45:9-37.53 Definitions.

3. As used in P.L.1993, c.85 (C.45:9-37.51 et seq.):

"Council" means the Occupational Therapy Advisory Council established pursuant to section 4 of P.L.1993, c.85 (C.45:9-37.54).

"Director" means the Director of the Division of Consumer Affairs in the Department of Law and Public Safety.

"Occupational therapist" means a person licensed to practice occupational therapy pursuant to the provisions of P.L.1993, c.85 (C.45:9-37.51 et seq.).

"Occupational therapy" means the evaluation, planning, and implementation of a program of purposeful activities to develop or maintain functional skills necessary to achieve the maximal physical or mental functioning, or both, of the individual in the person's daily occupational performance. The tasks of daily living may be threatened or impaired by physical injury or illness, developmental disability, sensorimotor disability, psychological and social disability, the aging process, poverty, or cultural deprivation. Occupational therapy utilizes task oriented activities adapted to prevent or correct physical or emotional disabilities as well as to minimize the disabling effects of those disabilities on the life of the individual. Occupational therapy services include the use of specific techniques which enhance functional performance and include, but are not limited to, the evaluation and assessment of an individual's self-care, lifestyle performance patterns, work skills, performance related cognitive, sensory, motor, perceptual, affective, interpersonal and social functioning, vocational, and prevocational capacities, the design, fabrication, and application of adaptive equipment or prosthetic or orthotic devices, excluding dental devices, the administration of standardized and nonstandardized assessments, and consultation concerning the adaptation of physical environments for persons with disabilities. These services are provided to individuals or groups through medical, health, educational and social systems.

"Occupational therapy assistant" means a person licensed pursuant to the provisions of this act to assist in the practice of occupational therapy under the supervision of or in collaboration with an occupational therapist on a regularly scheduled basis for the purpose of the planning, review, or evaluation of occupational therapy services.

"Purposeful activities" means acts and occupations of craftsmanship and workmanship, as well as creative, educational, or other activities, which in whole or in part are used to correct, compensate for, or prevent dysfunction in the tasks and activities of everyday living, and which simultaneously incorporate personally and culturally relevant biological, psychological, and social elements that produce positive adaptation and motivational behavior.

"Supervision" means the responsible and direct involvement of a licensed occupational therapist with an occupational therapy assistant for the development of an occupational therapy treatment plan and the periodic review of the implementation of that plan. The form and extent of the supervision shall be determined by the council.

"Task oriented activities" means purposeful activities having an explicit, observable, and measurable short-term goal which contributes to the well-being of self or others.

L.1993, c.85, s.3; amended 2017, c.131, s.182.