Taylor, Renee R, Kielhofner, Gary W, Abelenda, Judith et al. · Occupational therapy in health care · 2003 · DOI
This study looked at how ME/CFS affects people's ability to work, study, and participate in daily life. The researchers used a framework called the Model of Human Occupation to understand how motivation, habits, physical abilities, and surroundings all work together to influence how people with ME/CFS manage their daily activities. The paper draws on real examples from patients' experiences and clinical practice to show the many ways this illness disrupts normal life.
This study offers healthcare providers and patients a structured way to understand how ME/CFS disrupts daily life beyond just physical symptoms. By showing how motivation, social roles, habits, and the environment all interact in ME/CFS, it can help guide better occupational therapy and rehabilitation approaches tailored to individual patients' complex needs.
This study does not provide empirical evidence proving specific treatments work or measuring outcomes quantitatively. It is a theoretical framework paper based on existing literature and clinical experience, not a clinical trial or controlled study, so it cannot establish cause-and-effect relationships or determine which interventions are most effective.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
Taylor, Renee R, Kielhofner, Gary W, Abelenda, Judith, Colantuono, Kristen, Fong, Terry, Heredia, Rose, et al. (2003). An approach to persons with chronic fatigue syndrome based on the model of human occupation: part one, impact on occupational performance and participation.. Occupational therapy in health care. https://doi.org/10.1080/J003v17n02_04
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-taylor-2003-approach-persons,
author = {Taylor, Renee R and Kielhofner, Gary W and Abelenda, Judith and Colantuono, Kristen and Fong, Terry and Heredia, Rose and Kulkarni, Supriya and Vazquez, Esmeralda},
title = {An approach to persons with chronic fatigue syndrome based on the model of human occupation: part one, impact on occupational performance and participation.},
journal = {Occupational therapy in health care},
year = {2003},
doi = {10.1080/J003v17n02_04},
note = {PubMed: 23944637},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/taylor-2003-approach-persons},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-27. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/taylor-2003-approach-persons
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