Telehealth Lifestyle Pilot Study for Improving Occupational Performance in Older Adults

Abstract

Occupation-centered lifestyle interventions improve health and delay age-related declines in older adults; however, little is known about the impact of a brief telehealth lifestyle program delivered individually. This pilot investigated the Holistic Occupational Performance Empowerment (HOPE) program on occupational performance and health-related quality of life. Twelve community-dwelling older adults completed six weekly lifestyle sessions to enhance behavior change toward individualized health goals. Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS) and the Short Form 20-Item Survey (SF-20) were administered preintervention and postintervention to measure program outcomes. Among 36 health-related goals, 69.4% achieved or exceeded the expected level of attainment. A paired samples t-test revealed statistically higher posttest GAS scores compared with pretest scores, indicating significant improvements in occupational performance. SF-20 mental health scores increased postintervention, although not significantly. Preliminary findings suggest that HOPE could positively impact occupational performance in community-dwelling older adults warranting a future large-scale randomized controlled trial.