Healthy ageing through participation in community situated activities: A scoping review of assessment instruments to support occupational therapy practice.
Lisa Knightbridge, Helen M Bourke-Taylor, Keith D Hill
PMID 35445413WHAT IT FOUND
No existing assessment tool comprehensively measures community participation for older adults because they ignore environmental factors like transport and accessibility.
Therapists should not assume standard participation scores capture the barriers preventing patients from leaving home or engaging in daily life.
Key findings
01No assessment tool was found that comprehensively supported occupational therapy practitioners in advancing healthy ageing and enabling participation in community situated activities.
02Fourteen of the twenty included instruments had no relevant environmental items, and no instrument covered all twelve preset environmental categories.
03Items measuring recreation and social relationships accounted for 38% of the coded items, while walking and community transportation accounted for only 10%.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The search was limited to reviews with 'review' in the title, which may have missed some instruments. Instruments cited in fewer than three reviews were excluded, potentially biasing the results toward older, more established measures. The included review studies were not screened for quality or risk of bias. Only one reviewer extracted and coded the instrument items, which could introduce bias, although this was mitigated by using a preset taxonomy.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that a patient's score on a standard community participation assessment reflects their true ability to engage with their environment. These tools measure what people do socially but ignore the physical and economic barriers they face, so a 'normal' score does not mean the environment is supportive.