Recreational Therapists
Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations- O*NET-SOC code
- 29-1125.00
Plan, direct, or coordinate medically-approved recreation programs for patients in hospitals, nursing homes, or other institutions. Activities include sports, trips, dramatics, social activities, and crafts. May assess a patient condition and recommend appropriate recreational activity.
- Data source: BLSPublished: 2026-08
Moderate· relative
LowFour relative bandsVery highGroup-level value
Scale, basis and source
Four relative bands (Low / Moderate / High / Very high)
831 detailed occupations in the BLS Employment Projections table. Assigned per National Employment Matrix (NEM) code, so occupations sharing a NEM code carry the same band
- Data source: AnthropicPublished: 2026-03
0.000
0.000Range of values carried here0.745Scale, basis and source
Observed exposure index, 0–1 as published
Mapped onto O*NET tasks
Published per SOC 2018 occupation; every O*NET occupation with the same SOC 2018 code carries this value
- Data source: ILOPublished: 2025
0.20
0.09Range of values carried here0.70Group-level value
Scale, basis and source
Generative AI exposure index, 0–1 as published
Published per ISCO-08 unit group. Linked to this occupation, wholly or in part, by applying U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics crosswalks (ISCO-08 to 2010 SOC, 2010 SOC to 2018 SOC) as published
What kind of figure this source publishes
The BLS category is a relative rank, not an absolute level, and it is not a first-hand measurement: it groups an occupation's percentile ranks across several published studies into four bands. It is not an employment or wage forecast, not a probability of adoption, and it does not separate automation from augmentation.
Task-level exposure
11 rated tasks · 6 tasks with β ≥ 0.5 (54.5%)
β = direct exposure (E1) + 0.5 × exposure when tools are available (E2), per the source repository's definition.
- Source unit: O*NET 27.2 tasks → O*NET 31.0 occupation code
- All rated tasks are in the O*NET 31.0 task list.
- Source
- OpenAI "GPTs are GPTs" exposure rubric
- Release
- gh-main-0471612
- License
- MIT License, Copyright (c) 2024 OpenAI
| Task (O*NET 30.2) | Claude.aiRaw / share % |
|---|---|
Develop treatment plan to meet needs of patient, based on needs assessment, patient interests, and objectives of therapy.29-1125.00 | 0.00000.0 |
Encourage clients with special needs and circumstances to acquire new skills and get involved in health-promoting leisure activities, such as sports, games, arts and crafts, and gardening.29-1125.00 | 0.00000.0 |
Counsel and encourage patients to develop leisure activities.29-1125.00 | 0.00000.0 |
| Not observed on any surface — 8 task(s) — These tasks have no row in the source for this release. The 0 in the share row is a display-stage composition ratio; absence is what the — in the raw row states. | |
Observe, analyze, and record patients' participation, reactions, and progress during treatment sessions, modifying treatment programs as needed. | —0 |
Confer with members of treatment team to plan and evaluate therapy programs. | —0 |
Conduct therapy sessions to improve patients' mental and physical well-being. | —0 |
Instruct patient in activities and techniques, such as sports, dance, music, art, or relaxation techniques, designed to meet their specific physical or psychological needs. | —0 |
Obtain information from medical records, medical staff, family members and the patients, themselves, to assess patients' capabilities, needs and interests. | —0 |
Plan, organize, direct, and participate in treatment programs and activities to facilitate patients' rehabilitation, help them integrate into the community, and prevent further medical problems. | —0 |
Prepare and submit reports and charts to treatment team to reflect patients' reactions and evidence of progress or regression. | —0 |
Develop discharge plans for patients. | —0 |
Values in this tab are predicted labels, not observations. Eloundou et al. (2023) published two rating regimes — human raters and GPT-4 — and the β shown here is derived from the GPT-4 rater basis alone; the same task can take a different value under the other regime. The unit and the meaning differ from the observed shares (%) in the other tabs, so do not place them on the same axis.
