Occupational Performance Coaching in Pediatric Rehabilitation
Summary
Occupational Performance Coaching (OPC) is an evidence‐based, family‐centred intervention designed to enhance children’s engagement in everyday activities by partnering with parents or caregivers. Rooted in collaborative goal setting, OPC guides families through a structured coaching process that combines performance analysis, problem‐solving strategies and reflection to support functional gains. Emphasising the child’s natural environments and routines, OPC seeks to strengthen parental self‐efficacy, promote sustainable behaviour change and improve quality of life for children with developmental or neurological challenges. Delivered flexibly—face to face, via telehealth or in hybrid formats—OPC integrates principles of adult learning and empowerment, enabling parents to identify meaningful goals, adapt tasks and implement strategies that foster children’s participation across home, school and community contexts. Global interest in OPC reflects its adaptability to diverse cultural and service‐delivery settings, with emerging evidence highlighting its feasibility, acceptability and preliminary efficacy in enhancing goal attainment, community participation and caregiver competence.
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Occupational Performance Coaching in Pediatric Rehabilitation publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in occupational performance coaching in pediatric rehabilitation across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Occupational Performance Coaching (OPC): A family‐centred intervention that partners with caregivers to set functional goals, analyse performance barriers and develop practical strategies to enhance a child’s daily activity participation.
Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM): A client‐centred, criterion‐referenced instrument used to identify and evaluate changes in self‐perceived occupational performance and satisfaction over time.
Telehealth: The remote delivery of health services and information via digital communication technologies, enabling coaching and therapy in the client’s natural environment.
Service Navigation: Support provided to families to identify, access and coordinate relevant healthcare, educational and community services in a timely and effective manner.
References
- Occupational Performance Coaching with Parents to Promote Community Participation and Quality of Life of Young Children with Developmental Disabilities: A Feasibility Evaluation in Hong Kong. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (2020).
- Tele-Coaching Korean Parents for Improving Occupational Performance of Toddlers: Three Case Reports. Children (2023).
- Coaching While Waiting for Autism Spectrum Disorder Assessment: A Pilot Feasibility Study for a Randomized Controlled Trial on Occupational Performance Coaching and Service Navigation. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders (2022).
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