Preliminary examination of Coaching in Context with clients with spinal cord injury

Abstract

Study design Repeated measures pilot study. Objectives This study examined Coaching in Context when introduced to community-dwelling adults with spinal cord injury (SCI). Setting Urban community. Methods Three volunteers participated in up to ten, 45–60-min Coaching in Context sessions. Number of coaching sessions was recorded. Usefulness of Coaching in Context was examined by the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM), Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS), and the Moorong Self-efficacy Scale (MSES). Data were examined descriptively. Results Preliminary examination of Coaching in Context revealed successful implementation with adults with SCI living in the community. Mean COPM performance and satisfaction scores increased by 2.55 (SD = 2.25) and 4.27 (SD = 2.41), respectively. With the exception of one, each goal achieved or exceeded GAS expected level. Changed MSES scores ranged from +7 to +16. Conclusions The ability to implement and evaluate Coaching in Context with three adults with SCI was demonstrated. Improvement in goals established for coaching was also documented.

“I Could Really Use This”: Occupational Therapy Students’ Perceptions of Learning to Coach

“…OT students in this study explained the value of conducting coaching sessions in a way that was adaptable to client needs, ranging from adjusting the duration and frequency of sessions to alternating between areas of focus throughout and even within sessions. These same students reflected on adjusting their therapeutic use of self, taking client context into consideration, and letting go of judgment or personal investment, all of which allowed clients to shift their mindset, embrace their knowledge and power, and strive toward their goals, as found in previous studies [4,22]. In one study, clients expressed feeling supported in the open environment of OT-led coaching, which they perceived led to their academic and personal growth [22].…”

“…Occupational Therapy Coaching Models. Within OT, different ICF-related coaching models have been developed, including solution-focused coaching, occupational performance coaching, occupation-based coaching, and coaching in context (CinC) [3,4,20,[22][23][24]. Regardless of the model, when an ICF coaching lens is used in OT practice, clients set their own priorities, which become the goals directly addressed during sessions [6,19,21,22].…”

“…Regardless of the model, when an ICF coaching lens is used in OT practice, clients set their own priorities, which become the goals directly addressed during sessions [6,19,21,22]. Further, OT coaches approach clients with an interest to truly bring forth their lived experience, empower them to utilize their own insights to find novel solutions or adapt strategies, and develop action plans to achieve their goals [4,6,20]. Coaching capitalizes on client motivation and resourcefulness rather than using a clinician-expert approach [21,22].…”

“…Model. The CinC model is adaptable to any occupation, setting, or population and has been found effective with college students with disabilities [3,22], adults with spinal cord injuries [4], caregivers of people with strokes [25], and informal care partners of children with spinal cord injuries., [9]. This model was developed as an interprofessional approach that operationalizes ICF competencies into three components, Connect, Discover, and Plan, and five distinct attributes: active listening, reflective responding, skillful questioning, grounded in context, and leveraging strengths [11]; Coronado et al, 2022;[22, 25, 26].…”

“…The use of coaching within occupational therapy (OT) is relatively novel; the earliest study was published in 2010 [2]. So far, studies of OT-led coaching have all had positive outcomes regardless of populations including cerebral palsy, stroke, and autism spectrum disorder [2][3][4][5][6][7][8]; Mulcahey et al, [9]. In-depth training in coaching is needed before OT practitioners can effectively integrate coaching into their practice [6,10].…”