Occupational Performance Issues
Occupational Performance Issue #1: Ken is having difficulty maintaining the plants on his balcony safely due to poor postural control (Reed (2014) indicates this as a common symptom of Parkinson’s disease (PD)), impaired vestibular functioning, gross motor dysfunction, decreased fine motor skills, and muscle rigidity. Limited endurance, short term memory loss, as well as an inaccessible physical environment (presence of guard rails, ramp, furniture arrangement, etc.) are additional factors that impact Ken’s participation in this activity. Lastly, Ken’s wife has been feeling overwhelmed and experiencing low back pain, which may be impacting her ability to assist Ken carrying out this task.
This OPI is relevant as Ken lives in a culture that values independence. He has been progressively losing this independence as the household management duties that he used to share with his wife have become more difficult for him. He stated that he had been able to maintain their plants until just recently. The fact that this was one of the last activities he was able to do independently to
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A rehabilitative approach serves the purpose of guiding our interventions with Ken because PD is a chronic degenerative disorder with “no known effective treatment” (Reed, 2014, p.344). Since Ken’s physical health has and will continue to decline, it makes sense to use an applied theory that describes function as being able to engage in the occupations the client wants to do, regardless of how many compensatory strategies and physical adaptations must be used (Cole & Tufano, 2008). The rehabilitative approach also fits well with our chosen occupation based model (the CMOP-E) as it emphasizes engagement in meaningful occupations being the main goal of