Giving Compass' Take:

• Occupational therapy can have a range of benefits for individuals with dementia by helping them accomplish daily tasks and activities each day. 

• How can donors better support and secure more opportunities for care for individuals with dementia?  

• Learn why loneliness is tied to higher risk of dementia. 

“Occupational therapy aims to enable people to participate in the things they need to do, like having a shower or cleaning the house, or things they want to do, such as going out to dinner or doing some gardening,” says Sally Bennett, associate professor at the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of Queensland.

“Occupational therapists help people with dementia and their carers find new ways of doing things, which allows them to still do activities they enjoy, to make changes to the environment which facilitate their participation, and by reducing the stresses they might be experiencing.

“Many people are not aware of what occupational therapy is, or the difference it can make in the lives of those living with dementia and their families.”

The new systematic review in BMJ Open analyzed results from 15 studies worldwide that tested the effects of occupational therapy provided for people with dementia and their families living at home.

“We found a range of benefits, including improvements in the ability to carry out daily activities and reduction in the occurrence of behavior changes, such as agitation or repetitive questioning that are common in dementia and often a result of unmet needs,” Bennett says. “We also found improvements in quality of life for both the person with dementia and the carer.

Read the full article about occupational therapy for dementia patients by Dani Nash at Futurity.