Running head: HOME EVALUATION REFLECTION

Home Evaluation Reflection

Sotheavy Moeung
Touro University Nevada

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Context

I performed a home evaluation for Barry Smith. Barry is a 33-year-old male who lives in
a single story home with his dog, Strider. The home is situated in a nice and quiet Henderson,
Nevada neighborhood with other homes that have similar architecture. There is an incline terrain
that leads up to the front door and garage. The front yard has desert landscaping that requires
hardly any maintenance. There is parking on-street, in front of the garage, and inside the garage
for two cars. Barry has a personal car that he parks in front of the garage and a company car that
he parks on-street. The garage is quite wide and is great for storage; however it accumulates a lot
of clutter. The shelving units that align one wall goes as high up as the ceiling and it is fully
packed with Barrys belongings. There is also a work bench against one of the walls that has
collected a lot of clutter along the years. To get from the garage to the inside of the home, there is
an entrance way with a small 5 inch step.
Overall, the homes physical context is quite open and easy to get around. The openconcept makes transitioning from one room to another quite easy. There are carpets and rugs
throughout the whole entire house. For example, the bathroom alone has three rugs inside a very
small space. The ceilings are high up. There are no stair ways and only a small step in the front
door and the back door. There are no railings or grab bars throughout the home. Some rooms
were less furnished than others. The living room has barely any furniture, making it quite easy to
move around, however, the bedroom is filled with many furniture, carpets, and clutter. The
bedroom does have the best lighting throughout the entire home with a remote programmed to
adjust the lighting. The rest of the house has mainly dim lighting.

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Experience & Reflection

This is the second time I conducted a home assessment. I got the opportunity to help
conduct an assessment during my fieldwork this semester. Nonetheless, I still had to perform the
whole assessment alone this time instead of just assisting. Its a different experience when you
conduct the home assessment all on your own. I had to record every measurement and look for
potential hazards. The paperwork was definitely more in depth than the one used at my fieldwork
site. Thus, it required much more work and concentration on my end. The assessment also took
longer than expected. Each room took a lot of time because it required a lot of measurements.
Additionally, some interviewing was required such as asking where the closest transportation or
grocery store is. Although the client is a healthy young man, it was still important to note down
potential hazards since the client could possibly age in this home or have visitors who are older
and may be disabled. I took more of a cautious mentality when assessing the home in order to
prevent any safety issues in the future, even if it may be in the far future for the client.
Findings & Recommendations
As mentioned, I chose to address the client as if he plans on living there long term and
will eventually age in the home. Thus, I had a few pertinent recommendations for him to
consider after the assessment. My top concern was the amount of clutter, mostly in the garage
and in the bedroom area. Clutter is an easy fix that can improve occupational performance
greatly. For example, in the bedroom, if all of the clutter on the floor is picked up and furniture
was reorganized, then the client can easily ambulate throughout the room without worry of
tripping or bumping into things. The second recommendation would be to remove and possibly
replace the carpets. There were carpets and rugs throughout the whole entire house. For example,
the bathroom alone had three rugs inside a very small space. If the client chooses to replace the

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rugs, then he can do so with flat rubber ones that have friction and does not rise up or move
easily when touched. The floors also had enough friction if the client wanted to just remove the
rugs all together. The third recommendation is to remove very high shelving units and organize
objects to be close to arms reach. For example, the shelving units in the garage went as high as
the ceiling and some of the objects were made of glass or heavy ceramics. The client can be in
danger if the objects were to fall down. Theres enough space throughout the home for the client
to purchase more shelving units that the client can easily reach and is an overall safer option. A
fourth recommendation is to add more friction tape to the bottom of the bathtub. More friction
will ensure that the client does not easily slip which is common with wet environments. The fifth
and final change recommended is to get better and brighter lights. The client is sensitive to lights
which explain why he has dim light through the whole home. However, when the light is too
dim, this can cause the client to not see objects that could potentially be a tripping hazard. Thus,
it is important to find that happy medium between light that is not too bright on the clients eyes
but bright enough where the client can see throughout the whole home so that he is safe.
Clinical Utility & Relevance to Occupational Therapy
The Occupation-based Home Assessment is easily accessible and also easy to use. The
assessment is a seven-page print-up that can be easily copied and used. The assessment is
broken up by rooms and for each room, pertinent information such as the number of stairs, types
of knobs, height of switches are a few example of what is required to note down. Aside from the
makeup of each room, additional considerations such as closest community transportation and
pets were also required. The top five modifications recommended can be notated on the last page
along with two additional recommendations. The administration time would be a limitation to
this assessment. It took more than 2 hours for me to fill out the whole sheet, although my

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inexperience accounts for some of the length of time used. I do believe that the assessment can
be shortened so that administration time can be quicker for the clinician. The assessment required
that an occupational therapist prints their name and sign off, thus requiring qualified clinicians
which adds to the clinical utility of the assessment. Although learning the assessment was easy,
the format can be changed to have more pictures than just texts. This would make the assessment
shorter in length and offer better visual input for both the clinician and the client. Also, the
assessment did not require many materials other than the documentation itself, a measuring tape,
and a pen. This allows it to be quite affordable for the clinician.
Overall, the Occupation-based Home Assessment did a pretty good job documenting
significant areas around the home and recommendations for the client. Its free of cost and
requires little to no materials to administer, thus allowing great accessibility to clinicians to help
clients who may need a home assessment. This assessment is relevant to occupational therapy
because it helps the client evaluate their home so that they are independent and safe as they age
in place. Prevention is an important outcome documented in the Occupational Therapy Practice
Framework (OTPF) by the American Occupational Therapy Association (2014). In the case of
Barry, he is currently a young and healthy individual who plans on living in his home as long as
possible. Through the Occupation-based Home Assessment, Barry can be educated in reducing
and preventing any future incidents that can cause him injuries. This will ensure that he can age
safely in his own home and continue to live the healthy and independent lifestyle (AOTA, 2014).

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Reference

American Occupational Therapy Association. (2014). Occupational therapy practice framework:

Domain and process (3rd ed.). American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 68(Suppl. 1),
S1-S48. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.5014/ajot.2014.682006