PIP Activity 3: Managing Therapy - Complete Scoring Guide

Activity 3 is the most commonly underscored activity. It covers managing medication, monitoring health conditions, and attending therapy or appointments. This is PIP2 Question 5. If you take multiple medications, attend regular appointments, and need help managing it all, you should be scoring on this activity.

What Counts as "Therapy"?

Therapy means anything you do to manage your health condition at home or at appointments. This includes taking tablets, using inhalers, applying creams, injections (insulin, biologics), using CPAP machines, physiotherapy exercises at home, CBT exercises, blood glucose monitoring, changing dressings, managing stoma bags, and attending medical appointments. All the TIME spent on these activities counts.

The Descriptors and Points

a. Can manage therapy unaided or does not receive therapy - 0 points.

b. Needs prompting or assistance to manage therapy at home - 1 point. Someone reminds you to take medication or helps you manage it. Very common with depression (no motivation) and ADHD (forget).

c. Needs supervision, prompting or assistance to manage therapy at home, and total time per week is less than 3.5 hours - 2 points.

d. Needs supervision, prompting or assistance to manage therapy at home, and total time per week is 3.5-7 hours - 4 points.

e. Needs supervision, prompting or assistance to manage therapy at home, and total time per week is 7-14 hours - 6 points.

f. Needs supervision, prompting or assistance to manage therapy at home, and total time per week is more than 14 hours - 8 points.

How to Calculate Your Weekly Therapy Time

Add up EVERYTHING per week:

• Each medication round (including getting up, getting water, taking pills, waiting for food restrictions): typically 10-15 minutes per round, 2-3 times daily = 3.5-5.25 hours/week
• Cream/ointment applications: 10-20 minutes each
• Physiotherapy exercises: 15-30 minutes daily
• Blood glucose testing: 5-10 minutes, 2-4 times daily
• CPAP setup, cleaning, maintenance: 15-30 minutes daily
• Wound dressing changes: 20-60 minutes each
• Medical appointments: include travel time
• Mental health exercises (CBT, mindfulness): 15-30 minutes daily

Most people with multiple conditions easily reach 3.5+ hours per week when they actually add it up.

The Key Question: Do You Need Help?

If you take all your medication independently without any reminders, you score lower. But if ANYONE prompts you ("have you taken your tablets?"), helps you manage pill boxes, reminds you about appointments, or helps you with exercises, you need help and should score higher.