Background.: To support integration of occupational therapy in primary care and research in this area, it is critical to document examples of occupational therapy in primary care.
Purpose.: This study describes occupational therapy roles and models of practice used in primary care.
Method.: An electronic survey was sent to occupational therapists across Canada. Participants were identified using purposive and snowball sampling strategies. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data.
Findings.: Respondents ( n = 52) were almost exclusively working on interprofessional teams. Intervention was provided most frequently to individual clients, and services were provided both within the home/community and in the clinic. Occupational therapists offered a range of health promotion and prevention services, predominantly to adults and older adults. A number of supports and barriers to the integration of occupational therapy were identified.
Implications.: A growing number of occupational therapists are working in primary care providing a broad range of services across the life span.
Keywords: Health care surveys; Interprofessional relations; Primary health care; Primary prevention; Secondary prevention; prévention primaire; prévention secondaire; relations interprofessionnelles; soins de santé primaires; sondages sur les soins de santé.