Locus of Control: What is it? And why is it important for occupational therapists to know the difference?

 Locus of control is one’s view on the way situations and experiences happen and affect outcomes in their lives. There are two types of locus of control, internal and external. The person that tends to lean more towards the internal locus of control - believes that they themselves are the one responsible for the outcomes or actions that happen in their lives. The person that tends to lean more towards the external locus of control - believes outcomes or actions that happen in their life are brought about by outside factors that they themselves do not have any control over. I definitely, feel people have a tendency to lean one way or the other, but I also think that it could depend on the issue and at times there could be some back and forth at play.

So, what does it matter? Why do we as soon to be occupational therapists need to bother with knowing if our client has more of an internal locus of control or if our client has more of an external locus of control belief? Oh, this goes for knowing how we fall on the spectrum of locus of control belief as well.  It is important to keep in mind our own internal biases too. Therefore, it will be helpful for us as practitioners to know which way we tend to view or believe and be aware not to pass judgement on others who view, believe, and process situations differently. Knowing will help guide our approach with our client. It will help to shape how we go about building our therapeutic rapport. Building good report with our client and knowing whether they have more of an internal or external locus of control will help guide how we encourage, design, and modify their treatment plans. Motivation is key! And there is not a “one size fits all” way to go about motivating a client. So, knowing the why, what, and how’s to best motivate our client will better able us as OT’s to better assist them on their road to improved occupation and quality of life. Who knows we may even give them a new way of seeing things along the way and vis / versa and that is always a good thing!