Improving Elderly People's Quality Of Life Through Occupational Therapy

As occupational therapy services diversified, serving a variety of clients in many different settings and with societal influences, the field began to evolve. During the 1990s occupational therapists began to shift away from reductionist medical model toward a more holistic client-centered approach. Services focused on enhancing individuals’ quality of life across the lifespan meaning before, during, and after therapeutic intervention. The profession began to better acknowledge the value of client education, injury and illness prevention, health screening, and health maintenance (Cole & Tufano, 2008). The field created more preventative initiatives, and focused services on improving quality of life and optimizing the independence of

The occupational therapy profession shares many objectives across the communities, clients, and families they serve. Some of these aims include: “Developing the field of occupational therapy and enhance the professions capabilities to meet the needs of the entire population, providing evidence on the efficacy of occupational therapy. This includes working with organizations and local communities, incorporating education, research, and practices as a complete whole. In addition, developing a team of professionals that innovates and adapts to the developing health needs of the population” (AOTA, 2013). This includes advocacy efforts with policymakers to ensure continued funding to provide care to individuals (AOTA, 2013). Occupational therapy is a distinctive profession that helps

To be able to participate in one 's own life, to do the things we want to do, and to competently perform the activities that form part of our daily, weekly or monthly routines, is a common goal for most people.  This not only includes taking part in the basic activities of self-care, such as grooming and dressing, but also extends to our work and leisure activities.  It is through doing things that we learn and develop as human beings.  The occupational therapy profession believes that being prevented or hindered in some way from participating in the activities that are important to us could adversely affect our health and wellbeing.

Occupational therapy was founded on the principle that participation in meaningful activity is important to the health of individuals. Mental health is very important to the well-being of an individual and those around them. 450 million people experience mental and neurological disorders around the world. These disorders are the leading 5-10 causes of disability worldwide. As services for individuals with mental illness have shifted from the hospital to the community, there has also been a shift in the philosophy of service delivery. In the past, there was an adherence to the medical model; now the focus is on incorporating the recovery model. (2) Occupational therapy’s focus that taking part in engaging and meaningful activities benefits the mental well-being of the individual.

This questionnaire will utilize close-ended questions for several reasons. The close-ended questions enable pre-set answers which allows for greater ease of coding and analyzation of answers while simultaneously taking away any opportunity for unnecessary or undesired answers to questions. It also adds to higher incidences of participation in the study because the respondent will not have to take vast amounts of time to respond to short-answer questions which can be daunting for those who have difficulty reading or writing which is important in regards to seniors who may have difficulty reading due to poor eyesight or may have problems holding a pen or pencil due to arthritis.

Occupational therapy is much more than enhancing activities of daily living to me. I see occupational therapy as helping people achieve daily freedom and making attainable goals to improve their physical and mental health while providing a professional relationship to encourage trust and reliability throughout treatment. Something as simple as tying shoes or being able to grab a fork to eat can make all the difference in the world to the patients an occupational therapist will treat. I have been working at a hand clinic since September and have seen that the small achievements like the tying of the shoes of the ability to bend the finger 10 more degrees puts a big smile on the faces of the patients and improves their outlook and demeanor towards their injury. Encouraging home exercise, helping with self cares, teaching writing skills and helping provide custom splints are all aspects that I have seen with my job and observation of occupational therapy as a whole. When I started my job at the hand clinic a therapist told me that the most basic occupational therapy explanation she could provide me is that occupational therapy is a way of helping others achieve a better level of daily living for things that they want and or need to do in life than when they sought help from therapy.

Occupational Therapy is a vital segment of the health care field. Individuals in this profession make a difference in the lives of others by helping their patients function effectively despite their disability, illness, or injury. They help by teaching patients many activities of daily living tasks which can include, grooming, toileting, dressing, eating, mobility, and much more! Along with the daily living tasks, Occupational Therapy helps individuals to be productive and successful in ways they want to be, like going school, taking care of others, managing their homes, preparing meals. Most importantly, they help their patients adapt to their environments and increase their independent function by helping them perform tasks with as little help from others as possible. Without Occupational Therapy, some patients with temporary disabilities could have a permanent disability. If individuals receive the Occupational treatments, they can prevent the loss of function.

Each of 30 interviewers was asked to recruit 14 subjects (convenience sample of 7 males and 7 females aged between 18 and 80 years old)

The summer before my junior year I shadowed an OT and had my first glimpse of the profession. The week after shadowing I left to work as a camp counselor at Victory Junction, a camp for children with chronic and terminal illnesses. That summer provided opportunities that have truly changed my life. I worked in a cabin each week with children from a different disease group, including diabetes, cancer, spina bifida, and cerebral palsy. Since we became their primary caretakers for the week we were responsible for all aspects of their care. This included monitoring blood sugar during diabetes week, setting up feeding tubes for children with gastrointestinal disorders, and monitoring temperatures closely during sickle cell week. I also acquired

The authors state reliability and validity testing were not completed on the survey questions (Gordon et al., 2014, p.14), and include this as a

Occupational therapy has been in the process of continued development since the 1900’s. With several contributors helping to build the groundwork for creating the awareness needed to bring occupational therapy into the field of health care. Continued research is contributing to the ongoing significance of how occupational therapy is a vital aspect in promoting increased independences in all aspects of healthcare. (Willard, Schell, 2014) With the incorporation of “Occupational Therapy Practice Framework Domain and Process (3rd ed.)” helps creates the foundation for occupational therapy clinicians as well as other health care providers in facilitating the core believe of occupational and the relationship of health and occupation. (AOTA 2014) Therefore, providing a uniform outline of the various aspects of each individual and how they are interconnected to create the foundation of each individual. With a greater understanding of the foundations of that induvial, the clinician can then facilitate the best therapeutic treatment plan for that individual to achieve their personal goals with unified foundations of care.

Due to the evolving nature of occupational therapy, much of the work in this field is grounded in evidence-based practice. It is imperative, for those seeking a career in Occupational Therapy and those currently in the profession, to have a clear understanding of research methodology in order to work ethically and effectively when carrying out their research. This will lead to the better quality approach of care for the clients.

Brent Braveman suggests recognizing any achievement of the occupational therapy within the frameworks of the approach and the Triple Aim concept. The specific competencies must be created for practitioners and researchers which allow identifying the effectiveness and the future perspectives of the population health (Braveman, 2015). To date, the framework of the competencies does not relate to the issue of the population health directly, living many questions open for consideration. In addition, there are no clear accreditation standards, which would contain the detailed description of the population health. Only standards for doctoral-level occupational therapist programs have information regarding population interventions. Finally, the author explains the growing number of occupational therapy practitioners and students because of the increasing demand of the population, especially if to take into account growing numbers of patients with autism, diabetes or

The two survey instruments that were used in the data collection process included a study questionnaire and a statewide Health Information Exchange (HIE). Both of these instruments have obtained a data collection that was based on two short timeframes. Not to mention a detailed list of the questions for the study questionnaire were not available in the study. This gives uncertainty to the questions by not knowing if

Client factors connects with Dr. Toto’s work because she focuses on client-center approaches in order to maximizes participation in desired occupations and prevents decline in function for older adults; identify external systems that promote participation in occupations and reduce barriers to services of older adults; and identify future diverse roles for occupational therapists and related research that supports meaningful occupations and quality of life for older adults and communities. This approach can help therapists in their beginning years develop their expertise with the aging population, and it can help specialists further their excellence as gerontological occupational