Module 3 Analysis Part One RAP

Five Ways to Determine the Sequence and Timing of the Steps of an Activity

• Mentally process the steps

• Engage in the activity yourself

• Talk to your client

• Talk to someone who performs the activity

• Watch someone perform the activity

Mentally Process the Steps

The easiest way to determine the steps for simple, everyday tasks. Takes very little time and expense. May not be feasible for more complex activities. Becomes easier to do with experience, practice, and exposure to occupations.

Engage in the Activity Yourself

• Gives a perspective not possible with other methods. Allows you to feel what it's like to participate in the activity and pick up on steps that may not be apparent with other methods. A good fit when actions and steps are not observable or if steps are reliant on external circumstances or previous outcomes. Limited by time, cost, safety, knowledge, access to tools and equipment, and physical environment.

Talk to Your Client

Gives you an overall idea of how a task is done and the objects and equipment needed. Essential when conducting an occupational analysis. Potential for details to be left out based on assumptions that factors of the activity are already known or the level of detail needed is unknown. Important to ask probing questions.

Talk to Someone Who Performs the Activity

• Can elicit valuable information if other methods aren't appropriate. It's best to be prepared with a list of questions. Preface the conversation with a brief explanation and what you already know. Limitations include time coordination, difficulty in finding someone if the activity is uncommon, participants are busy, or the information is private. 

Watch Someone Perform the Activity

• Can gather information about the physical body functions required, as well as the mental, sensory, and speech functions. Works well when the clinician’s knowledge is limited, or the context of the activity isn't appropriate for other methods. 

Co-occupation

Occupations that involve more than one person. Includes a high level of emotionality, physicality, or intentionality between two or more people. Such as occupations that require social interaction or rely on another's actions. Makes analysis complex and difficult.

Nested occupations

Several occupations are conducted at the same time and co-occur. May be distinct occupations that occur either together or separately. The analysis must include the complexity and challenge placed on the client of engaging in multiple activities at one time.

Procedural Task Analysis Step One

Ensure you are analyzing only one activity/occupation (break into steps if large)

Procedural Task Analysis Step Two

Preparatory and cleanup tasks should be included in the steps only if absolutely necessary

Procedural Task Analysis Step Three

Each step should include a do, what, and how word (action verb)

Procedural Task Analysis Step Four

Should include what is being acted upon (objects, environmental aspects, or people)

Procedural Task Analysis Step Five

How the action should be completed (placed at the beginning and/or end of the statement)

Procedural Task Analysis Step Six

Include time elements if the timing of steps or the length of an action is essential to the task

Procedural Task Analysis Step Seven

List the steps in the correct sequence as they normally occur (including when steps recur)

Procedural Task Analysis Step Eight

Keep the steps simple and concise (avoid using "and" statements)

Procedural Task Analysis Step Nine

Be specific about the amount of a certain material that is needed or used during a step

Procedural Task Analysis Step Ten

Include conditional statements (if-then) if the outcome of an action or environmental situation influences the next steps

Procedural Task Analysis Step Eleven

Do not use "right" or "left" statements; say dominant or nondominant

Procedural Task Analysis Step Twelve

Do not list what is physically or mentally required (use layman's terms)

Procedural Task Analysis Step Thirteen

Include precautions and warnings in parentheses if needed

Procedural Task Analysis Step Fourteen

Don't use proper nouns or specifics unless absolutely necessary

Procedural Task Analysis Step Fifteen

When doing an activity analysis, construct the steps in a logical order that considers typical demands in a given culture

Objects

Tools, supplies, equipment, resources, and properties of the objects

Tools

Considered objects that are not disposable and are reusable, often manipulated or used by hand to assist in a task

EX: scissors, pants, skis, stapler, and toothbrush

Supplies

physical articles needed to make or do something and become depleted during the process of the activity OR substances that are consumed or expended during an activity (may need to be replenished at the end of the activity or after a certain amount of time)

EX: lipstick, pen, pencil, paper, or paint

Equipment

implements or physical resources that serve to equip someone to complete the activity, often physically larger than the tools; may be a machine; can also be considered a set of objects that equip someone

EX: Vacuum, microwave, workbench, stove, and basketball hoop

Resources

Money, other people, transportation, or assistance of another person

Properties

An essential quality or distinctive trait of a physical object; may be instrumental to how the activity is conducted, the time elements needed, or the skill set required (differ greatly between activities and occupations)

EX: red, heavy, industrial strength,  or OIL paint

Types of space demands

size, arrangement, surface, lighting, temperature, noise, humidity, ventilation

Size

The first aspect of space demands to determine. What is necessary to perform the activity. Also includes demands for the specific arrangement of objects (influences the size of the space needed)

Arrangement

Requirements of objects to be arranged in a specific way for the activity to occur. Helps us plan treatment sessions and ensures greater success for clients.

Surface

Can range from flat tabletop to rough pavement depending on the activity being analyzed. Also includes the slope, texture, and variation of the different surfaces being used during the activity.

