| Client-Centered: Goals are tailored to the client’s needs, values, and routines. | Therapist-Centered: Goals are chosen by the therapist without considering client preferences. |
| Functional Goals: Focuses on meaningful tasks, such as cooking, dressing, or mobility. | Impairment-Focused: Addresses deficits without connecting them to real-life application. |
| Natural Environment-Based: Therapy happens in the client’s home, addressing real-world challenges. | Clinic-Based Mindset: Replicates therapy approaches suited for a clinic setting only. |
| Empowers Independence: Encourages clients to perform tasks on their own with appropriate support. | Fosters Dependence: Clients rely heavily on the therapist without building self-reliance. |
| Strength-Based Approach: Focuses on what the client can already do well and builds on that. | Deficit-Based Approach: Concentrates only on the client’s weaknesses or limitations. |
| Routine Integration: Embeds strategies into daily activities, such as bathing or mealtime. | Session-Specific: Practices tasks only during therapy, with no integration into routines. |
| Home Safety-Focused: Identifies hazards and recommends changes to improve safety. | Ignores Safety: Overlooks risks like poor lighting, clutter, or uneven flooring. |
| Dynamic and Flexible: Adjusts strategies as the client’s abilities or circumstances change. | Rigid: Follows a fixed plan, even if it’s ineffective or irrelevant to the client. |
| Education-Oriented: Teaches clients and caregivers how to manage challenges independently. | Instruction-Limited: Provides little to no guidance on how to maintain progress outside therapy. |
| Holistic: Considers physical, emotional, cognitive, and social factors in therapy planning. | Narrow Focus: Addresses only one domain, such as physical recovery, without considering others. |
| Energy Conservation Education: Helps clients with fatigue learn to manage their energy wisely. | Overlooks Fatigue: Fails to address strategies for clients with chronic energy limitations. |
| Proactive: Anticipates challenges and develops strategies to prevent future problems. | Reactive: Waits for issues to arise before addressing them. |
| Promotes Sustainable Change: Focuses on long-term solutions that clients can maintain. | Temporary Fixes: Implements strategies that only work in the short term. |
| Cost-Effective Solutions: Suggests affordable tools and home modifications when possible. | Expensive Interventions: Recommends costly solutions without considering client budgets. |
| Empathy-Driven: Acknowledges the emotional challenges that come with functional decline. | Detached: Ignores the client’s mental health or emotional experience during therapy. |
| Culturally Sensitive: Aligns interventions with the client’s cultural values and lifestyle. | Culturally Ignorant: Applies generic approaches without considering cultural differences. |
| Supports Advocacy: Empowers clients to advocate for accommodations or services they need. | Limits Advocacy: Does not prepare clients to seek help or resources beyond therapy sessions. |
| Adaptive Equipment-Focused: Recommends tools like reachers, grab bars, or dressing aids. | Delays Equipment Introduction: Avoids or postpones helpful equipment recommendations. |
| Encourages Safe Risk-Taking: Supports clients in trying new activities within safe boundaries. | Overly Protective: Avoids challenges, limiting client growth and confidence. |
| Home Modifications-Oriented: Suggests small changes, like adding grab bars or improving lighting. | Neglects Modifications: Ignores simple environmental changes that could enhance safety. |
| Focuses on Quality of Life: Aims to improve meaningful participation in activities. | Metrics-Focused: Prioritizes numerical outcomes over subjective quality of life improvements. |
| Integrates Telehealth When Appropriate: Supplements care with virtual visits when needed. | Avoids Telehealth: Dismisses virtual care options, even when beneficial. |
| Prepares for Aging in Place: Helps clients stay functional and safe in their homes long-term. | Short-Term Focused: Concentrates only on immediate issues without long-term planning. |
| Community Resource Integration: Connects clients to meal services, transportation, or support groups. | Ignores External Resources: Fails to provide information about community programs or services. |
| Emphasizes Caregiver Involvement: Includes caregivers in goal-setting and strategy implementation. | Excludes Caregivers: Leaves caregivers out of the therapy process, missing critical support. |
| Promotes Emotional Well-Being: Considers the client’s mental health as part of functional recovery. | Disregards Emotional Health: Focuses solely on physical outcomes, ignoring mental well-being. |
| Collaborative Problem-Solving: Actively involves the client in developing solutions to challenges. | Authoritative: The therapist dictates solutions without client input or collaboration. |
| Dynamic Feedback: Offers evolving guidance as the client progresses. | Static Feedback: Provides the same advice regardless of progress or setbacks. |
| Focuses on Generalization: Encourages applying skills across different environments and routines. | Task-Specific Only: Practices skills in isolation without considering broader application. |
| Prepares Clients for Emergencies: Educates on fall prevention and emergency response plans. | Ignores Emergency Planning: Fails to address what to do in case of falls or other emergencies. |
| Encourages Leisure and Hobbies: Helps clients return to or adapt favorite activities. | Overlooks Leisure: Focuses solely on ADLs and neglects the importance of leisure activities. |
| Builds Confidence: Reinforces progress and celebrates small victories to motivate clients. | Discourages Confidence: Overemphasizes failures or setbacks, reducing motivation. |
| Addresses Cognitive Challenges: Incorporates strategies to manage memory, attention, or executive function deficits. | Neglects Cognition: Focuses only on physical recovery, ignoring cognitive issues. |
| Teaches Self-Monitoring: Helps clients recognize and adapt to their limitations. | No Self-Monitoring: Does not empower clients to identify or address their own needs. |
| Prioritizes Joint Decision-Making: Collaborates with clients to set goals and strategies. | Therapist-Directed Goals: Chooses goals without involving the client in the process. |
| Incorporates Pain Management Strategies: Teaches techniques to reduce and manage pain. | Ignores Pain: Does not address chronic pain that limits participation in daily activities. |
| Focuses on Sleep Hygiene: Helps clients improve sleep quality through routines and environment adjustments. | Overlooks Sleep: Neglects the importance of sleep in overall function and recovery. |
| Provides Resources for Caregiver Burnout: Offers strategies and support for family caregivers. | Ignores Caregiver Needs: Fails to address the emotional and physical challenges caregivers face. |
| Teaches Fall Prevention Skills: Works on improving balance, strength, and awareness of risks. | Ignores Fall Risks: Does not prioritize balance or mobility in therapy planning. |
| Customizes Therapy to the Home Setup: Uses the client’s actual environment for practice. | Generic Therapy: Uses standardized exercises without adapting to the home setting. |
| Supports Work-Related Goals: Helps clients adapt to or return to work tasks. | Ignores Vocational Goals: Fails to address challenges related to employment. |
| Monitors Progress: Regularly tracks and adjusts therapy based on measurable improvements. | No Progress Monitoring: Follows a static plan regardless of client outcomes. |
