Updated 7 August 2017
OTIPM: A model for implementing top-down,
client-centered, and occupation-based
assessment, intervention, and documentation
Developed by Professor Anne G. Fisher, ScD, OT, FAOTA
The OTIPM rescued me from an “OT-depression”! Half of my clients did not need OT, they needed
physiotherapy. After I learned the OTIPM, I made sure the OT referrals were appropriate and took
more time for the “interviewing–observing–goal-setting–process,” and I focused more on education
and compensation. Nothing totally new, but still it changed something. I gained more OT self-esteem
and joy in my work.
We changed our documentation system. And we “threw out” the old tests, and now we focus on
“performance of prioritized activities.” Even one of the most “body-function-working OT colleagues”
are enthusiastically reporting that they are reaching goals more easily and faster!
Katharina, 2015
Overview
This 3-day course is ideal for occupational therapy practitioners, educators, and researchers who want
to implement best possible occupation-based and occupation-focused services. The course content
progresses step-by-step through the phases of the occupational therapy process. Lectures, video case
examples, and extensive opportunities to practice enable the course participants to reflect on and learn
strategies they can apply to improve their practice, educational activities, and research.
While this course is based on the Occupational Therapy Intervention Process Model (OTIPM, Fisher,
2009; Fisher & Jones, in press). the emphasis is on the practical application of the OTIPM as a
professional reasoning model that helps the occupational therapist practice in a more client-centered,
top-down, occupation-based, and occupation-focused manner. The occupational therapists who take
this course find that they leave inspired to make their practice more centered on occupation.
A major premise of the OTIPM is that focusing our evaluations on the client’s quality of occupational
performance, focusing our interventions directly on enhancing or maintaining occupational performance,
and using occupation as a primary method for both evaluation and intervention all depend on a
concurrent commitment to true top–down and client-centered practice. When we embrace these
fundamental principles of occupation-based and occupation-focused services, occupational therapists
will:
• Document measureable and occupation-focused baselines, goals, and outcomes
• Use occupation-based and occupation-focused evaluation and intervention methods to enhance the
quality and effectiveness of the services they provide
