Volitional Questionnaire

The Volitional Questionnaire (VQ) doesn't ask a person questions — instead, a therapist observes them doing an activity and rates how much curiosity, enjoyment, and initiative they show. It's a way of picking up on someone's inner motivation to act, even when that person can't easily describe it themselves, whether because of a cognitive, verbal, or communication difficulty.

Grounded in the Model of Human Occupation (MOHO), the VQ scores 14 observed behaviors on a 4-point scale from "passive" to "spontaneous," and can be completed across any naturally occurring activity or therapy session rather than a single standardized task. Occupational therapists use it in community-based settings with adolescents and adults, most often people with intellectual and developmental disabilities or mental illness, to understand how the environment is supporting or getting in the way of someone's engagement, with a pediatric version (PVQ) available for younger children.

The VQ (version 4.1) is a licensed assessment product sold through the MOHO Web store including the manual, forms, and online scoring access.

Administration time varies 5-30 minutes.