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Research Article
Issue Date: April 1993
Published Online: April 01, 1993
Updated: April 30, 2020
Incorporation of Ethnographic Methods in Occupational Therapy Assessment
Jean Spencer; Laura Krefting; Cheryl Mattingly
Author Affiliations
  • Jean Spencer, PhD, OTR, is Associate Professor, School of Occupational Therapy, Texas Woman’s University, 1130 M. D. Anderson Boulevard, Houston, Texas 77030
  • Laura Krefting, PhD, OTR, is a Community Based Rehabilitation Consultant, Professor Doctor Soeharso Community Based Rehabilitation Training and Development Centre, Solo, Indonesia
  • Cheryl Mattingly, PhD, is Assistant Professor, Department of Occupational Therapy, College of Associated Health Professions, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
Article Information
Practice
Research Article   |   April 01, 1993
Incorporation of Ethnographic Methods in Occupational Therapy Assessment
American Journal of Occupational Therapy, April 1993, Vol. 47, 303-309. https://doi.org/10.5014/ajot.47.4.303
American Journal of Occupational Therapy, April 1993, Vol. 47, 303-309. https://doi.org/10.5014/ajot.47.4.303
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Abstract

Many constructs of interest to occupational therapists can only be studied through qualitative methods. Such constructs include meaning of activity or the illness experience and the context in which these occur. The purpose of this paper is to describe how ethnographic methods used in research can be generalized and applied to clinical practice. Ethnography is compared with other qualitative research approaches and a model clinical ethnographic assessment process is described.