Occupation

Abstracts
Occupational Therapists are proven to be well placed to help
multidisciplinary teams meet the occupational needs of their
clients (Brian et al, 2015). The following case analysis considers
the impact a dementia training course had on the occupational
engagement of people with dementia.
Method: The eight week course was developed by a
multidisciplinary team, and facilitate by an OT. The person
centered content was heavily influenced by Kitwood, (1997)
and 50% of the delivery was ‘modelled’ by facilitators working
alongside care home residents and staff. For example, the Pool
Activity Level instrument, (Pool, 2011), was presented, and then
utilised to help carers plan appropriate activities. One participant
gave consent to be interviewed following the course to
determine how the training had influenced her practice. Consent
was gained to publish the findings. The interview was recorded
to collate qualitative data for analysis, then the recording
destroyed. The anonymity of the staff member and the care
home will be observed at all times to maintain confidentiality.
Conclusion: The carer reported an increase in meaningful
occupation taking place laying the table, leisure activities,
socialising, and singing. It had also improved the carer’s
confidence, work satisfaction and influenced day service culture.
Impact on service users. In this case, the education of one person
increased the occupational engagement of several people with
dementia. The training also appeared to break down the wider
socio-environmental barriers that had restricted meaningful
occupation in the day service.
References
Brian.H, Cook.S, Taylor.D, Freeman.L, Mundy.T and Killaspy.H
(2015) Occupational Therapists as change agents in
multidisciplinary teams. British Journal of Occupational therapy,
Vol. 78(9) 547.
Great Britain Department of health (2013) Dementia. A state
of the nation report on dementia care and support in England.
Available at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/
uploads/attachment_data/file/262139/Dementia.pdf (Accessed
on 18.09.15)
Kitwood, Tom (1997) Dementia Reconsidered, the person comes
first. Berkshire: Open University Press
Miller.C (2015) Health care leaders call for higher standards in
care homes. Available at: https://www.cot.co.uk/news/carehomes/health-care-leaders-call-higher-standards-care-homes
(Accessed on 18.09.15)
Pool.J (2011) The Pool Activity Level (PAL) Instrument for
occupational profiling:a practical resource for careers of people
with cognitive impairment. London: Jessica Kingsley.
Keywords
Dementia, Practice development, Education and learning, Interagency
Contact E-mail Addresses
harvey.sarah@hotmail.co.uk
Author Biographies
Sarah Harvey has worked as an Occupational Therapist
specialising in Mental Health for 18 years. She has worked with
Adults in both In-patient and community settings, and later
worked with people with Dementia in a Specialist Dementia
Service. She completed her Masters in ‘Groups’ at the Tavistock
Center, London. Her dissertation focused on group dynamics and
their effect on learning during a dementia training course. She
is interested in working groups and how effective they can be
at influencing change. More recently she has taken up a Senior
lecturer post, lecturing in Occupational Therapy.
Posters
P28
Effects of strength and stretch training on flexibility
in the demented elderly
Huang J 1 , Chen-Sea J 2 , Jianan Psychiatric Center, Ministry
of Health and Welfare 1 , National Cheng Kung University 2
Background: Studies have confirmed that the decreased
flexibility can affect the old adults’ balance ability which
consequently hindering their performance in daily living activities
(Schenkman et al 2000). Clinical researches have intervened
training programs to maintain or to increase flexibility for
the healthy elderly, but few programs have focused on the
demented elderly, whom function degenerated faster than the
healthy ones.
Objective: This study was conducted to investigate the
effectiveness of a strength and stretch training program on
flexibility, baance ability and the performance of activities of
daily living related to flexibility in the demented elderly. In
addition to compare scores change before and after intervention
program, the study also examined the gap between scores of
the demented elderly after intervention and those of the healthy
elderly without intervention.
Methods: This was a pre-post test study design. The elderly aged
older than 65 years with or without dementia diagnosis were
recruited from the community. Each participant was assigned to
the intervention group or control group based on their volition.
The control groups maintained their original lifestyle during
the study period, while the experimental groups attended the
strength and stretch training programs to improve flexibility. The
participants of the experimental groups took the training three
times per week (each time 50 minutes) for 12 weeks.
Results: Both the demented and healthy intervention groups had
significantly increased their upper body flexibility. However, no
significant differences was found between pretest and posttest
for 4 groups on lower body flexibility, balance ability and
performance in activities of daily living.
Conclusions: Findings of this study suggested that application
of the program could improve upper body flexibility for elderly
either with or without dementia in the community.
References
SCHENKMAN, M., MOREY, M. & KUCHIBHATLA, M. 2000.
Spinal flexibility and balance control among community-dwelling
adults with and without Parkinson’s disease. The Journals of
Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences,
55, M441–M445.
HESSEBERG, K., BENTZEN, H., RANHOFF, A., ENGEDAL, K. &
BERGLAND, A. 2015. Physical Fitness in Older People With
Mild Cognitive Impairment and Dementia. Journal of aging and
physical activity.
Keywords
Dementia, Practice development, Occupational science
Contact E-mail Addresses
naugh.wanju@gmail.com
Author Biographies
Wan -Ju Huang received a Bachelor of Science Degree
inOccupational Therapy from National Cheng Kung University
in 1995 and a Masters in Gerontology in 2013. She has
been a practicing Occupational Therapist for 14 years in
Jianan Psychiatric Center and takes a special interest in Work
Rehabilitation and Dementia Care.
Mei-Jin Chen-Sea, Emeritus Professor of Institute of Allied Health
Sciences, National Cheng Kung University.
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