Investigating visual attention during scene perception of safe and unsafe occupational performance.
BACKGROUND
Occupational therapists routinely use observation for evaluation, intervention planning, and prediction of a client's occupational performance and/or safety within the environment. Perception of safety contributes to the decision-making process for discharge or placement recommendations.


OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to determine if differences exist in safety ratings and eye movements between occupational therapists and nontrained matched individuals while viewing domain-specific versus non-domain-specific images.


METHODS
Ten licensed occupational therapists and 10 age-, gender-, and education level-matched participants completed this eye-tracking study.


RESULTS
For all image exposure durations, occupational therapists had more polarized safety ratings for stroke-related image content but little evidence of differences in eye movements between groups. Eye movement group differences did not emerge in the regions of interest identified by an independent expert panel.


CONCLUSIONS
The results point to a complex relationship between decision making and observational behaviour in occupational assessment and highlight the need to look beyond image features.
Diane E
DE
MacKenzie
David A
DA
Westwood
D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D053483:Eye Movement Measurements; D005133:Eye Movements; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015588:Observer Variation; D009788:Occupational Therapy; D061214:Patient Safety; D000071939:Stroke Rehabilitation; D014796:Visual Perception