Occupational Therapy Practice Guidelines for Adults with Traumatic Brain Injury

By Kathleen Golisz, OTR, OTD

Practice guidelines have been widely developed in response to the health care reform movement in the United States. They can be a useful tool for improving the quality of health care, enhancing consumer satisfaction, promoting appropriate use of services, and reducing costs. The American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA), which represents the interests of 140,000 occupational therapists, occupational therapy assistants, and students of occupational therapy, is committed to providing information to support decision making that promotes high-quality health care and wellness and educational systems that are affordable and accessible to all.

Using an evidence-based perspective and key concepts from the Occupational Therapy Practice Framework, this guideline provides an overview of the occupational therapy process for adults with traumatic brain injury, including definition, epidemiology, stages of recovery, referral, evaluation, and interventions throughout the various recover phases.

This publication is designed to help occupational therapists and occupational therapy assistants, as well as individuals who manage, reimburse, or set policy for occupational therapy services, understand the contribution of occupational therapy in treating adults with TBI. This guideline also can serve as a reference for parents, school administrators, educators, and other school staff; health care facility managers; education and health care regulators; third-party payers; and managed care organizations.