Lighting

When one is reading or conducting activities that require a high level of visual acuity, the amount and quality of light will be important. Includes the light that is inherent to the activity, as this influences the skills and client factors required to participate in the activity. Often easily overlooked and may result in disaster.

Temperature

 Often the objects utilized that determine the temperature required for an activity. Must be only what is absolutely necessary for the activity.

Noise

Often a key factor in activities includes the type of noise or the lack of noise. Must identify what the most common requirement is for successful participation in the activity. The inherent noise level and what is produced by the activity should also be considered (noise produced by the activity or its equipment). The level of noise an activity produces influences the level of sound tolerance required by the activity.

Humidity

 Usually determined by the objects and their properties; must separate what is comfortable from what is essential.

Ventilation

Requires an understanding of the objects involved and the potential for emission of fumes, gases, odors, and other elements that may become dangerous if inhaled (chemicals, paints, or glues), as well as what is required to maintain the needed humidity level.

Social Demands

• Social rules are the typical norms and expectations of how one should communicate and act during the activity. Depending on the activity, there may be expectations of behavior toward other people participating in the activity, such as how one responds. Often influenced by the culture in which it takes place. Can include virtual environments.

• Cultural and social environment must be determined first

Specific Mental Functions

higher-level cognitive, attention, memory, perception, thought, mental functions of sequencing complex movement, emotional , experience of self and time

Higher-level cognitive

• judgment, concept formation, metacognition, executive functions, praxis, cognitive flexibility, insight

attention

• sustained shifting and divided attention, concentration, and distractibility

memory

• short-term, long-term, and working memory

perception

• discrimination of sensations (auditory, tactile, visual, olfactory, gustatory, vestibular, proprioceptive)

thought

• Control and content of thought, awareness of reality vs. delusions, logical and coherent thought

mental functions of sequencing complex movement

• regulating speed, response, quality, and time of motor production

emotional

• regulation and range of emotions; appropriateness of emotions

experience of self and time

• Awareness of one's identity (including gender), body, and position in the reality of one's environment and time

global mental functions

consciousness, orientation, psychosocial, temperament and personality, energy, sleep

consciousness

• state of awareness and alertness, including the clarity and continuity of the wakeful state

orientation

• orientation to person, place, time, self, and others

psychosocial

• integration of mental functions to form personal and interpersonal skills to establish reciprocal social interactions

temperament and personality

• extroversion, introversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, openness to experience, self-control, self-expression, confidence, motivation, impulse control, appetite

energy

• energy level, motivation, appetite, craving, impulse control

sleep

• physiological process, quality of sleep

Sensory functions

visual, hearing, vestibular, taste, smell, proprioception, touch, interoception, pain, sensitivity to temperature and pressure

visual functions

• quality of vision, visual acuity, visual stability, visual field

hearing functions

• sound detection and discrimination; awareness of location and distance of sounds

vestibular functions

• sensation related to position, balance, and secure movement against gravity

taste functions

• association of taste qualities of bitterness, sweetness, sourness, and saltiness

smell functions

•  sensing of odors and smells

proprioceptive functions

• awareness of body position and space

touch functions

• feeling of being touched, touching various textures

interoception

•  internal detection of changes in one's internal organs

pain

localized and generalized pain

Sensitivity to temperature and pressure

•  thermal awareness (hot & cold), sense of force applied to the skin (thermoreception)

Functions of Joints and Bones

• Joint mobility: joint ROM

• Joint stability: structural integrity of joints, physiological stability of joints related to structural integrity

Muscle Functions

• Muscle power: strength

• Muscle tone: degree of tension

• Muscle endurance: sustainability of muscle contraction

Movement Functions

• Motor reflexes: involuntary contraction of muscles automatically induced by specific stimuli

• Involuntary movement reactions: postural reactions, body adjustment reactions, supporting reactions

• Control of voluntary movement: eye-hand and eye-foot coordination, bilateral integration, crossing of the midline, fine and gross motor control, oculomotor function

• Gait patterns: gait and mobility in relation to engagement in daily life activities 

Cardiovascular System Functions

maintaining appropriate blood pressure, heart rate, and heart rhythm

Hematological System Functions

 the blood and blood-forming tissues of the body, including bone marrow and the spleen. Responsible for blood and hormone transport.

Immune Systems Functions

• composed of the bone marrow, thymus, spleen, and lymph tissues; works to protect the body against infection and other pathological organisms and actions

Respiratory System Functions

•  the rate, rhythm, and depth of respiration

Voice and Speech Functions

• producing noise by sending air through the larynx, including fluency and rhythm of vocalizations and alternative vocalizations

Fluency

• allows us to speak one word after another fluidly and smoothly

Rhythm of vocalizations

• used to express the beginning and end of statements, emotions, and emphasis on certain words 

Alternative vocalizations

• those needed for yelling, singing, humming, chanting, or crying