| Task (O*NET 27.2) | βE1 + 0.5 × E2 |
|---|---|
Prepare and submit reports and charts to treatment team to reflect patients' reactions and evidence of progress or regression.O*NET Task ID 396 | 1.0 |
Observe, analyze, and record patients' participation, reactions, and progress during treatment sessions, modifying treatment programs as needed.O*NET Task ID 387 | 0.5 |
Develop treatment plan to meet needs of patient, based on needs assessment, patient interests, and objectives of therapy.O*NET Task ID 388 | 0.5 |
Confer with members of treatment team to plan and evaluate therapy programs.O*NET Task ID 391 | 0.5 |
Obtain information from medical records, medical staff, family members and the patients, themselves, to assess patients' capabilities, needs and interests.O*NET Task ID 394 | 0.5 |
Develop discharge plans for patients.O*NET Task ID 20893 | 0.5 |
Encourage clients with special needs and circumstances to acquire new skills and get involved in health-promoting leisure activities, such as sports, games, arts and crafts, and gardening.O*NET Task ID 389 | 0.0 |
Counsel and encourage patients to develop leisure activities.O*NET Task ID 390 | 0.0 |
Conduct therapy sessions to improve patients' mental and physical well-being.O*NET Task ID 392 | 0.0 |
Instruct patient in activities and techniques, such as sports, dance, music, art, or relaxation techniques, designed to meet their specific physical or psychological needs.O*NET Task ID 393 | 0.0 |
Plan, organize, direct, and participate in treatment programs and activities to facilitate patients' rehabilitation, help them integrate into the community, and prevent further medical problems.O*NET Task ID 395 | 0.0 |
β = E1 + 0.5 × E2 · E1 = tasks where direct LLM access alone cuts time by at least 50%, E2 = tasks where software built on top of an LLM cuts time by at least 50%. Values take only 0 / 0.5 / 1.0.
Data sources & licenses — O*NET®, Anthropic Economic Index, Eloundou et al. (2023): see full notices on the Credits page
All O*NET 31.0 task statements (11)
All O*NET 31.0 task statements for this occupation (English, as published; task type core or supplemental). Exposure values are not listed here; they are in the table above, next to each task statement as worded in the O*NET version each source used.
| Task (O*NET 31.0) | Type |
|---|---|
| Observe, analyze, and record patients' participation, reactions, and progress during treatment sessions, modifying treatment programs as needed. | Core |
| Develop treatment plan to meet needs of patient, based on needs assessment, patient interests, and objectives of therapy. | Core |
| Encourage clients with special needs and circumstances to acquire new skills and get involved in health-promoting leisure activities, such as sports, games, arts and crafts, and gardening. | Core |
| Counsel and encourage patients to develop leisure activities. | Core |
| Confer with members of treatment team to plan and evaluate therapy programs. | Core |
| Conduct therapy sessions to improve patients' mental and physical well-being. | Core |
| Instruct patient in activities and techniques, such as sports, dance, music, art, or relaxation techniques, designed to meet their specific physical or psychological needs. | Core |
| Obtain information from medical records, medical staff, family members and the patients, themselves, to assess patients' capabilities, needs and interests. | Core |
| Plan, organize, direct, and participate in treatment programs and activities to facilitate patients' rehabilitation, help them integrate into the community, and prevent further medical problems. | Core |
| Prepare and submit reports and charts to treatment team to reflect patients' reactions and evidence of progress or regression. | Core |
| Develop discharge plans for patients. | Core |
0.31/ 3· Robot exposure index
Scale, basis and source
Each physical task is graded 0–3 by the setting in which robots that have been deployed, sold or demonstrated could do it (0 none · 1 purpose-built robot settings such as a fenced machine cell or a bottling line · 2 structured facilities such as a hospital pharmacy or a container port · 3 unstructured settings such as a private home or a construction site), and the grades are averaged by share of working time
Physical tasks among this occupation's O*NET 29.3 tasks
Anthropic estimated the grades and time shares with Claude Opus 5 using web search, as of 2026.
The robot exposure index is a different measure from the AI exposure figures on this site and cannot be added to or compared with them. It does not measure actual adoption or cost, and 0 also covers occupations with no physical tasks.
