PURPOSE: The study aimed to evaluate users’ perspectives of the utility of the Pleasure, Productivity and Restoration Profile (PPR Profile) as used by an occupational therapist (OT) with a group of spousal caregivers in a community setting.

RATIONALE: Considering subjective experiences in the context of everyday occupations enables the provision of meaningful and ecologically valid interventions and has been shown to be useful when helping clients examine their daily occupations to promote awareness and change (Eklund & Erlandsson, 2011). Yet, commonly, occupation-focused assessments capture clients’ perceptions of their performance and satisfaction related to a typical day or over the past month, rather than identifying the nuances of people’s real-time occupational experiences in the context of a specific day.

Designed in part to capture occupational experiences across a day, the Daily Experiences of PPR Profile is a time-use diary that simultaneously assesses pleasure (enjoyment), productivity (getting something done), and restoration (feeling renewed) to promote one’s awareness of occupations and experiences. Previous validation studies on the PPR Profile confirmed that participants understood the constructs, completed the assessment without significant burden, and found that it contributed to awareness. To date, the assessment has not been used in practice with an OT.

DESIGN: A qualitative, pragmatic, single-case study design

PARTICIPANTS: A convenience sample of 5 female spousal caregivers ages 57–82 yr were recruited from a local caregiver support group. All actively caregiving at the time of the study, their individual contexts varied, such as their spouse’s diagnosis, their living situation, the years they had been a caregiver, and the level of support they received from family and medical staff.

METHOD: Participants completed the PPR Profile for at least 1 day (independently or with a researcher), discussed their PPR Profile with an OT, and participated in a focus group discussion and member check with researchers.

ANALYSIS: Content analysis, triangulation of data sources and researchers, and a peer review were conducted.

RESULTS: Four major themes emerged: initial perspectives of using the PPR Profile; using the PPR Profile was helpful, but difficult; using the PPR Profile provided opportunities for change; and recommendations for using the PPR Profile. The results of this study support the use of the PPR Profile with an OT as a client-centered and ecologically valid occupational therapy assessment to guide interventions for caregivers to self-manage their health.

DISCUSSION: Processing contextual occupational experiences with the encouragement and guidance of an OT empowers clients to increase their awareness of occupations and experiences. This awareness may promote health-related change and goal setting, though it may also heighten clients’ awareness of occupational discrepancies and a circumstantial inability to make immediate changes. Therefore, it will be essential for OTs to critically evaluate when and how to use the PPR Profile to guide goal setting and services. Results are not generalizable but may help guide future research and use of the PPR Profile.

IMPACT STATEMENT: As a first practice-based study, the PPR Profile shows promise as an ecologically valid assessment that can strengthen OTs’ ability to provide meaningful interventions, especially as OTs move to more community and primary care settings.

Eklund, M., & Erlandsson, L. K. (2011). Return to work outcomes of the Redesigning Daily Occupations (ReDO) Program for women with stress-related disorders—A comparative study. Women and Health, 51, 676–692. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03630242.2011.618215