Purpose

The Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM) is used to inventory problems experienced by the patient to set goals and evaluate treatment. We aimed to make a systematic overview of measurement properties for people in geriatric rehabilitation.

Methods

Seven electronic databases were searched for psychometric studies investigating content validity, construct validity, responsiveness, or reliability of the COPM in geriatric rehabilitation populations aged ≥ 60 years. Two reviewers independently abstracted data and assessed methodological quality from included studies.

Results

Of 292 identified articles, 13 studies were included. The COPM showed good test-retest reliability (two studies), moderate inter-rater reliability (one study), and good content validity (one study with some risk of bias). Four studies with minimal risk of bias showed good construct validity as their hypotheses were confirmed. Responsiveness was moderate in three studies with adequate methodological quality.

Conclusion

All measurement properties have been studied in geriatric rehabilitation populations, and indicate that the COPM gives relevant information for geriatric rehabilitation, and scores can be assessed reliably and are responsive to change. Although there were many studies on construct validity, authors had different opinions on what exactly COPM-scores tell us, as they used a variety of comparator instruments and different hypotheses. Consensus on exact interpretation of the scores is needed.

© 2022. The Author(s).