Abstract

Importance:  Occupational Therapy is one of the most requested interventions for children with autism. It has been characterized as having creative background and uses the phenomenon to provide client centered services. An understanding of the phenomenon of creativity is critical to inform contemporary occupational therapy practice.

Objective:  To investigate the experiences and personal views of European occupational therapists while using creativity as a tool of intervention with autistic children.

Design: Qualitative content analysis was used for data analysis and interpretation.

Setting: Online platforms

Participants:  Fifteen occupational therapists with at least 3 years of experience in a European country, with autistic children, in a frequency of at least four times per week.

Outcomes and Measures: Interviews, with 7 open-end questions were conducted, transcribed, and analyzed using content analysis to identify categories.

Results: Creativity was perceived as a core concept while practicing with autistic children to overcome difficulties that characterize the diagnostic group, enable to engage them in every field of occupation. It was identified as needed in all areas of the therapeutic process.

Conclusions and Relevance: This study highlights the importance of the phenomenon of creativity to enable effective treatment plans. The results suggest the need for a broader examination of the phenomenon of creativity to guide interventions through the profession of occupational therapy.

What This Article Adds:  Findings indicate that creativity is essential to the practice of occupational therapy, especially while using it as a tool of intervention while working with children with autism spectrum disorder.