Occupational therapists play an important educator role by teaching clients the knowledge and skills needed to enhance well-being. Effective client education requires considering the client's characteristics, organizing information clearly, and using multiple communication strategies. Key strategies for client education include creating a positive environment, limiting objectives, clearly conveying information slowly, using multiple communication methods, and verifying understanding. It is important to consider the client's literacy, language, auditory ability, and other characteristics when providing verbal education.

1. Client Education
Shamima Akter
B. Sc (Honors) in Occupational Therapy
& M. Sc in Rehabilitation Science
Assistant Professor,
Department of Occupational Therapy
Bangladesh Health Professions Institute (BHPI)
Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed (CRP)
Chapain, Savar

2. INTRODUCTION
• As a health care professional, occupational
therapy practitioners are educators.
• We teach our clients knowledge and skills they
need to enhance wellbeing and live as safely as
possible.
• Therefore it is important for occupational
therapist to focus on specific education strategies
and how to effectively use them.
• Rankin, Stallings, and London (2005) emphasize
that client education is a partnership, involving
both listening and sharing.

3. KEY STRATEGIES
• Osborne (2001) identifies five key strategies to
enhance communication in a client-health
care professional partnership:
– Creating a positive environment
– Limiting the objectives of the communication
– Conveying the information clearly and slowly
– Using multiple strategies to communicate the
message
– Verifying understanding

4. CONSIDERATION DURING VERBAL
EDUCATION
It is important to consider following guideline
during educating the client verbally:
– Characteristics of the client
– Organization of the information
– Information included
– Environment and timing

5. Which Characteristics of the client
should be considered
• In all occupational therapy practice, it is
important for the practitioner to know the client
and his or her strengths, limitations, culture,
values, interests, age and education level.
• In communicating orally, knowing the client’s
literally skills, native language and auditory ability
is also important.
• Though the definition of literacy refers to reading
and writing, it also affects one’s ability to
comprehended oral information.

6. Continue…
• In communicating with someone with low
literally skills, it is helpful to be consistent with
word choice.
– Organization of the information
– Organization of information to be presented helps
clients to understand and apply information.
– Information included
– Environment and timing

7. EFFECTIVE TEACHING
• Identify the patient’s goals and learning
needs.
• Determine what the learner knows.
• Use active learning strategies.
• Engage the patient and/or caregiver in a
collaborative learning process.
• Select learning activities that present the
“just-right challenge”.

8. Continue…
• Adapt the presentation to the learner’s
capabilities.
• Provide opportunities for practice, considering
context and schedule.
• Facilitate the learner’s use of internal feedback
and provide appropriate external feedback.
• Test the learner in the appropriate context(s) to
confirm that learning has occurred.
• Discuss progress toward goals with the patient
and revise teaching-learning strategies, as
indicated.