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Appendix A: Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM) – 1 st
and 2 nd editions
Developed by Law M, Baptiste S, Carswell-Opzoomer A, McColl MA, Polatajko H, Pollock N,
1991. 2 nd Edition 1994.
Purpose of COPM is "to enable occupational therapy clients to participate in a meaningful way in
determining the course of occupational therapy intervention" (Law et al 1994)
• Measure based on the model of occupational performance, and to meet ten criteria for an outcome
measure as set by the 3 rd volume of the guidelines (Towards Outcome Measures)
• individualised, standardised but not normative measure
• for use with all age spans, all disability groups, all developmental levels; targets physical and/or
mental disability in occupational performance (see Townsend 1997 for definition)
• allows for proxy response when client unable to respond
• measure of change in client's (or proxy's) perception of occupational performance; measures
client identified problems/concerns/issues and considers client's satisfaction with performance,
rating of importance and perception of current performance
Process:
Step1: Problem definition – client identifies specific things they are concerned with in the areas
of self-care, leisure and productivity (e.g sitting, playing golf, operating machinery)
Step 2: Weighting – client rates those concerns for importance on a 1-10 scale
Step 3: Scoring – client chooses up to five of these problems that will be
addressed and measured in COPM, and rates those five out of ten on how well they think
they are currently performing that activity and how satisfied they are with that
performance. Overall performance and satisfaction are calculated by weighting
according to importance. Intervention usually occurs following this step.
Step 4: Reassessment – client reassesses the same five problem areas as to how well they believe
they are performing and how satisfied they are with that performance. These scores are then
compared to the original.
Step 5: Follow-up – the client is asked if there are problems remaining, or new problems that
have emerged that they would like to address. If client wishes to continue intervention, process is
begun again with a new COPM form.