Content area
Full text
KEY WORDS
* activities of daily living
* geriatric assessment
* health promotion
* health status
* human activities
We conducted this systematic review, one of four related to productive aging, to explore the existing evidence for the health benefits of engagement in occupations and activities among older adults. The review incorporates the breadth of areas of occupation in which older adults engage and the range of health benefits derived from that engagement. The results of this review demonstrate the multidisciplinary appreciation for occupational engagement and associated well-being and elucidate the health effects of engagement in a wide variety of occupations and activities. Additionally, the results of this systematic review support occupational therapy's historical ideologies and core philosophies linking occupational engagement to improved health and well-being. The findings suggest an increasing role for occupational therapy service delivery in community-based health promotion and prevention efforts to meet the everyday activity and health needs of the growing older adult population.
The objectives of this review were to systematically search the literature and critically appraise and synthesize the applicable findings to address the following focused question: "What is the evidence that participation in occupation and activities supports the health of community-dwelling older adults?"
Background and Statement of the Problem
In this early part of the 21st century, the existing knowledge in occupational therapy of the health benefits of engagement in occupation has been largely theoretical. These beliefs date back to the formative years of the profession when Dunton (1915) outlined the basic principles of occupational therapy, which included multiple references to the link among occupation, health, and wellbeing (American Occupational Therapy Association [AOTA] Commission on Continuing Competence and Professional Development, 2008). Since that time, occupational therapy researchers, theorists, leaders, and practitioners have grounded their work on the assumption that occupational engagement is not only a desired outcome but one that can improve clients' health (Gray, 1998; Reilly, 1962).
The ideologies about the relationship between occupational engagement and health still exist in the philosophical assumptions underlying the profession and the theoretical perspectives used to guide practice (AOTA, 2008a; Christiansen & Baum, 1997; Iwama, 2006; Ludwig, 1993; Reilly, 1962; Yerxa, 1998). Despite the prevalent reference to the health-promoting effects of occupational engagement, this relationship or causality continues to be...