The COPM is a reliable, valid outcome measure that can be used in a wide variety of clinical settings to help occupational therapists work with clients.

Sarah is a perky, slender girl with blonde hair and blue eyes who was 9 years old at the time of the COPM interview. She lives with her mother, her widowed grandfather and her teenaged sister in a detached home in a working class urban neighbourhood.

An group of occupational therapists provides intervention services for adults with rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis or after total joint replacements. They want to find an outcome measure that is specific to occupational therapy and assesses changes in daily occupations.

An occupational therapist working in the community children’s centre has been using the COPM to measure change after intervention for the children that she sees for therapy services. She is interested in looking at research that uses the COPM to evaluate the effectiveness of new and emerging occupational therapy interventions.

The occupational therapists at a regional rehabilitation centre have heard about the COPM and wonder if it will meet their needs to have a tool that can evaluate change after intervention across several programs.

A new program to provide rehabilitation services for clients with multiple sclerosis is being designed. The program will serve clients who are living in the community and are admitted for short-term rehabilitation services.