Kawa

Title of Assessment 

• The Kawa

Author(s) 

• Teoh Jou Yin & Iwama M. K.

Year of Publication/Publisher 

• 2015

• Teoh Jou Yin

Identify Type of Assessment 

• observation based

• Non-standardized

• instructed interview

Cost (identify source) & How to Access Assessment (include link if possible) 

• Free

• https://www.kawamodel.com/download/KawaMadeEasy2015.pdf  \

• design your own!

Population (who it is appropriate for [age, diagnosis, etc.])  

• adolescents and adults

• 14+  

• significant cognitive impairment would not be appropriate 

Appropriate Settings (potential practice settings appropriate to administer assessment in) 

• school-based, community-based, mental health, home health, inpatient, outpatient    

Purpose of Assessment & Function(s)/Area(s) Assessed  

•  The Kawa model is a metaphor for life that shows the supports of life both social and physical, environment, obstacles, functions roadblocks, and flow of life, among other things. It helps allow the client to visualize what is hindering them, problem solve, enhance well-being, and understand their life. 

• river flow: the flow of a person's life

• riverbanks: social and physical environment

• rocks: barriers

• driftwood: assets 

Administration (time to administer, group/individual, if there are subtests, can they be completed individually, are there specific instructions to ensure standardization, etc.) 

• Administered view interview style 

• There is no definite structure to this model because it is at one's own capacity, they choose how it will look and flow 

User Qualifications  

• health professional

• occupational therapist

Materials Required  

•   any wanted art supplies (pen, pencil, paint, markers. etc.,)

Scoring Procedure (how is assessment scored and what does score indicate)  

• The Kawa is not scored 

• results are based on interpretation with the client and therapist 

Psychometrics/Standardization (norms, reliability/validity studies) 

• Non-standardized cannot have reliable or valid statistics 

Strengths & Weaknesses of Assessment  

•   Strengths

  • results can be interpreted in many ways 

  • client can really make it their own

  • culturally sensitive

• weakness

  • The client has to be able to understand where things go and why 

  • no way to back it up with reliability and validity findings 

References 

• Kawa model. Physiopedia. https://www.physio-pedia.com/Kawa_Model