance History Interview (OPHI): Therapists' Reflections

Abstract

Clinical interviews provide occupational therapists with sensitive and versatile sources of information; however, reliable means to collect and interpret this information are necessary for effective clinical decision making. The Occupational Performance History Interview (OPHI) is a semi-structured interview, designed to address the need for a reliable and clinically useful interview tool in occupational therapy. This article describes a qualitative research study, in which four experienced therapists reflected on their use of the OPHI to interview people referred to a psychiatric day hospital service. The therapists' reflections, based on listening to audiotapes of these interviews, focused on the interview procedure and on themselves as interviewers. They illustrate how the conduct and interpretation of interviews may be guided by interactive reasoning and professional values. The development of a conversational interviewing style, whilst using this semi-structured interview tool, is also described. To develop reliable interview tools that are also consistent with the particular values and perspective of occupational therapy, consideration might usefully be given to using evaluation criteria applied to qualitative research, as well as conventional scientific criteria of reliability and validity.