Occupational therapy at Grupo Casaverde
Occupational therapy works with people who have an illness, disability or are in a situation of social vulnerability.
The WHO defines occupational therapy as a group a techniques, methods and actions that, with the help of activities applied to therapeutic purposes, prevent and maintain health. It also influences on the recovery of people’s functions with regard to a physical, cognitive or behavioural limitations and this therapy assesses behaviour in order to achieve the highest possible individual independence and reinsertion in all aspects of life: work, mental, physical and social.
WHO ARE OCCUPATIONAL THERAPISTS?
Occupational therapists have university degrees in health and social fields, allowing them to work in different places: hospitals, nursing homes, rehabilitation clinics, schools, educational establishments, etc.
WHAT DO OCCUPATIONAL THERAPISTS DO?
The work of occupational therapists has two main aspects: assessing the patient and the treatment.
Patient assessment is based on a thorough individual analysis, detecting which functions are deteriorated and to which degree. In order to do so, standardised and non-standardised tests are used. These tests provide information on the functional abilities, loss and deterioration. Nonetheless, patients are observed while carrying out their daily life activities in order to detect difficulties. Once this information is obtained, specific therapeutic objectives are set and designed in order to develop a suitable treatment. Subsequently, monitoring assessments are carried out in order to control the achievement of the objectives.
OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY: PATIENT TREATMENT
Patient treatment is based on using intervention techniques with the objective of promoting patient recovery and maximising independence. Some of these techniques that are applied in the field of neurorehabilitation are: Motor relearning aimed at tasks, Mirror Therapy, Constraint Induced Movement Therapy, Bobath Therapy, Therapeutic Cognitive Exercises, etc. It is important at this phase to involve patients, but also their family. We must provide information and guidance so they can collaborate to the extent possible in order to achieve the therapeutic objectives. Activities are designed and adapted according to patients’ needs and they will also motivate patients, challenge them and be achievable in order to boost participation. Sessions can be arranged in a group or individually, depending on the objectives and individual characteristics. Individual sessions are aimed at treating each patient’s specific aspects in a private. On the other hand, group sessions can be highly successful for people with group interaction problems so they can socialise in a group. The goal should be to prepare patients to achieve maximum autonomy and quality of life in all aspects of life, from the most basic activities to the most complex, not forgetting job reinsertion.
OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY AT GRUPO CASAVERDE
At Grupo Casaverde we develop integral treatments to approach each case in a comprehensive manner: we start with a functional assessment and detect deficits in occupational functioning to later intervene in re-educating in daily life activities and in the rehabilitation of components of altered occupational performance: sensory, motor, cognitive and psychosocial. We also recommend and use support products and carry out personalised training sessions with carers.
