Efficacy of Occupational Therapy for Dementia in Older Adults

Running Head: EFFICACY OF OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY FOR DEMENTIA IN
OLDER ADULTS - A CRITICAL REFLECTIVE PORTFOLIO
Efficacy of Occupational Therapy for Dementia in Older Adults - A Critical Reflective
Portfolio
Name of the Student:
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Author’s Note:

Efficacy of Occupational Therapy for Dementia in Older Adults - A Critical Reflective
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Table of Contents
Introduction...........................................................................................................................2
Discussion.............................................................................................................................2
Formation of the Occupational Team................................................................................2
Potential of the therapeutic occupation for the Clients.....................................................5
Impact of the team formation on the team members- A Learning Outcome.....................8
Gibb’s Reflective Model for the proposed plan..............................................................10
Professional theoretical frameworks and models considered for this therapy................12
Conclusion...........................................................................................................................13
References...........................................................................................................................14

Efficacy of Occupational Therapy for Dementia in Older Adults - A Critical Reflective
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Introduction
Dementia is defined as a degeneration disease that affects the brain causing a
progressive decline in the ability of the individual to critically think, memorize and
effectively communicate. This affects the mood, behaviour and personality of the affected
individual (Cui et al., 2018). I have read that non-pharmacological interventions in the
treatment is efficacious. This helped me to take up Cognition Stimulation Therapy (CST) as
an intervention for helping elderly adults affected with early to mild dementia. This therapy is
designed to improve the mental challenges and boosts the memory of an individual with
dementia. In this article I have discussed about the impact of CST as an occupational therapy
to combat dementia. I have also read that the occupational therapist should evaluate the
patient combating dementia to analyse their strength, impairments as well as the areas of
performance that require intervention. It is observed that the remediation of the cognitive
therapy is not likely but the patient might have demonstration of improved function by either
adaptation or compensation (Cartwright et al., 2015). As an occupational therapist I can also
assist the health care providers to cope with the challenging role of taking care of the
dementia affected individual. I have exploited the Gibb’s reflective model to explain the
efficacy of the therapy.
Discussion
Formation of the Occupational Team
I had selected four teams for successful execution of the occupational therapy selected
which is Cognitive stimulation therapy. I divided the clients involved into closed groups and
older adult groups that are in the early to middle stage of dementia. I tried to limit the group
sizes involved to 5 to 8 individuals. My occupational therapy group consisted of Hannah,
Don, Leila, Danielle and myself. The objective of our occupational therapy is to enhance the

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quality of life of the clients participating in the therapy. The therapy would promote physical
as well as cognitive stimulation promoting the multisensory experiences and hence impacting
the attitudinal as well as the behavioural aspect of the clients. I have planned to incorporate
aromatherapy in this program as it would impact the olfactory senses. I think working in a
group would impact the individuals and prevent them from social isolation.
The group development involved five stages: forming, storming, norming, performing.
The initial step is the team formation (Raes et al., 2015). During formation of the team I as
the leader ensured that we all were clear about the goals and objects of the occupational
therapy we were heading towards. They were clearly very dependent on me for the proper
guidance regarding their roles to be played. I used several communication tools to
communicate with my team members like Whatsapp to schedule my group meetings and used
G-Drive for sharing and storage of the relevant information with my team members.
The storming stage is regarded as the stage when the team members join hands to work
together as a team. Since we all were from different backgrounds it was difficult for us to be
one with the decisions at first and faced challenges. The recent evidences suggest that the
team collaboration successfully increases with the presence of a woman. I observed this even
in my team formed as well. Leila played a dominant role in managing the task that I allocated
to her. Her main job was to help our clients with the physical activity and ensure the efficacy
of the programme. The role she played needs to be much appreciated. She tried to take over
the roles of Danielle even which led to conflicts in the team and isolation of Danielle. I
ensured her role was also divided in the closing of the programme to combat the isolation.
However, instead of focusing on their positions they started to focus more on the interest
which gradually reduced the conflict and it was indeed remarkable to state the immense
amount of research Leila had done to deliver her job. She knew her role well and was
confident enough to boost the confidence of our team as well so much so that even Danielle