University: Occupational Therapy Baking Activity Plan for Dementia

This assignment details an occupational therapy baking activity plan designed for dementia patients. It begins with a background on the Allen Cognitive Levels, a tool used to assess cognitive functioning and guide treatment. The plan focuses on a baking activity within a residential home setting, emphasizing safety precautions such as slip-resistant flooring, proper equipment, and the distribution of tasks among residents to promote engagement. The activity considers the varying cognitive impairments of the residents and incorporates modifications based on the Allen Cognitive Levels. The assignment also stresses the importance of observing patients during the activity to prevent accidents and documentation after the activity. This documentation includes assessing the patient's ability to perform tasks, identifying risk factors, and gathering feedback to evaluate the treatment's effectiveness and inform future interventions, including fine motor skill development during cleanup activities. The assignment includes a list of references to support the information provided.

Running head: OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY
OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY
BAKING ACTIVITY PLAN
Name of the student:
Name of the University:
Author note:

1OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY
Background:
The occupational therapist Claudia K. Allen and her colleagues have developed a six
level test in order to monitor the cognitive functioning and introduce effective treatment process.
The six levels include awareness, gross body movement, familiar activity, manual actions,
learning new activities and planning for new activities. Such process helps the occupational
therapist to determine the effectiveness of the treatment and identify if any other treatment
process is needed (Park et al., 2016). The purpose of the assignment is to prepare a baking
activity plan and identify the way of modification of each Allen Cognitive Level through the
activity.
In before activity:
A resident home for the dementia patients has been chosen for the activity. Using the
Allen Cognitive Level to identify the cognitive functioning of the patients, 6 residents have been
chosen that are not suffering from immobility. The dementia patients suffer from different
cognitive impairment, thus the baking activity is positive step to identify the cognitive
functioning and introduce effective treatment ((Döpp et al.., 2013). In this regard, the kitchen
needs to be made with slip-resistant flooring. Proper arrangement such as lighting, safe storage
of fire extinguisher, elimination of sharp corners and keeping the electrical switches away from
the water sources need to be done before the activity. Proper equipments such as mixing bowl,
oven, measuring spoons, baking pan, basting brush, rolling pins and food processor need to be
provided. Such setting would help the participants in order to carry out the baking activity in an
effective manner.

2OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY
In during activity:
The task needs to be distributed among the 6 residents. For example, different task such
as preparing or mixing the ingredients, running the food processor, managing the baking process
and decoration of the recipe would be done by different resident. Effective safety precautions
need to be made during the baking activity. For example, sharp knives could be misused by the
patients and they might get cut. Thus, it is important to avoid the presence of such sharp
equipments in the kitchen. It is important to observe the patients during the activity in order to
prevent accidental event such as touching the hot oven. Fire extinguisher and fire alarm need to
be placed in the kitchen (Korslund, Schweser & Grewell, 2014). Such safety precautions could
help to avoid accident injury during the activity and help to provide patient safety in an effective
manner.
In after activity:
After performing the baking activity it is important to involve the patients in cleaning up
the kitchen. It would help to understand the fine motor skills of the patient. Specific fine motor
skill such as small movement including picking up objects between the thumb and other fingers
could be monitored during the clean up activity (Payne & Isaacs, 2017). Such activity would
help the patient to develop their motor skills. Documentation of the performance of the patient
needs to be done in order to identify the improvement or risk factor in the baking activity. In this
regards, speaking with individual patient is required. Documentation paper for each patient need
to be prepared containing question regarding the ability to perform the task, risk factor identified
in the activity, improvement identified in the activity and feedback of the patients. Such
documentation process would help to identify the effectiveness of the treatment and introduce

3OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY
other treatment if needed. It could help to keep record of the patient activity (Lavin, Harper &
Barr, 2015).
Reference:
Döpp, C. M., Graff, M. J., Rikkert, M. G. O., van der Sanden, M. W. N., & Vernooij-Dassen, M.
J. (2013). Determinants for the effectiveness of implementing an occupational therapy
intervention in routine dementia care. Implementation science, 8(1), 131. Retrieved from
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1440-1630.12081
Korslund, K., Schweser, G., & Grewell, R. (2014). Commercial Kitchen Guide. St. Paul, MN:
Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture. Retrieved from
https://conservancy.umn.edu/bitstream/handle/11299/181346/Commercial%20Kitchen
%20Guide%20complete.pdf?sequence=1
Lavin, M. A., Harper, E., & Barr, N. (2015). Health information technology, patient safety, and
professional nursing care documentation in acute care settings. Online J Issues
Nurs, 20(6). Retrieved from
http://ojin.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/ANAMarketplace/ANAPeriodicals/
OJIN/TableofContents/Vol-20-2015/No2-May-2015/Articles-Previous-Topics/
Technology-Safety-and-Professional-Care-Documentation.html
Park, K. Y., Park, S. Y., Jeong, W. M., Park, S. H., Hwang, Y. J., & Youn, J. C. (2016). An
Analysis of Clinical Features in Individuals with Alzheimer’s Dementia Living in the
Community using the Allen Cognitive Levels. Indian Journal of Science and

4OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY
Technology, 9(25). Retrieved from file:///C:/Users/User/Downloads/97197-195739-2-
PB.pdf
Payne, V. G., & Isaacs, L. D. (2017). Human motor development: A lifespan approach.
Routledge. Retrieved from file:///C:/Users/User/Downloads/9781315213040_preview.pdf