VALID final training day photo august 2016 |
Sheffield
Occupational Therapists met up to reflect on their participation in the Valuing
Active Life in Dementia research study. Also to consider how the Community
Occupational Therapy in Dementia – UK intervention can best be implemented in
to UK occupational therapy clinical practice. The day was facilitated by
occupational therapy researchers Laura Di Bona and Jane Burgess. The general
consensus was that this intervention offers a lot of potential to improve the
lives of people affected by dementia and enables occupational therapists to
demonstrate the unique contribution of their profession.
The ‘ValuingActive Life in Dementia’ (VALID) study is looking at the possible benefits of a programme of occupational therapy
for people who have been diagnosed with dementia and those who regularly
support them.
Maintaining
both everyday and interesting pleasurable activities can be difficult for people
with dementia as well as for those who support them. Occupational therapists
assist people to continue to participate in activities despite the difficulties
that they might be experiencing. They do this by helping people to try new ways
of doing things. Some examples of activities are: joining a local group (like a
walking group, or a lunch club), continuing to work in the garden, staying in
touch with friends, or doing jobs around the house. They can also assist people to explore new
activities.
Researchers
in the Netherlands found that providing this occupational therapy programme
could benefit both the person with dementia and their supporter. It was also
shown to be a good use of money.
The UK
research team have developed a similar occupational therapy programme to meet
the needs of people living in this country. We are now testing whether this UK
programme is beneficial. We are carrying out a randomised controlled trial of
the clinical and cost effectiveness of the Community Occupational Therapy in
Dementia –UK intervention.
Publications so far:
•
Hynes,
S., et al., (2015) Exploring the need for a new UK occupational therapy
intervention for people with dementia and family carers: Community Occupational
Therapy in Dementia (COTiD). A focus group study. Aging & Mental Health,
DOI: 10.1080/13607863.2015.1037243
•
Swinson,
T., et al. (2016)Community occupational therapy for people with dementia and
their family carers: A national survey of United Kingdom occupational therapy
practice. British Journal of Occupational Therapy, Vol. 79, (No. 2) pp85-91
•
Wenborn,
J. et al., (2016) Community occupational therapy for people with dementia and
family carers (COTiD-UK) versus treatment as usual (Valuing Active Life in
Dementia [VALID] programme): study protocol for a randomised controlled trial.
Trials. 17:65 DOI: 10.1186/s13063-015-1150-y
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