Uncovering the experiences of engaging in an inpatient occupation-based group program: The LifeSkills group.

Background: Consumer engagement is an important element for developing and maintaining value-based healthcare standards. Occupation-based practice in the context of a group has been adopted by inpatient rehabilitation clinicians, but little research has explored if these groups are valuable and useful to patients.

Aims/objectives: To explore the experiences of patients participating in an occupation-based group intervention for instrumental activities of daily living to understand its value and usefulness in an inpatient rehabilitation setting.

Material And Methods: Interpretive description guided the development of the study. Semi-structured interviews were completed with 15 participants of an occupation-based group, the LifeSkills group. Comparative analysis was used to analyse the data and develop themes.

Results: Five themes were reported by participants: choice and control, confidence through doing, a real-world connection, the power of the therapeutic relationship and the impact of the shared experience.

Conclusions And Significance: In line with current rehabilitation literature, patient experiences around client-centredness, occupational engagement in a 'real-world' environment, and valued relationships can be facilitated through an occupation-based group. This study supports the implementation of valued-based healthcare in understanding patient perceptions of occupation-based interventions into rehabilitation; ensuring that the right intervention is being used at the right time for the right patient.