Approaches to engaging people with dementia in meaningful occupations in institutional settings: A scoping review

Abstract

Background

People with dementia in institutional settings lack engagement in meaningful occupations, which may cause decreased quality of life. Although many researchers and professionals have proposed approaches to engage people with dementia in these occupations, an overview seems to be missing.

Aim

This scoping review provides an overview by categorizing and describing the characteristics of the approaches.

Material and method

A thorough literature search in nine databases identified the studies on approaches. We included 54 studies, and extracted bibliometric data. A content analysis revealed the characteristics of the approaches.

Results

Four categories of approaches were uncovered. First, the literature defined the concept of meaningful occupation in various ways. Second, a category of approaches provided theoretical knowledge of meaningful occupations. The third category focussed on specific themes, such as certain methods. The final described comprehensive multilevel approaches.

Conclusion

This review contributes to knowledge of the diversity of approaches to engage people with dementia in meaningful occupation within institutional settings.

Significance

We suggest that occupational therapy researchers and practitioners consider how the concept of meaningful occupation is embedded in the theoretical landscape. Furthermore, activity programming requires reflexive decision-making at the policy and practice level, as engagement in meaningful occupations is complex.

Keywords:

• Engagement
• occupational therapy
• quality of life
• well-being

Disclosure statement

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article. The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by The Danish Association of Occupational Therapists.