title: Accessibility of occupational therapy community services: a legal, ethical, and clinical analysis.
abstract: ABSTRACT Accessibility of health care services is a major concern in many countries. This paper examines the impact of limited access to occupational therapy community services on the right to services, distributive justice (resource distribution based on social solidarity), and service quality. Legal documents and relevant scientific papers were analyzed from three standpoints: legal, ethical, and clinical. Random use of criteria to prioritize requests, partial response to complex needs, task delegation, and long waiting times, all affect distributive justice and compromise the right to and quality of services. Various alternatives are suggested to ensure a balance between the distribution and quality of occupational therapy services.
authors.affiliation: Annie Carrier is a Fonds de la recherche en santé du Québec scholarship student (#13893) affiliated with the Research Centre on Aging, Health and Social Services Centre-University Institute of Geriatrics of Sherbrooke (CSSS-IUGS), Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada. She is a part-time lecturer in the School of Rehabilitation, Université de Sherbrooke.
authors.forename: Annie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Carrier
authors.forename: Mélanie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Levasseur
authors.forename: Gary
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mullins