Tier of each physical task
Robot environment tiers (E0–E3)
E0 noneDetails
Rated not doable by robots that have been deployed, sold or demonstrated, even in a purpose-built setting
E1 purpose-built robot settingsDetails
Rated doable in a setting built around the machine, such as a fenced machine cell or a bottling line
E2 structured facilitiesDetails
Rated doable in a human work facility that an institution keeps to a working standard, such as a hospital pharmacy or a container port
E3 unstructured settingsDetails
Rated doable in a setting that no institution keeps to a working standard, such as a private home or a construction site
Only tasks classified as physical are listed; other tasks have no tier in the source.
| Task (O*NET 29.3) | Robot environment tier |
|---|---|
| Encourage clients with special needs and circumstances to acquire new skills and get involved in health-promoting leisure activities, such as sports, games, arts and crafts, and gardening. | E0 none |
| Conduct therapy sessions to improve patients' mental and physical well-being. | E0 none |
| Instruct patient in activities and techniques, such as sports, dance, music, art, or relaxation techniques, designed to meet their specific physical or psychological needs. | E2 structured facilities |
| Plan, organize, direct, and participate in treatment programs and activities to facilitate patients' rehabilitation, help them integrate into the community, and prevent further medical problems. | E0 none |
Occupation information
Employment outlook (BLS)
- Employment, 2025
- 16K
- Projected employment, 2035
- 16K
- Change (2025–35)
- +4.8%
- Median annual wage, 2025
- $61,960
- Typical education needed for entry
- Bachelor's degree
Korea classification links (KSCO)
Links from the current release of the Korea Occupation Direct Crosswalk v1.1, made by AI Changing Work. Relation values are read from the O*NET-SOC occupation side.
| KSCO code | KSCO title | Relation | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 24699 | 그 외 치료‧재활사 및 의료기사 | This occupation is narrower | confirmed |
Relation and status definitions(kr-direct v1.1)
ILO occupational description
AI Changing Work links the ISCO-08 unit groups below to this occupation by applying the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics crosswalks (2018 SOC to 2010 SOC, 2010 SOC to ISCO-08) as published, without case-by-case selection; each link may be whole or partial.
- ISCO-08 2269Health Professionals Not Elsewhere Classified
The definition, tasks and examples below are the ILO's description of that unit group, not of this occupation.
This unit group covers health professionals not classified elsewhere in Sub-major Group 22: Health Professionals. For instance, the group includes occupations such as podiatrist, occupational therapist, recreational therapist, chiropractor, osteopath and other professionals providing diagnostic, preventive, curative and rehabilitative health services.
Tasks
- In such cases tasks would include -
- (a) interviewing patients and conducting diagnostic tests to determine their health status, functional limitations, and the nature of physical or mental disorders, illnesses or other health problems;
- (b) developing and implementing treatment plans for injuries, illnesses and other physical and mental impairments;
- (c) evaluating and documenting patients' progress through treatment plans, and referring patients and families to medical doctors or other health care providers for specialized, rehabilitative or other care services as needed;
- (d) administering therapeutic care and treatment to patients, including through application of manual and physical chiropractic and osteopathic techniques;
- (e) recommending environmental adaptations in the home, leisure, work and school environments on an individual or group basis to enable individuals with functional limitations to perform their daily activities and occupations;
- (f) planning and implementing therapeutic programmes on an individual and group basis for improving and maintaining physical, cognitive, emotional and social functioning, including through the use of arts and crafts, dance and movement, music and other recreational activities;
- (g) identifying and prescribing treatments for conditions affecting the foot, ankle and related structures of the leg due to illness, disease or other physical impairment, and prescribing corrective footwear and advising on foot care to manage foot ailments;
- (h) performing minor surgical procedures such as on the foot and ankles.
Example occupations
Arts therapist · Chiropractor · Dance and movement therapist · Occupational therapist · Osteopath · Podiatrist · Recreational therapist
Sources: ILO ISCO-08 — details: Credits
ESCO occupational vocabulary
Each entry below is matched to this occupation in the published ESCO-O*NET Crosswalk (version 1, 2022). The match types are that crosswalk's; the wording is AI Changing Work's.
