Abstract
BACKGROUND
A community-based occupational therapy program aims to provide client-centered and occupation-based interventions to at-risk youth.
OBJECTIVE
This pilot study explores how at-risk youth experiencing psychosocial and environmental barriers to occupation respond to client-centered and occupation-based occupational therapy in the community.
METHOD
One-on-one semi-structured interviews were conducted with five youth participants receiving individual therapy interventions through a community-based occupational therapy program. The transcript data were analyzed qualitatively.
RESULTS
Three themes emerged: (i) client-centered and occupation-based OT interventions, (ii) the youths' increased self-advocacy, and (iii) the enhancement of youths' perception of their future.
CONCLUSION AND SIGNIFICANCE
The youth in this study described OT interventions exemplifying client-centered and occupation-based therapy, a non-prescriptive approach that validates the individual and may prove especially effective in serving the at-risk youth population.
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