A Study to Determine a British Occupational Therapy Definition of Client-Centred Practice

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a study that used the Delphi technique to create a draft definition of client-centred practice in occupational therapy. A brief literature review of the issues related to the Delphi technique is followed by details about the 64 therapists who participated in the four rounds of this study. They represented a range of geographical areas and areas of practice. In round one, the participants were asked to add items to or eliminate items from a list of components of client-centred practice chosen from the literature. These components related to the client, the therapist and client-centred practice in general. These items were placed in rank order in round two and further reviewed in round three. Round four provided the opportunity to comment on the first draft of the definition. Information is provided about the analysis of the results in each round. The resulting second draft of the definition is presented in the paper along with a discussion of the limitations of the study.