COPM February 2022 Newsletter - COPM and its Theoretical Basis

February 2022

The COPM and its Theoretical Basis

The Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM) supports client-centred, occupation-based practice. It is an individualized measure designed to detect change in a client’s self-reported occupational performance over time. It was originally designed for use by occupational therapists, but since its original publication in 1991; it is being used by other disciplines and teams as well (Law et al., 2019). The COPM is intended to be used as an outcome measure. As such it should be administered at the beginning of service to identify performance issues and assist in establishing intervention goals, and again at an appropriate interval, thereafter, to determine progress and outcome.

The COPM was originally designed to provide a practice tool based upon the Canadian Model of Occupational Performance (CMOP); first published in 1983; frequently updated, then expanded in 2007 to include Engagement – CMOP-E (DNHW/CAOT, 1983; CAOT 1991, 1997, 2002). The addition of the concept engagement makes explicit the interest of occupational therapists in both occupational engagement and occupational performance. Both the CMOP and the CMOP-E emphasize a client-centred approach in that an individual's occupational performance is determined by self-report, rather than objective observation. The models show that occupational performance is the result of the interactions between persons, the environment and occupation classified as self-care, productivity and leisure. The COPM is also appropriate for use with other theoretical approaches in occupational therapy (Law et al., 2019).

This newsletter is a modified version of information available in the COPM manual (5^th Edition- Revised). The COPM Manual is available for purchase through the COPM website www.thecopm.ca.

References
Law, M., Baptiste, S., Carswell, A., McColl, M.A., Polatajko, H., & Pollock, N. (2019). Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (5^thed.-revised). Altona, Canada: COPM Inc.

Department of National Health and Welfare and the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists. (1983). Guidelines for the client-centred practice of occupational therapy. (No. H39-33/1983E). Ottawa, ON: Department of National Health and Welfare.

Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists. (1991). Occupational therapy guidelines for client-centred practice. Toronto, ON: CAOT Publications ACE.

Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists. (1997). Enabling occupation: An occupational therapy perspective. Ottawa, ON: CAOT Publications ACE.

Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists. (2002). Enabling occupation: An occupational therapy perspective (Rev. ed.). Ottawa ON: CAOT Publications ACE.