Occupational Gaps Questionnaire (OGQ)

About the OGQ

The OGQ is designed by Gunilla Eriksson as a self-report inventory in which clients fill in the instrument independently. The assessment is best used early in the contact with a client as support for formulating the goals of an intervention. OGQ has been used by occupational therapists in research and clinical work. The assessment can be used for adults with disabilities as well as persons who are in close contact with persons with disabilities.

Based on the testing already carried out on the assessment, it is most likely that the assessment should work regardless of the client’s disability. The information collected by the assessment gives an overview of the clients’ perceptions of their participation in their everyday occupations.

OGQ measures:

1. to what extent an individual performs activities he or she wants to perform, and
2. to what extent the same individual does not perform activities he or she does not want to perform.

Development and use of the OGQ

The OGQ was originally developed for research regarding assessment for persons with acquired brain injury. It has also been used in other research projects that cover persons with stress-related ill-health, concussion and for persons affected by stroke. In one study, OGQ has been used to measure participation in everyday occupations for persons close to individuals affected by stroke. Experience shows that the assessment provides important information about how a stroke also affects participation in social networks.

The OGQ has been used clinically for many years. Information acquired by using the assessment has primarily been used as a basis for formulating activity goals together with persons and providing person-centered occupational therapy interventions. The author does not currently see any restriction as to which persons with disabilities can be asked to take part in an OGQ assessment, except that the person concerned should not be in an acute phase after injury or illness. The instrument is based on Model of Human Occupation (MOHO).

Content and structure

The OGQ consists of 30 activities (items) linked to ICF codes and divided into areas of activity:

• I-ADL
• Leisure activities
• Social activities 
• Work or work-related activities.

For each of the 30 activities in OGQ the same two YES/NO questions are asked:

• ”Do you perform this activity?”
• ”Do you want to perform this activity?”

There are two different types of occupational gaps, which probably entail that an intervention will be designed differently when working with a person:

• In the case of the first type of gap (does the activity but doesn’t want to do it) focus will be on identifying which activities the person needs to perform which activities have priority and which activities can be done by others etc.
• In the case of the second type of gap (does not do the activity but wants to do it) the focus will be on improving the ability to perform the activity and/or finding alternative ways to perform it. The number of gaps can be totalled. A Summary Form has been produced to facilitate this, giving a quick overview of possible gaps.

Studies and translations in other countries 

The OGQ is translated from the Swedish original, Gap i vardagens aktiviteter – självskattning av vad en person vill göra och faktiskt gör (2024). 

The OGQ has been translated into French, Danish (Tina Helle at the University College Nord, in collaboration with Erhard Trillingsgaard Næss-Schmidt and his research group) and Spanish (Cristina Espinosa Sempere and Inteo Research Group at Miguel Hernández University).

There is also a version of the OGQ translated into Malay, which is culturally adapted and psychometrically tested and used in a sample of people with cancer. There is further a Persian version that is culturally adapted and psychometrically tested.

In addition there is a culturally adapted version in English for use in Uganda and the usability of the English version is tested for use among persons that had had a mild stroke in Australia.