The Role of Occupational Therapy in Primary Care

Primary care is the cornerstone of health-care systems and occupational therapists can play important roles in interprofessional primary care teams. In this chapter, we define and describe the key elements of primary care and the occupational therapy role in this setting and describe key features of the primary care interprofessional team. We discuss how occupational therapists facilitate older adults’ occupational participation and engagement through health promotion approaches in primary care. We also describe the occupational therapy role with older adults in key practice areas in primary care including services for older adults with chronic diseases, promoting occupation at home, community mobility and falls prevention, supporting caregivers, and supporting transitions and systems integration. In addition, we discuss occupational therapy approaches and strategies with older adults at individual and community levels in primary care. Finally, we identify emerging areas of practice and identify and recommend areas for future research with primary care older adult populations that can support further integration of occupational therapy into primary care.