Occupational therapy in nursing home

Abstract

Greater longevity has increased chronic diseases such as dementia leading to a higher number of people admitted to nursing home (NH). When admitted to a NH people with dementia experiment social withdrawal, reduced engagement in active and passive activities that result in low quality of life perception. Occupational therapists in NH play an important role against residents’ loneliness and identity loss in particular for people with dementia because they promote activity engagement interventions and other non-pharmacological multicomponent interventions improving quality of life, functioning, cognitive decline and preventing BPSD.