The last three decades have seen the emergence of measures to assess the efficacy of pain management programs. Recently there has been interest in measures that assess clients' perceptions of their own performance. The Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM) (Law et al, 1994, 1998) is an individualized measure designed for use by occupational therapists to detect a self-perceived change in occupational performance problems over time. It may be an important extra dimension to assessing the outcomes of pain management programs. The aim of this study was to ascertain the validity of the COPM as an outcome measure for the Liverpool Pain Management Program. One hundred and six clients were recruited to the study and 87 clients completed a battery of tests including the COPM at baseline, end of program and 3 month follow-up. Results of the study demonstrated that the COPM showed good evidence of concurrent criterion validity and sensitivity to change.

This paper looks at pre-entry examination passes in the biological sciences at '0' and 'A' level and the effect that these have on occupational therapy students' performance in anatomy and physiology in the first year of the course at the Liverpool College of Occupational Therapy. Results suggest that there was no significant relationship between the two in six out of the seven years studied (1977)(1978)(1979)(1980)(1981)(1982)(1983)(1984).

Specific rehabilitation of the upper limb by the Occupational Therapist requires a sound working knowledge of the anatomy of the pectoral girdle, arm, forearm and hand. To aid the learning process the Liverpool occupational therapy students are given their assessment topics at the beginning of the course. They find a conductive partner with whom to work and practice, and together they prepare for the oral demonstration which forms the assessment test at the end of the second term. Each student completes a questionnaire at the end of the fourth term. This is designed to ascertain how confident the student felt, and how well they retain their anatomical theory of the upper limb for clinical work.

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The Casson Memorial Lecture 1999, given on 23 July at the 23rd Annual Conference of the College of Occupational Therapists, held at the University of Liverpool.