Annual of social work, Vol. 11 No. 2, 2004.
Review article
OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY IN GERIATRICS
Dubravka Šimunović
Abstract
For planning the rehabilitation intervention for geriatrics, it is not enough just to determine the medical diagnosis, but one also has to take a closer look and answer the question – how is the illness affecting a person's everyday life and how to help her/him utilize all their potentials to reintegrate themselves into everyday life and its occupations, to improve their life quality. That is the main role of an occupational therapist. Occupational therapists believe that there is a big connection between occupation (in this context meaning: everyday activities), health and well-being. The intensity of influence of occupations on health depends on the interaction between person-environment-occupation, the latter meaning the individual balance between self-care, productivity and leisure activities. The occupational therapist in planning the intervention for an elderly person uses different techniques and media. The main thing prior to planning the intervention is occupational assessment, including the occupational interview. During this procedure, the occupational therapist as a health-team member has the task to observe and analyze the type and frequency of the daily activities of these persons. To assess the client, the occupational therapist uses different assessment methods, differing by the area of assessment (e.g. Vast Occupational Assessment Scale, Check List of Interests, Occupational Questionnaire). Occupational therapy observation and assessment serve as a guideline for choosing the occupational therapy model, which defines further intervention.
Keywords
occupational therapy/therapist; occupation, activity; occupational therapy assessment; occupational therapy intervention
Hrčak ID:
3392
URI
Publication date:
15.12.2004.
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