[Occupational therapy for dementia and depression]
Patera N, Piso B
Record ID 32012000788
German
Authors' objectives:
Dementia impairs memory, causes behavioral problems and leads to loss of initiative and independence. The ability to master the demands of daily living is negatively affected, as is participation in social activities. Dementia is a chronic degenerative disease. Dementia progresses in stages and is generally not curable. Dementia has far reaching consequences for patients and their caregivers, who are often relatives. Occupational therapy aims to enable patients with dementia to master activities of importance to them and to support caregivers. The project aims to analyze evidence for the effectiveness of occupational therapy for patients suffering from dementia.
Depression ranks among the most common mental illnesses. Depression often entails severe mental suffering, somatic comorbidity and a rise in the risk of suicide. Occupational therapy aims to enable patients with depression
to master activities of importance to their lives. This report analyzes the evidence on the effectiveness of occupational therapy interventions for depressed patients.
Authors' recommendations:
Research into the effectiveness of occupational therapy for elderly people suffering from dementia is warranted. A better understanding of intervention details and of how to calibrate interventions to individual patient needs is necessary. This research would need to harmonize its methodology in order to adequately evaluate the complex construct of activities of daily living.
Available evidence is too little, too specific and of insufficient methodological quality to justify more general conclusions on the effectiveness of occupational therapy with persons with depression. There is a particularly dire
need for further research for elderly people with depression.
Details
Project Status:
Completed
Year Published:
2012
URL for published report:
http://eprints.hta.lbg.ac.at/974/1/HTA-Projektbericht_Nr.60.pdf
English language abstract:
An English language summary is available
Publication Type:
Not Assigned
Country:
Austria
MeSH Terms
- Humans
- Occupational Therapy
- Dementia
- Depression
Contact
Organisation Name:
Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Health Technology Assessment
Contact Address:
Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for fuer Health Technology Assessment (LBI-HTA), Garnisongasse 7/rechte Stiege Mezzanin (Top 20), 1090 Vienna, Austria. Tel: +43 1 236 8119 - 0 Fax: +43 1 236 8119 - 99
Contact Name:
tarquin.mittermayr@aihta.at
Contact Email:
office@aihta.at
Copyright:
Ludwig Boltzmann Institut fuer Health Technology Assessment (LBI-HTA)
This is a bibliographic record of a published health technology assessment from a member of INAHTA or other HTA producer. No evaluation of the quality of this assessment has been made for the HTA database.