- recreational therapistESCO 2269.9Same scope
Recreational therapists offer treatment to persons who have behavioural disorders or conditions. They use techniques and interventions such as art, music, animals and dance to promote, maintain and restore the development and health of the patient.
Source: European Commission, DG EMPL — ESCO API 2026-08-08 (bridge v1.2.1)
License: CC BY 4.0 (EU Reuse Notice)
ESCO reuse terms and the modification notice are in Credits.
France classification links (ROME)
AI Changing Work's links between this occupation and ROME 4.0 job profiles, judged with AI models. Relations are read from this occupation's side. Links marked “provisional” were adopted on the judgments of two judges from the same model family (Claude) alone, or by an operator rule applied to their judgments, so they rest on weaker evidence than confirmed links.
| ROME code | ROME title (French) | Relation |
|---|---|---|
| J1415 | Enseignant / Enseignante en activité physique adaptée (EAPA) | Overlapping, not the same |
| K1206 | Animateur coordinateur socioculturel / Animatrice coordinatrice socioculturelle | Related, not a match |
Source: France Travail — Répertoire Opérationnel des Métiers et des Emplois (ROME 4.0), version 61, last updated 15 June 2026 (https://www.data.gouv.fr/datasets/repertoire-operationnel-des-metiers-et-des-emplois-rome). Licence Ouverte 2.0.
ROME codes and titles are reproduced unchanged; the links to O*NET-SOC occupations are AI Changing Work's own judgment and are not a France Travail correspondence.
(AI Changing Work link release: fr-direct v1)
Spain classification links (CNO-11)
AI Changing Work's links between this occupation and CNO-11 occupations, judged with AI models. Relations are read from this occupation's side.
| CNO-11 code | CNO-11 title (Spanish) | Relation |
|---|---|---|
| 2159 | Profesionales de la salud no clasificados bajo otros epígrafes | This occupation is narrower |
Source: Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE), National Classification of Occupations 2011 (CNO-11, Royal Decree 1591/2010) — www.ine.es · Licensed CC BY 4.0. CNO-11 codes and Spanish titles are reproduced unchanged; the links to O*NET occupations are AI Changing Work's own judgment and are not an INE correspondence.
(AI Changing Work link release: es-direct v1)
Germany classification links (KldB)
AI Changing Work's links between this occupation and KldB occupations, judged with AI models. Relations are read from this occupation's side.
| KldB code | KldB title (German) | Relation |
|---|---|---|
| 81783 | Berufe in der nicht ärztlichen Therapie und Heilkunde (sonstige spezifische Tätigkeitsangabe) - komplexe Spezialistentätigkeiten | Related, not a match |
| 81723 | Berufe in der Ergotherapie - komplexe Spezialistentätigkeiten | Related, not a matchprovisional |
Source: © Statistik der Bundesagentur für Arbeit — Klassifikation der Berufe 2010 – überarbeitete Fassung 2020, https://statistik.arbeitsagentur.de. KldB codes and titles are reproduced unchanged; the links to O*NET occupations are AI Changing Work's own mapping (eigene Zuordnung) and are not a Bundesagentur für Arbeit correspondence.
(AI Changing Work link release: de-direct v1)
Japan classification links (JSCO)
AI Changing Work's links between this occupation and JSCO occupations, judged with AI models. Relations are read from this occupation's side.
| JSCO code | JSCO title (Japanese) | Relation |
|---|---|---|
| 144 | 理学療法士，作業療法士 | Related, not a match |
| 162 | 福祉施設指導専門員 | Related, not a match |
| 361 | 介護職員（医療・福祉施設等） | Related, not a match |
Source: Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC), Japan Standard Occupational Classification (Dec. 2009, MIC Notification No. 555). JSCO codes and Japanese titles are reproduced unchanged; the links to O*NET occupations are AI Changing Work's own judgment and are not a MIC correspondence.
(AI Changing Work link release: jp-direct v1)
Sources, licenses and AI Changing Work's modification and translation notices for this page: Credits & sources