2001 Volume 1 Issue 1 Pages 15
The quality of life of the older person is formed by all life experience. The health of a person throughout the growth process from birth to death is greatly influenced by the daily occupation of the individual. Occupational development may be delayed, hindered, thwarted or changed by debilitating congenital or acquired illness or injury at any age and may be temporary or permanent. The individual depends on the knowledge and experience of past years to help with recuperation; future developmental stages will be positively or adversly affected by disability. Retirement from years of work at a job may provide freedom to explore new interests and occupations; or isolation from routine and community and poor self-motivation for activity, often resulting in declining health and quality of life, lacking daily achievement and satisfaction. In the United States increasing programs are available for rehabilitation of the older person both within and outside of the medical environment. With shorter hospital stays, emphasis is on home care, assistive living, and long term care with a homelike atmosphere. The rehabilitation, home care, and long term care teams focus on engaging the older person in new occupations to provide health and quality in the remaining years. With longer life, increased attention to quality is essential in the health care environment, be it in an institutional or community or home setting. Occupational therapists play a key role in educating staff and families in the importance of optimum self-care and self-directed daily activity to enable elders to engage in a life of achievement and satisfaction within individual limits and potentials.
