Examination of a program to improve daily life performance involving occupational therapists in a salon for community-dwelling older adults

Abstract

Aim: This study examined the feasibility and effectiveness of a program designed and implemented by occupational therapists to improve activities of daily life performance in a salon run mainly by community-dwelling older adults.Methods: The participants were 12 older adults (mean age ± standard deviation: 80.0 ± 1.2 years) who participated in a community-based salon. The program was conducted once a month for one hour, two times in total. Using a booklet summarizing the methods of coping with daily activities that the participants felt inconvenienced in the first session, the participants themselves decided the methods they would like to implement in consultation with each other and the facilitator. Participants were asked to implement the coping methods for a period of one month. In the second session, their impressions of the program, degree of performance and satisfaction with the countermeasures, and whether the countermeasures made their daily life performance easier were surveyed.Results: The contents of the program and booklet were well-received by the participants. After one month of implementation, the degree of performance and satisfaction of half the participants increased, and more than 80% of the participants indicated that the countermeasures made their daily life performance easier.Conclusion: This program can be considered as one of the options for programs conducted by occupational therapists and other healthcare professionals in places where older adults commonly visit, and may improve the daily life performance of community-dwelling older adults.