OCCUPATIONAL-THERAPY FOR INDEPENDENT-LIVING OLDER ADULTS - A RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIAL

Context.-Preventive health programs may mitigate against the health ri sks of older adulthood. Objective.-To evaluate the effectiveness of pr eventive occupational therapy (OT) services specifically tailored for multiethnic, independent-living older adults. Design.-A randomized con trolled trial. Setting.-Two government subsidized apartment complexes for independent-living older adults. Subjects.-A total of 361 cultural ly diverse volunteers aged 60 years or older. Intervention.-An OT grou p, a social activity control group, and a nontreatment control group, The period of treatment was 9 months. Main Outcome Measures.-A battery of self-administered questionnaires designed to measure physical and social function, self-rated health, life satisfaction, and depressive symptoms, Results.-Benefit attributable to OT treatment was found for the quality of interaction scale on the Functional Status Questionnair e (P=.03), Life Satisfaction Index-Z (P=.03), Medical Outcomes Study H ealth Perception Survey (P=.05), and for 7 of 8 scales on the RAND 36- item Health Status Survey, Short Form: bodily pain (P=.03), physical f unctioning (P=.008), role limitations attributable to health problems (P=.02), vitality (P=.004), social functioning (P=.05), role limitatio ns attributable to emotional problems (P=.05), and general mental heal th (P=.02). Conclusions.-Significant benefits for the OT preventive tr eatment group were found across various health, function, and quality- of-life domains. Because the control groups tended to decline over the study interval, our results suggest that preventive health programs b ased on OT may mitigate against the health risks of older adulthood.