Can Occupation-Based Interventions for People Living with Dementia and Their Spousal Caregivers Support Positive Aspects of Caregiving? A Scoping Review

Abstract

This scoping review aimed to explore the characteristics and outcomes of occupation-based interventions for people living with dementia and their spousal caregivers relating to positive aspects of caregiving. A conceptualization of positive aspects of caregiving was developed based on the existing literature encompassing three domains – quality of the caregiver/care receiver relationship, meaning of the caregiver’s role in daily life, and caregiver’s feeling of accomplishment. Arksey and O’Malley’s guidelines were used and four databases were searched to identify studies discussing occupation-based interventions involving spousal caregivers and persons living with dementia in the community that addressed at least one of three domains of positive aspects of caregiving identified in our conceptualization. After screening 1,560 articles, 18 articles were included for analysis. Three types of interventions were identified (i.e. music therapy, reminiscence therapy and a tailored activity program) involving three components contributing to positive aspects of caregiving: socializing outside the dyad, producing tangible end products, and education for the caregiver or dyad. Findings indicate that occupation-based interventions can support positive experiences for the dyad by improving the quality of the dyadic relationship and caregivers’ feelings of accomplishment.

Keywords:

• Dementia
• occupation
• occupation-based interventions
• positive aspects of caregiving
• spousal caregivers

Ethical approval

No ethics approval was required for this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

No funding was available for this study.

Notes on contributors

Meena Ramachandran

Meena Ramachandran is a PhD student at the McGill School of Physical and Occupational Therapy. She has completed her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in occupational therapy and worked as an occupational therapist, researcher, and academician in India before moving to Canada. She is interested in using theory-informed qualitative research methodologies to understand and build occupational therapy practices that attend to diversity.

Julia Chin

Julia Chin is an occupational therapist. She has graduated from McGill School of Physical and Occupational Therapy and completed her BA (Hons) from the University of Toronto in Linguistics and Contemporary Asian Studies. She currently works on an inpatient adult mental health unit in an acute care hospital in British Columbia.

Vincent Cheung

Vincent Cheung is an occupational therapist. He graduated from McGill School of Physical and Occupational Therapy where he also completed a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology. His current field of practice is in pediatric occupational therapy with specialization in assistive technology for communication.

Jenna Cope

Jenna Cope is an occupational therapist. She graduated from McGill School of Physical and Occupational Therapy and completed her bachelor’s degree in clinical exercise physiology at Concordia University. Her current fields of practice are in driving rehabilitation and technical aids.

Patricia Belchior

Patricia Belchior is an associate professor at the School of Physical and Occupational Therapy at McGill University and a researcher at the Center de recherche de l’Institut universitaire de gériatrie de Montréal (CRIUGM). Her current research work focuses on community-based interventions for older adults.