THE INTERVIEW PROCESS IN OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY

The interview is taken into account after reviewing preliminary information about the patient,
it is the first step in carrying out a client-centered evaluation and thus developing an
occupational profile. The interview is an essential skill for one of the evaluation procedures
that are frequently used by Occupational Therapy professionals.

The objectives of the interview are both the product and the process. Beyond collecting
information, which is the product , interviews are very useful because they help develop a
therapeutic alliance with the client, which is the process .

WHAT IS INTERVIEWING?

The interview is defined as a shared verbal experience, constructed jointly by the interviewer
and the interviewee, organized around the formulation of questions and answers. Although
the job as an interviewer is primarily to ask questions and the clients' "task" as interviewees is
to respond, an effective interview does not proceed in an artificial "stimulus-response"
manner. Rather, the occupational therapist and client attempt to achieve some shared
understanding of a particular reality. That reality becomes what the patient's story is.

When the Occupational Therapist first encounters a client, the information that the OT most
likely has is a label that identifies that the client has a particular type of problem. More often,
this label takes the form of a diagnosis; For example, the client might have a diagnosis of
schizophrenia or arthritis, or a learning disability. It is likely that the diagnosis will lead you to
make certain assumptions about the occupational performance problems that this client might
have based on your past experience with other people who had the same diagnosis or your
knowledge from the texts in the diagnostic chart. To develop a meaningful intervention plan,
the Occupational Therapist needs to know the particularities of the client's situation and needs
to know them from the client's perspective. In other words, the Occupational Therapist needs
to understand the client's story.

- When a professional considers how the client's current situation fits into his or her broader
life story, he or she is thinking narratively about the client. A narrative or life story approach
involves considering the particular set of circumstances that describe a client's life before he or
she arrived for intervention, how the client views his or her own life now, and where he or she
sees it going after the intervention. intervention. When thinking narratively, the practitioner
strives to understand the client's values and motives to make interventions meaningful.

The client's history, goals, interests and aspirations are essential in determining the course of
the intervention. When there is a mismatch between your perception of what is necessary and
that of the client, interventions are likely to stall.

 Interviews are strategically structured to engage the client in a dialogue, although they
work better when conducted as a normal conversation rather than as a formal
question and answer session.
  An interview should always take place at the beginning of the intervention process. At
that point, an important goal of the interview is to gather specific information about
the client.
 An interview is one of many procedures that could be used in a comprehensive
evaluation of a client. However, as it is an interaction between the OT and the client, it
is also an intervention that may have therapeutic value on its own.
 In the context of an interview, the OT and the client can together construct a new life
story for the client.

WHEN AND WHOM TO INTERVIEW?

 In the initial interview: the interview is seen as an evaluation

Because the interview is an integral part of a broad assessment of a client's occupational

functioning, it very often occurs at the beginning of our work with a client. During this initial
interaction, the goal is to begin to understand the customer's story. The second objective,
linked to the first, is to begin to form a cooperative relationship with the client.

 During the course of therapy: the interview is seen as an intervention

Although the interview is almost always conducted at the beginning of an intervention

process, the beginning is not the only time when an interview may be appropriate. An
interview that occurs after work with a client has begun can be both a form of reassessment
and an intervention. These interviews are typically less structured than the data collection
process used during the formal initial assessment phase. This more informal type of interaction
can involve the Occupational Therapist and the client in reviewing what has happened so far,
and anticipating and planning for the future. This explanation can help the client construct an
image of the future SELF that can do more than the client can now.

The images that are constructed of the future SELF are important in turning the intervention
into something that the client can commit to and something in which they can invest.
Additionally, reviewing your work together can be a useful strategy when the Occupational
Therapist is at a “stuck” point, when it appears that the intervention is not progressing.
Together, the Occupational Therapist and client can ask, “Why am I not functioning?” and
“What can we do to improve things?” In these ways, the interview is a collaborative tool that is
used repeatedly throughout the intervention process.
  Interview of older adolescents and adults

Most adolescents and older adults you will encounter in the practice are appropriate
candidates for interview. Interviewing techniques are mostly applied to individual interviews of
these ages. However, some people are not appropriate candidates for interviews or
sometimes must be interviewed only in highly structured situations.

For example:

 Individuals with severe depression may have difficulty concentrating and answering
interview questions
 People with mania may be too distracted by external stimuli to pay attention to an
interview.
 People with psychosis may have such disorganized thinking that their answers to
questions are difficult to understand.
 People with expressive and perceptual language deficits (aphasia) may not understand
questions or may not be able to answer them even if they understand them.

If an interview is approached as a conversation, as a time when the OT and the client go to

“talk” rather than a formal evaluation of the client, then the interview can be continued or
stopped (if that seems necessary) without making the client feels that he has failed in the
evaluation.

 Interview of children and younger adolescents

Pediatrics is one of the largest practice areas of occupational therapy. Children pose a unique
challenge to the interviewer since children's ability to describe their experiences and feelings
depends on their acquisition of the requisite cognitive, linguistic, and social skills.

 Before ages 7 and 8, most children describe themselves only in terms of observable
characteristics and behaviors, and make differentiations between themselves and others
on the basis of these observable traits rather than internal states.

For example:

 A young child may be able to describe himself in terms of physical attributes (for
example, I have green eyes), possessions (I have a dog or a cat), or preferred activities
(I would like to ride a bicycle). However, these ideas about the SELF are not integrated
into a global self-concept. In addition, young children may have difficulty naming or
verbally communicating their subjective emotional state.

 Around 8 years of age, children acquire a more global sense of SELF. After this age,
children are better able to communicate their thoughts and feelings, and provide more
accurate information about various experiences and situations.

 During adolescence the capacity for self-reflection increases more. Adolescents have the
ability to describe themselves in abstract psychological and interpersonal terms rather
than concrete and physical ones. In addition, adolescents also begin to evaluate their own
thoughts and behaviors critically and analyze others' reactions to their behavior.
Thus as self-awareness increases, older children and younger adolescents may respond to
interview questions with greater sophistication. However, the greater use of social
comparisons and greater psychological awareness that comes as children grow older may
contribute to a tendency to answer interview questions in socially desirable ways.

To have a successful interview, instead of focusing on what a child or adolescent has found
difficult to do, it is better or advisable to start by asking what they like and what they are good
at. This lets the child know that the Occupational Therapist is equally interested in their
abilities and difficulties, and creates a safe and positive therapeutic interaction. And when
talking about their difficulties, instead of asking children to report what they find difficult to
do, it is better to ask them what things affect their best possible performance. Since this will
allow the child to focus on the environment in addition to their abilities.

Establishing rapport and a sense of trust are essential to becoming a successful interviewer.

 With children, participating in a fun activity or talking about a favorite book or movie
before the interview can help build rapport.
 With adolescents, honest communication about the reasons for the interview and the
confidential nature of the interview can help establish trust. Age-appropriate
communication is another key to a successful interview.

With young children, using simple vocabulary, short sentences, and direct, concrete questions
(such as what do you do at school?) can be effective. In contrast, adolescents can usually
answer more complex, open-ended questions (for example, tell me how you are doing at
school).