Disputing Common Misconceptions

What I enjoy most about meaningful occupation is that it disuptes the common belief that once someone gets to a certain age they retire and are meant to spend their days at home in front of the television. Occupational therapists look at the person holistically and work alongside the client to incorporate occupations into their day which have meaning to them. The individual will hopefully get involved with the occupation (e.g lawn bowls) and will benefit from the possible social, physical and mental benefits gained from being occupied in an activity. If done correctly the client will be happy with the chosen occupation and thus will continue to particpate in it, disputing the common misconception that once someone is retired their life is sedentary. It is preferable for older people to be proactive and active as they age rather than conforming to what society believes older people should do, this being a "slowing down of inevitable decline" which is commonly associated with old age (McIntyre & Atwal, 2005, p.4).

Above is a youtube video of a group of older people participating in dancing, obvioulsy a meaningful occupation to them, and having a great time doing it. Videos like this support my belief that a good dose of meaningful occupation can help older people physically, mentally and socially by getting them active and involved with society.

References:

McIntyre, A., & Atwal, A. (2005). Introduction. In A. McIntyre & A. Atwal (Eds.), Occupational therapy and older people. (pp. 1-13). Oxford: Blackwell publishing Ltd.

Meaningful Occupation

"Occupation is without a doubt, a central aspect of the human experience, and so much a part of everday life"

(Christiansen & Baum, 2005, p.150).

Photo retrieved from http://www.betterphoto.com

We all know what occupations are, they're the things we do for enjoyment, to fill in time and to keep us occupied throughout our lives. We cook, clean, exercise and study all depending on what occupation we choose to or need to do. Occupational therapists use their occupational perspective to introduce meaningful occupations into clients lives to improve their daily structure, provide routine and add meaning to their day. Before completing this paper I didn't really think about how an older persons' roles can change so much once they retire and that they are restricted in what they can do depending on their health.

Meaningful occupations or meaningful activities are a fundamental concept of occupational therapy. Occupation of course is embedded in our profession of occupational therapy and as Molineux (2004) states "the founders of occupational therapy based the new profession on their own personal experiences of the health enhancing effects of engagement in purposeful and meaningful activity" (p.2). Furthermore meaningful activities are the activities/occupations which a person finds meaning from. For example your job is an occupation which you may or may not enjoy but you still do it as it is a way to make money, provides structure to your day and gives you a sense of identity. Hobbies like netball and rugby may also be meaningful to a person as they find enjoyment out of participating in it and possibly  enjoy meeting up with friends.

Older people like every other indivdual find meaning from occupations they participate in. However as we age we tend to enjoy different occupations and lose a lot of roles due to retirement and physical barriers. As we age we go through different developmental stages and it is during the fourth stage of developmental life stages that older people tend to participate in fewer activities. Older people also find new activities unwelcome and counterproductive which often means older people become secluded, lonely and physically deteriorate (Cole,  2007).

This is where occupational therapists can work alongside older peole and find out what the individual finds meaningful, their interests and values etc. to introduce them to activities they are comfortable with and will find meaning from.I found it very interesting to learn about the different life stages we go through and agree with alot of the work done by Laslett (1991) on these stages. Laslett (1991) explained how when someone has retired they are in the third age and prefer to do more pleasing activities. Whereas in the fourth age they are at the stage of preparing for death and "demonstrate a pattern of withdrawl" (Cole, 2007, p.2).

References:

Better photo.com. (2011). Photography gallery. In Master photography. Retrieved November 21, 2011, from http://www.betterphoto.com/

Christiansen, C. H., & Baum, C. M. (2005). Occupational therapy: performance, participation and well-being (3rd ed., pp 130-142). Thorofare, NJ: SLACK Incorporated.

Cole, M. B. (2007). Occupational therapy in the third age. Special interest section quarterly: Gerontology, 30 (2).

Molineux, M. (2004). Occupation for occupational therapists (pp. 2-8). Oxford, England: Wiley- Blackwell.

An Ageing Population

Everyone ages and one day we will all eventually be considered to be an "older person", it is a part of life. Most developed countries  "have accepted the chronological age of 65 years as the defintion of 'elderly' or older person "(WHO, 2011). What is not so well known however, is that in New Zealand the population is ageing. By this I mean that more people are living longer and therefore a greater proportion of the population is comprised of older people. This is due to a huge "baby boom" that took place in the late 1940's and 1960's which means that by 2040 one in every four New Zealanders will be aged 65 or older (Statistics New Zealand, 2006 as cited by St Clair, 2008). As the graph below shows, it is expected that the older population will continue to increase in size as we all begin to live longer due to a decline in fertility rates, medical and technological advances and people living healthier lives.




Chart 13 Age distribution for the  working-age population, 1989 compared to 2009 and projection for 2029

Retrieved from http://www.dol.govt.nz

 As there are now more older people in the population there is an increased need for services for the older population. It is common knowledge that as we age our health begins to deteriorate and we begin to rely more on others for support and health professionals are required more often. From studying the older population and their altering needs I have seen how much of an impact this change in demographics will have on my future as a health professional. Beforehand I was unaware that people were actually living longer. I understand that there will be increased need for cost effective interventions that occupational therapists can use with the older population to prevent ill health.

Many organisations like WHO (The World Health Organization) provide great information on many strategies to help older people age well and discusses how these strategies work to optimize "opportunities for health, participation and security in order to enhance quality of life as people age" (WHO, 2011). When first learning about the ageing population I found this website very helpful to give an outline regarding the effect of the ageing population and actions that are currently being taken to improve the well- being of older people. I have provided a link to the WHO website below:

 http://www.who.int/en/

References:

Department of labour. (2009). The ageing population. In Labour force participation in New Zealand: recent trends, future scenarios and the impact on economic growth. Retrieved November 21, 2011, from http://www.dol.govt.nz/

St Clair, V. W. (2008). Occupational therapy's place in ageing New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Occupational Therapy, 55 (1), 14-17.

WHO. (2011). Definition of an older or elderly person. In Health statistics and health information systems . Retrieved November 21, 2011, from http://www.who.int/healthinfo

Welcome

Hi and welcome to my blog. My name is Tara Bolton and I am an Occupational Therapy student, currently in my third year of study. Over my three years I have learnt a number of key concepts regarding occupational therapy and finally feel I have a good understanding of the values and beliefs the occupational therapy profession holds. I have been asked to create this blog as part of a paper from my third year of study and  I hope that the information in this blog will help you out there understand a bit more about occupational therapy and understand what I myself have learnt regarding the topic at hand.

Image retrieved from u-guan.blogspot.com

As you may have already noticed if you've read the title I am using this blog to discuss the use of meaningful occupations as a means to prevent ill health in the older population. I learnt about the use of meaningful occupation  with older people during another third year paper called "Contemporary Occupational Therapy Practice". During this paper I came to understand how our population is gradually becoming more populated with older people and found it quite eye opening to know that we are all living longer which is placing an increasing strain on our economy and on services provided to older people. After a lot of research and lectures attended I could see how occupational therapists unique way of using meaningful occupations with this age group helped them live healthier and more fulfilling lives and consequently improved their overall health. I hope that after reading the posts in this blog you will come to understand the effectiveness of this intervention and enjoy learning about this topic as much as I did!

References:

Blogger. (2010). Just keep smiling. In Just keep smiling. Retrieved November 21, 2011, from u-guan.blogspot.com