Activity Disengagement: Understanding Challenges and Opportunities for Reengagement.
Krista Fox, Nancy Morrow-Howell, Stephanie Herbers and 2 others
PMID 29097960WHAT IT FOUND
Older adults in senior housing often gave up everyday tasks and social activities or did them less.
No opportunity was common for everyday tasks; no one to do it with was common for social activities. Companionship and opportunity were common answers about doing activities again.
Key findings
01The most common current activities were everyday tasks and low-demand leisure such as watching television; the most common activities given up or done less were everyday tasks and social activities.
02For everyday tasks, no opportunity was a common barrier; for social activities, no one to do it with was the most common barrier.
03Someone to do it with was the most common answer to what would enable doing activities again across activity categories.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The study was exploratory and not intended to apply to everyone. The sample was small, and participants chose to take part. Participants came from one subsidized senior housing site with enhanced activities and social services, so the findings may not apply to other older adults. Activity engagement was self-reported, so participants may have answered in a way they thought was acceptable. The category not done as an adult was not defined, so participants may have interpreted it differently. The study team did not collect demographic data for the whole facility, so it is unclear how typical the sample was.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that this pilot shows an intervention works. It did not test an intervention. It described what 51 older adults who chose to take part reported about activities they had given up, done less, or wanted to do again.