Characteristics of research with older people (over 65 years) in occupational therapy journals, 2013-2017.

Background: A growing population of older people will require different types of occupational therapy services in the future. For occupational therapists to provide effective services and to optimize care, their practice must rely on high-quality evidence. Research is one important pillar of evidence-based practice. Therefore, it is important to examine the research published in occupational therapy journals, which guides practitioners in their work with clients.Aim: The overall aim of this study was to review research characteristics in articles with older persons as participants, aged over 65 years, with or without illness, diseases or disabilities, reported in occupational therapy journals during the period 2013-2017.Materials and methods: Data was collected from peer-reviewed occupational therapy journals and categorized in relation to research characteristics using descriptive statistics.Results: The findings show that most articles presented basic research, using quantitative design where the sources of data were instruments.Conclusion: The findings suggest that both qualitative and quantitative articles use appropriate sample sizes. However, descriptions of the studied populations are frequently unclear, which may affect the transferability and generalization of the results.Significance: In order to support practice, efforts are needed to develop research aims and questions that develop knowledge to embrace more than just basic research.

Handling the Dilemma of Self-Determination and Dementia: A Study of Case Managers' Discursive Strategies in Assessment Meetings.

In assessment meetings concerning care services for people with dementia, Swedish case managers face a dilemma. On the one hand, according to the law, the right to self-determination of every adult citizen must be respected, but on the other hand cognitive disabilities make it difficult to fulfill obligations of being a full-fledged citizen. In this article, we examine 15 assessment meetings to identify discursive strategies used by case managers to handle this dilemma. We also examine how these affect the participation of persons with dementia, and indicate implications of our study for social work practice and research.

How are decisions on care services for people with dementia made and experienced? A systematic review and qualitative synthesis of recent empirical findings.

BACKGROUND: During recent decades, there has been a growing recognition that people cannot be assumed incapable of making decisions about their own care solely on the basis of a dementia diagnosis and international agreements and legislative changes have strengthened the formal right for people with dementia to participate in decisions on care services. This raises important questions about how these decisions are currently made and experienced in practice. In this review, we address this question and highlight directions for further research. METHODS: We searched CINAHL, PsycINFO, ASSIA, Social Services Abstracts, Science Direct, Academic Search Premier, and PubMed. Twenty-four pertinent articles were identified, all representing qualitative studies. Relevant findings were extracted and synthesized along dimensions of involvement of the person with dementia in decisions on care services, using an integrative approach to qualitative synthesis. RESULTS: We identified three overarching ways in which people with dementia are involved, primarily, in the informal part of a process of decisions: excluded, prior preferences taken into account, and current preferences respected. Several (10) articles seemed to be based on the assumption that decisions on care services are invariably and solely made within the family and without participation of the person with dementia. CONCLUSIONS: The review emphasizes the need for more updated research about international debates and agreements concerning capabilities and rights of people with dementia and about the (potential) formal contexts of care decisions in the country concerned. This, we argue, is vital for future knowledge production in the area.