Strengthening problem-solving skills through occupational therapy to improve older adults’ occupational performance - A systematic review

Abstract

Background: Evidence supports the role of occupational therapy (OT) for older adults, and therapeutic use of problem solving may provide a way to improve older adult’s occupational performance.

Aim: To assess the effectiveness and describe the contents of OT interventions aimed at improving older adults’ occupational performance by strengthening their problem-solving skills.

Material and Methods: This systematic review followed the phases recommended by the Cochrane Collaboration. The following databases were searched for clinical trials on OT for populations 65+ years: CINAHL, EMBASE, MEDLINE and PsycINFO. The Cochrane risk-of-bias tool (RoB-2) and the GRADE approach were used to assess the quality of the evidence. Results were presented in tables and by narrative syntheses.

Results: Five studies were included comprising a total of 685 participants. In four studies, OT with a problem-solving approach outperformed control conditions post intervention. The interventions involved problem identification, analysis, strategy development and implementation. Although no serious risk of bias was detected in the individual studies, the quality of evidence was deemed low due to inconsistent and imprecise results.

Conclusions: Low-quality evidence suggests that strengthening older adults’ problem-solving skills may improve their occupational performance.

Significance: Further investigation is required before firm practice recommendations can be prepared.

Keywords:

• Activities of daily living
• ADL
• cognitive strategies
• elderly
• functioning
• occupation
• rehabilitation
• problem solving

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Funding

The study was supported by the workplaces of the researchers at VIA University College, Denmark: The Department of Occupational Therapy in Aarhus and the Programme for rehabilitation at the Research Centre for Health and Welfare Technology. The authors carry sole responsibility for all analyses and conclusions.