Client-Therapist Relationships: Experiences of Occupational Therapist and Clients during Rehabilitation

Abstract

Background: The relationship between therapist and client has been recognised to be an important determinant of effective therapeutic process. There is very few report could be found about the status of therapeutic rapport and its related factors among Bangladeshi OTs and their clients. This study was focused to explore the quality of therapeutic experiences between client and occupational therapist that they formed during rehabilitation. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was used to measure study aim and objectives. In this study, total 70 participants (57 patient with SCI and 13 clinical OTs from the in-patient unit of CRP were recruited through purposive sampling. Exploratory factor analysis was determined the relationship status among client and therapist. In addition, chi-square test was used to identify association between demographic factors and therapeutic relationship status. And Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) was used to determine the level of agreement between clients and therapists perspectives of the alliance. Finally, a one-way ANOVA test was used to determine the effect of the therapists years of working experience on clients perceptions. Result and discussion: It was found that 71% client perceived positive relationship with their therapist, whereas, 80% therapist perceived positive relationship with their client. A good agreement was found between perceptions of clients‘ and therapists‘ in the same relationship (ICC= 4.82). Higher loading score for the client group and therapist in the item ‗Level of regard‘ was (.80) and (.88) respectively; (.70) and (.89) was for ‗Empathy‘; (.71) and (.75) for ‗Unconditional Acceptance‘ and (.79) and (.86) for ‗Congruence‘. There are no association between socio-demographic factors and relationship and also no difference in clients‘ perceptions in relation to the therapists‘ years of experience. Conclusion: Both clients‘ and therapists‘ perceived the very positive therapeutic alliance. Training on therapeutic relationship should be a priority in occupational therapy curricula to improve therapist‘s skills in persuing more positive roles during rehabilitation. Key words: Occupational Therapist, Therapeutic Relationship, Rehabilitation.